// 2023
Pitch Competition WinnerQuipler
Student collaboration and Q&A platform
Quipler was built to close the gap between coursework and applied problem-solving — giving students a structured way to share knowledge, ask targeted questions, and collaborate across courses and disciplines. The project combined product thinking with technical execution and won a university pitch competition.
The Problem
University students lack a structured channel for applied collaboration. Course forums are siloed, Discord servers are noisy, and office hours don't scale. Quipler was designed around a simple thesis: knowledge compounds when it's organized, searchable, and tied to real coursework.
CS + Business Design Thinking
The product was designed with both technical and business constraints in mind. On the CS side: information architecture, search and tagging, and user interaction flows. On the business side: user acquisition in a network-effects product, retention mechanics, and positioning relative to existing tools (Stack Overflow, Piazza, Discord).
Blending these two frames — what can be built vs. what will be used — was the core design challenge.
Outcome
Quipler won the university pitch competition, judged on product viability, market reasoning, and presentation clarity. The project demonstrated that combining a technical background with business model thinking produces stronger product outcomes than either alone.