That idea inspired Flagler College seniors Jesse Van Krimpen and Reiss Skeen to develop FocusTap, an education technology platform designed to help institutions measure and encourage participation in the classroom.
Their idea recently earned the top prize at Flagler College’s Lion’s Cage competition, the signature event of the College’s annual Business Week. Held March 5 in Lewis Auditorium, Lion’s Cage invited the top five teams from the Saints Showcase to pitch their business concepts to a panel of judges in a format similar to the television show “Shark Tank.” This year, the winning team received a $5,000 grand prize sponsored by SouthState and Stellar.
For Van Krimpen and Skeen, the concept behind FocusTap began with a simple observation from their own experiences as students.
“The idea really started from our own experiences sitting in classrooms and seeing how easy it is for students to get distracted by their phones,” Skeen said.
The pair began thinking about how colleges typically track attendance but often lack simple ways to measure participation and engagement. While many institutions focus on whether students are physically present, Van Krimpen and Skeen began asking a different question: how can engagement itself be measured in a meaningful way?
Rather than limiting devices or restricting technology, they wanted to design a system that encourages students to stay engaged while also giving institutions useful insight into classroom dynamics.
As Van Krimpen explained, FocusTap helps institutions “measure and collect participation in a simple and objective way.”
The platform is designed to provide educators with better insight into how students interact with course material, helping instructors better understand participation trends while encouraging students to remain actively involved in the classroom environment.
Assistant Professor of Business Administration Kim Bynum said the concept stood out because it addressed a familiar challenge in higher education with a student-centered solution.
“What made FocusTap compelling is that they identified a real problem—declining classroom engagement due to phone distractions—and turned the solution into something students would actually want to participate in,” Bynum said.
Turning the idea into a viable business concept required months of refinement. Early on, the challenge was transforming a broad concept into a focused solution that could realistically scale.
“The most challenging part has been taking a broad idea and turning it into something that is clear, practical, and scalable,” Van Krimpen said.
In the early stages, that meant constantly revisiting the core problem and asking how their solution could remain simple while still addressing a meaningful need in higher education. Through feedback from professors, mentors, and fellow students, the pair continued refining the concept and strengthening their business model.
Their partnership played an important role in that process. Van Krimpen, a finance and accounting dual major from Woking, England, and Skeen, a finance major from Sevenoaks, England, are both senior student-athletes on the Flagler College men’s soccer team. Balancing coursework, athletics, and extracurricular involvement meant building FocusTap often happened outside of their already busy schedules.
Long evenings discussing ideas, refining presentations, and reviewing feedback became a regular part of the process as the two worked to move the concept forward.
“Working together has been a great experience because we both bring different perspectives to the project,” Van Krimpen said.
That collaboration helped the pair push the concept further than either of them might have on their own, creating a dynamic where ideas could be tested, debated, and improved along the way.
Support from Flagler’s business program also helped shape the project. Courses and mentorship encouraged the pair to think through key elements such as scalability, business models, and market validation.
“Our classes at Flagler have played a huge role in shaping how we approached FocusTap,” Skeen said.
Faculty mentorship and early feedback helped the team anticipate the kinds of questions they might face from judges at Lion’s Cage while also strengthening their overall approach to entrepreneurship.
“What impressed me most was the team’s willingness to iterate,” Bynum said. “They listened to feedback, improved their concept, and delivered a thoughtful solution to a problem every classroom is facing.”
By the time Lion’s Cage arrived, the team had spent months refining both the idea and their presentation. Pitching the concept in front of judges and an audience brought a mix of excitement and nerves.
“It was definitely exciting and also very nerve-racking,” Van Krimpen said, adding that once the presentation began, the experience quickly became rewarding.
The team delivered their pitch to a packed Lewis Auditorium, outlining the problem they had identified and explaining how FocusTap could help institutions encourage engagement while gathering meaningful data about classroom participation.
When the winners were announced, the moment brought a sense of relief after months of preparation.
“Honestly, it was a massive sense of relief,” Skeen said. “We had put a lot of time and effort into developing the idea, refining the pitch, and preparing for the competition.”
For both students, hearing their names called was not only a recognition of their work but also validation that others saw potential in the problem they were trying to solve.
Now, with a Lion’s Cage victory behind them, the pair are focused on what comes next. The team plans to continue developing the platform and explore opportunities to pilot the concept with educational institutions interested in testing the idea in real classroom settings.
“Winning Lion’s Cage is an exciting first step, but we see it more as the beginning of the journey,” Skeen said.
As they look ahead, both students hope their experience encourages other Flagler students to pursue their own ideas and take advantage of opportunities like Lion’s Cage.
For Van Krimpen, the experience also offers a lesson for other students interested in entrepreneurship.
“The biggest advice we would give is to just start talking about the idea and getting feedback. A lot of people wait until something feels perfect before sharing it, but the real progress happens when you test ideas, ask questions, and refine them over time,” he said.
Programs like Lion’s Cage, he added, provide students with an opportunity to test ideas, refine their thinking, and see how far a concept can go.
For Van Krimpen and Skeen, what started as a conversation about everyday classroom experiences has now grown into a promising business concept. If their plans succeed, what began as a classroom observation could soon become a tool used in classrooms across the country.
