Student-Entrepreneurs Shine at Statewide Business Plan Competition

Three St. John’s University students with an enterprising idea for an online marketplace for ethnic clothing earned second place at the prestigious 2025 New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC), held in late April at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY.

Uday Kumar, Prasoon Saha ’25TCB, and Matthew Siegel ’25TCB earned $2,000 for their presentation of KnotHastags, a business founded by Uday that helps artisans in India market their clothing to consumers in the United States. Matthew, a partner in the business, and Prasoon, an investor, offer financial direction to the company, which started at the Venture & Innovation Center (VIC), the business incubator the University established in 2024.  

Earlier this year, the KnotHastags team won $750 in the Johnny’s Innovation Challenge business development competition sponsored by The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies (CCPS), the VIC, and The School of Education.

The team took second place in the Software and Services division of the state competition,  featuring 350 student-entrepreneurs from 65 colleges and universities across the state. It will use the prize money to continue the company’s growth and perhaps compete in next year’s prestigious New York University Entrepreneurs Challenge, where more than $200,000 in prize money is available.

“The NYBPC is New York’s premier business plan competition,” said Uday, pursuing a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree in Enterprise Risk Management at The Peter J. Tobin College of Business. “It was an incredible experience to pitch at RPI and to be recognized among the top start-ups in the state.”

“Having the backing of a community that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship has been incredibly motivating,” Uday continued. “The recognition inspires us to continue to strive for excellence and maximize every opportunity.”

Uday, an international student from Uttar Pradesh, India, has strong entrepreneurial roots. After completing his undergraduate education in his native country, he worked for two large software development companies. Eager to earn an M.B.A. in the US, he was attracted to St. John’s Queens, NY, location and vast alumni network.

His idea to create a sustainable online marketplace for Indian, Bangladeshi, and Nepalese traditional clothing blossomed when he met Prasoon while both were volunteering at the University’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program early in 2024. Uday and Matthew had met at a Thanksgiving Day celebration at a mutual friend’s home. 

KnotHastags identifies artisanal clothing items from small-scale South Asian designers and markets them through its website and social media channels. The company prefers to work with designers rather than through pricey and, occasionally, unscrupulous people in the middle. It charges the designers a smaller sales commission than competitors such as Amazon and Etsy.

A smaller commission is attractive to the designers, who lack mass production facilities and produce each garment by hand. KnotHastags also offers tech training to help designers manage their businesses, social media, funding support, and a public display of authenticity on each garment so customers know the designer.

“I really want to support the communities in India, as they supported me when I was younger,” Uday said. 

KnotHastags’ mission aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including those that promote economic opportunity in the developing world and those that favor handmade over mass production.

“We are different because we actually focus on the artisans making the garments,” said Prasoon, who recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Finance as part of Tobin’s fast-track master’s degree program. “We are not focusing on fast-moving consumer goods companies. We are not focusing on high-end luxuries. We focus on the artisans who make the orders, but who cannot get their designs out and who need a platform and ecosystem.”

As of mid-May, 24 designers from Lucknow and Agra, India, have contracted with KnotHastags. Another 60 or so are considering signing on. Garments would be shipped by boat from India to KnotHastags’ facilities in the US and then sent in express packages to the purchaser. The peak season for Indian ethnic wear is mid-to-late autumn, corresponding to the Indian celebration of Diwali.     

The KnotHastags team did much of its foundational work at the VIC, which helps potential companies with growth strategies, investment, mentoring, protection of intellectual property, and more. Matthew said the team’s performance in Johnny’s Innovation Challenge in February inspired it to pitch confidently to the judges in the state competition.

“Johnny’s Innovation Challenge exposed us to the core elements of building a business—ideation, rapid prototyping, and pitching,” said Matthew, who, like Prasoon, is part of the fast-track Finance master’s degree program. “We learned how to validate a concept through customer discovery, create a viable business model, and communicate our solution under time constraints—skills you cannot fully develop in a classroom.” 

KnotHastags is among the most successful student ventures to emerge from the VIC, according to James Kinsley, M.B.A., Director of the VIC and Instructor, Management, Entrepreneurship, Consulting, and Operations at Tobin. 

“Uday, Matthew, and Prasoon should be congratulated on this great achievement, coming as soon as it did after winning a prize at the Johnny’s Innovation Challenge in February,” Mr. Kinsley said. “We are all looking forward to where they might take the business next."