More Than a Pitch: The Journey Behind Covered

By: Ellie Sommers

“I’ve always heard of new businesses getting started on napkins. Now I understand what that means.” — Clint Bybee, Co-founder of ARCH Venture Partners

Every good business starts on a napkin — or in our case, is a napkin.

From airlines like Southwest to social media platforms like Facebook to brands like Chupa Chups, some of the most successful companies began with a simple idea scribbled down in the moment — a napkin, a spark, and a vision.

We just took that idea a little more literally.

Covered Advertising is built on a simple but unconventional concept: turning everyday napkins into ad space for local, non-franchise businesses. We distribute these napkins for free to local restaurants, creating a win-win — businesses get affordable exposure, restaurants get free napkins, and customers engage with ads in a way that feels natural instead of intrusive.

Behind the Scenes

Pitch Night was, without exaggeration, one of the most exciting experiences we’ve had — from getting mic’d up to looking out at a packed audience and watching other teams present. One of the best parts was meeting other entrepreneurs, especially the wildcard team Beacon. Their product — a kid-friendly smartwatch with built-in safety features — was not only innovative but genuinely impactful. Being surrounded by that level of creativity made the entire experience even more meaningful.

How This Shaped Our Next Steps

Going into Pitch Night, we knew our product was different. Covered isn’t an app. It’s not powered by AI. And it’s definitely not a digital platform you can scale overnight. In recent years, most winning teams at our school have leaned heavily into tech — apps, websites, and especially AI-driven solutions. Businesses like JobZ and Fantasy Funds, along with this year’s winners, built their models around digital scalability and emerging technology.

In contrast, a physical product — even one with proven traction — can feel riskier to investors. It requires logistics, distribution, and operational scaling that isn’t as instantly exponential.

That said, this pushed us to reflect: how can we use AI to improve what we’re doing? And then we realized — we already have. Our second iteration of napkin designs was created using AI. Moving forward, we plan to lean into that — using AI to streamline design, speed up production, and maximize efficiency instead of manually drawing or building every mockup from scratch.

Pitch Night & Looking Ahead

Although we didn’t receive funding, our commitment to Covered hasn’t changed. If anything, this experience made us more driven.

We made it to 3/38 teams, and that alone is something we’re incredibly proud of.

While we didn’t walk away with funding (only 1st and 2nd place did), we realized something important: we’re in a unique position. Many teams need capital to even begin building their product. We don’t.

We’ve already generated revenue. We’ve already proven the concept works. So whether we received funding or not, our path forward stays the same.

Instead of joining an accelerator, we’re choosing a different route — seeking mentorship on our own terms and scaling at a pace that makes sense for our business. That flexibility gives us something just as valuable as funding: control.

In all sincerity, we wouldn’t be in this position without our teachers and mentors, and of course everyone we met along the way.

And for Covered, this is just the beginning.