Ian Dickerson got his million-dollar idea from staring at a jar of change.

“I thought there had to be a way to use those seemingly meaningless coins,” said Dickerson, a Syracuse University graduate student. So he co-founded Centscere, a social media donation platform, to allow users to easily donate money to charity.

Last semester, more than 100 teams — Centscere included — from schools across the country applied to Student Startup Madness, a nation-wide digital media competition. Only 32 semifinalists remain as of Jan. 8. The tournament was created by Sean Branagan, the director of the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at SU, and is hosted by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, but any university is allowed to participate.

Loosely based on the structure of the NCAA March Madness bracket, Student Startup Madness puts each team into one of six regional assignments: Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Great Lakes and Southwest.

Before the next round, the teams will diligently work to polish off their business plans, debug website problems and accumulate as many customers as possible. Then they face another round of judging. By the end of January, those 32 teams will be tested and scrutinized until only the Entrepreneurial Eight remain for a live pitch at South By South West (SXSW) on March 10.

“It scares the sh*t out of [the teams],” Branagan said. “That’s what you’re stepping into, a world of highly competitive people.”

Preparing for a grueling round of judging and hoping for the best, Dickerson and his team are working out any kinks associated with their company. That means making a smooth transaction between a user’s bank account and their charity of choice for the site.

With Centscere, users attach a monetary value to actions on their social media accounts. Any time it’s done, a pre-determined amount of money is put aside for a year-end donation. With the company’s services, liking someone’s photo on Facebook can become a $1 pledge to charity.

There is no minimum donation. Dickerson said even micro-donations add up to something sizable at the end of the year.

“Young people want to give, but they can’t really give that much at one time,” he said. “But if you give a couple cents here and there, it adds up. You’re giving a little bit a lot.”

No two businesses in the competition are the same, but each is rooted in digital media. Last year’s winner was Michigan State University’s TempoRun, which syncs music to a runner’s pace.

Also from Syracuse University is Platypus TV, a social television platform that allows viewers to speak with each other as a show plays; PrintLure, which 3-D prints customized fishing lures; University Beyond, a service that connects businesses with students to create and expand campus ambassador programs; and Advlo, a new way to sell and purchase travel services.

Founded by Jon Maser after his Semester at Sea last spring, Advlo acts as a virtual marketplace for travelers and locals to sell alternatives to expensive tour operators. While traveling, Maser said observed that the majority of travelers only took part in the tours the found through Google.

“It was much less money and to find a local who was willing to show you around for no cost,” he said. “Those trips were often more culturally rewarding, too.”

His company also gives locals a chance to compete with the big companies in countries where economies depend heavily on tourism, which has become monopolized in many tourist destinations.

Maser said he is constantly meeting with his teammates to get the beta site running so judges can visualize the work.

Those who make it to SXSW will be critiqued by entrepreneurial pioneers. Last year’s judges included the engineering director at Google, the co-founder and CEO of BrandYourself.com and the senior director of emerging technologies at Turner Broadcasting.

Published on January 12, 2014 at 11:29 pm

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino