At the 2025 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Showcase event, students, faculty, and community members gathered to hear from three standout Badger founders, Nick Lawton of SideShift, Chris Fernandez of EnsoData, and Marie Moody of Stella & Chewy’s, turned their bold ideas into thriving companies. Hosted by the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, Discovery to Product (D2P), and the StartUp Learning Community, the event spotlighted how UW–Madison’s entrepreneurial ecosystem helps students and alumni transform innovation into impact. While SideShift and EnsoData were born out of UW–Madison classrooms, Moody’s journey with Stella & Chewy’s began in her New York apartment and grew into a national brand, showing that entrepreneurial spirit can take root anywhere. Together, the three founders offered unique perspectives on creativity, resilience, and the value of staying true to one’s purpose.
Nick Lawton (BA ’24, Economics) opened the event with the story of SideShift, a creator marketplace connecting more than 350,000 active creators with over 1,000 brands, agencies, and enterprises. Lawton co-founded SideShift as a UW student, and what began as a small idea to help college students find local jobs evolved into a leading Gen Z hiring platform with $6 million in annual recurring revenue. “We didn’t start with the perfect idea,” Lawton shared. “We just wanted to build something. We listened to users, adapted, and eventually found product–market fit.” Today, SideShift operates across 4,000 campuses nationwide, helping brands connect with authentic student creators. Lawton credits UW’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for supporting his early growth and encourages aspiring founders to “just start building” and embrace change.
Following Lawton, Chris Fernandez (BS ’14, MS ’15, Biomedical Engineering) took the stage to share the journey behind EnsoData, an AI company improving the accuracy and accessibility of sleep diagnostics. Founded in 2015 out of a UW biomedical engineering project, EnsoData began as a wearable technology concept before pivoting toward AI-powered sleep analysis. Today, the company’s software supports over 500 health systems and 1.5 million patient diagnoses, with four FDA clearances and more than $50 million in funding. “Our mission has always been to improve diagnosis and treatment for everyone, everywhere,” Fernandez said. “By helping people sleep better, we are improving overall health outcomes on a global scale.” He also emphasized lessons from EnsoData’s evolution: the value of timing, resilience through unexpected challenges, and the importance of UW’s startup resources.
Lastly, Marie Moody (BA ’89, English and Women’s Studies) took the stage to share the unconventional journey behind Stella & Chewy’s, a pioneering raw pet food brand that began in her New York City apartment. Moody, who never set out to be an entrepreneur, described how caring for her sick dog, Chewy, inspired her to research healthier diets for pets. In 2003, long before the “humanization of pets” trend, she founded Stella & Chewy’s with a mission to make raw, natural nutrition more accessible to pets. Starting with a single co-packer in Wisconsin, Moody faced numerous challenges, including navigating FDA regulations and inventing new safety processes, but persistence and timing ultimately paid off. Today, Stella & Chewy’s is a leading national brand, sold in major retailers like Petco, PetSmart, and Target. Reflecting on her path, Moody emphasized resilience, humility, and the power of asking for help: “Everything will go wrong at some point, but if you stay passionate, take advice, and pivot when needed, that’s how you grow.” She credited UW–Madison’s Meat Science Program for helping her scale production safely and shared lessons on leadership and growth, noting, “Businesses evolve, and founders have to evolve with them, or know when to bring in others who can.”
The event concluded with an engaging Q&A session, moderated by Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center, where students had the opportunity to pick their minds. Across their responses, Marie, Chris, and Nick highlighted the value of learning through experience, trusting your instincts, and building strong relationships. They encouraged students to take advantage of UW–Madison’s supportive network, stay adaptable, and move forward with confidence, even when the path is uncertain.
The showcase highlighted the power of UW–Madison’s entrepreneurial community to turn student curiosity into real-world impact.
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