MINNEAPOLIS, MN, May 20, 2024. The University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship announced the 90 Minnesotan start-ups that would advance in the nation’s largest state-wide start-up competition,  the MN Cup.

​

One of the companies competing for a non-dilutive share of $400,000 is AxaBlock, a high school start-up leveraging behavioral economics to act as an end-to-end social media addiction rehabilitation partner. The platform targets users with excessive screen time helping them commit to healthier digital behavior through public challenges.

​

The start-up is led by Aaron Siddiky, CEO, a senior at Hopkins High School and incoming freshman at Columbia University, Dhruv Gupta, COO, a senior at Wayzata High School and incoming freshman at Georgia Tech, and Darrel Zhao, CFO, also a senior at Wayzata High School and incoming freshman at Northwestern University.

​

The Minnesotan company is rooted in a public interest-first methodology. Already deeply discontent with the profound problem of social media addiction, seeing initiatives like the MN Kids Code (Bill HF2257) fail to pass through the state legislative pipeline only further drove the students from Hopkins and Wayzata to develop AxaBlock. This venture represents their attempt to tackle the same problems from a corporate America perspective.

​

Current initiatives fail to drive behavior change, which is what differentiates AxaBlock. Traditional solutions like staying off of one’s phone rely on either an intermediary, such as a parent controlling a teen's screen time, or just the user's self-discipline, but these methods have no tangible consequences for lapses. AxaBlock, on the other hand, holds users accountable through their financial commitment, creating the possibility of a tangible consequence for failure.

​

“Competing at the largest state-wide start-up competition in the nation is a humbling experience. We’re convinced that this validation and visibility will connect us with a network of mentors, investors, and non-dilutive resources that will be crucial for us to make AxaBlock a Minnesotan success story,” said the AxaBlock team.