By The Connect Crew | April 8, 2026
From Whirl Pong to Now You Know, Penn State founders are building experiences that trade screen time for real connection, signaling where the world is heading.
Something is changing.
Not slowly. Not quietly.
You can feel it at Penn State tailgates, in student apartments, and at pitch competitions where the ideas gaining traction are no longer just apps or platforms.
They are experiences. They are real. And they are solving a problem that has been hiding in plain sight.
The Problem: We Optimized for Attention and Lost Connection
Over the last decade, we built an economy around attention: more content, more platforms, more ways to scroll, watch, and consume.
Now we are seeing the result.
People are spending more time connected digitally while feeling less connected personally. They are struggling to create meaningful, shared experiences. And artificial intelligence is accelerating this even further. Content is now infinite. Interaction is increasingly simulated.
Which creates a clear market gap: real human connection has become scarce, and therefore valuable.
Two Startups Solving the Same Problem
Dillon Fink saw the opportunity through energy.
At a party, a spontaneous moment pulled everyone into the same experience. No phones. No distractions. Just shared attention. He turned that into Whirl Pong, a game that does not just entertain but creates a moment people want to step into together.
It is now spreading across tailgates and gatherings, with more than 600 sets sold.
Joseph Laezza and Charlie Jacobs approached the same problem from a different angle.
They noticed friction in conversation. People defaulting to assumptions. Nights that never got past the surface. A lack of curiosity in how people engage with each other.
They built Now You Know, a social discovery card game designed to solve that—not by forcing deeper conversation, but by making it fun, fast, and natural to connect.
This Is Not Entertainment. It Is a Solution.
Both products succeed because they address the same unmet need: How do you create real interaction in a world built for passive consumption?
Whirl Pong solves for energy and shared attention. Now You Know solves for curiosity and meaningful interaction.
Different approaches. Same market pain point. And both are proving that when you solve for real human connection, people respond immediately.
Summer Founders: Taking the Next Step
The momentum is building. Both Whirl Pong and Now You Know have just been selected for the Invent Penn State Summer Founders Program, where each team will receive $15,000 to advance their business over 13 weeks of intensive work.
The program provides more than funding. Teams get 24/7 access to Happy Valley LaunchBox, mentorship from a network of more than 100 advisors, and hands-on learning opportunities with Pennsylvania businesses. invent.psu.edu
For both startups, this means a summer spent building full time—testing, iterating, and proving that the demand for real connection is not a niche. It is a movement.
Built in the Real World, Not Just for It
These companies did not come out of theory. They came out of action.
Built inside Penn State’s ecosystem, including Engr 310 Engineering Entrepreneurship, Invent Penn State, and the Happy Valley LaunchBox, both founders followed the same playbook:
- Observe real behavior
- Build quickly.
- Test in live environments
- Iterate based on reaction.
No assumptions. Just proof.
Tailgates became testing grounds. Apartments became product labs. Real people became the feedback loop.
A Leading Indicator of What Comes Next
If you want to understand where the market is heading, watch what students are building.
They are closest to the problem. They feel the disconnect every day: too much screen time, too little real interaction, too many shallow connections.
So, they are not building for attention. They are building for presence.
This is not a coincidence. It is a correction.
Why This Shift Is Accelerating
Several forces are converging at once.
Digital saturation has people overwhelmed by content and constant stimulation. Relationship strain is growing as digital interaction fails to replace real connection. The rise of generative tools means content is easier to create but less meaningful. And the scarcity of experience has shifted what people value most.
The rare thing now is not information. It is shared, human experience.
The Aha Moment
Whirl Pong creates energy. Now You Know creates understanding.
But both are solving the same core problem: We have built a world optimized for attention. Now we are trying to rebuild one centered on connection.
And the people leading that shift are not waiting. They are building it.
What This Means for Happy Valley
This region is not just producing startups. It is becoming a proving ground for a new category.
An economy built around real-world interaction, shared experiences, and community-driven value.
This is not about games. It is about what people are willing to show up for.
Happy Valley is becoming a valley built on community. And the next generation is already building it in real life.
