have your attention. >> reporter: the bigger test of their creativity came the next day, when jordan rungewith creating a mobile app that improves the quality of education or city life for new york city students. >> reporter: a $5,000 prize would go to the best app. >> in terms of expectations... >> reporter: and just like a real startup, there were urgent deadlines to meet. students had just 48 hours to come up with their big idea. >> before i went to bed, i would, like, put my clipboard next to my bed in case any inspiration came to me in the middle of the night. >> reporter: from the get-go, gentech pushed its students to test their ideas. instead of guesswork, they conducted surveys and crunched the data to determine which of their evolving apps had the most traction. >> would like to be able to talk with your peers and interact with them? >> reporter: they were also required to share their ideas. >> we had an entrepreneur kind of speed dating round where they had to get some feedback about their ideas. >> if you were to make a study guide, would you follow it? >> some people say, well