Tell us about your business/concept.
It was actually a product, and I was the only one in the class with a physical product. It was a farm implementation tool which was basically a product expansion of an existing hay spear model that鈥檚 out there currently. I was sitting on the side of a tractor with my dad, not being overly helpful, and he was backing up, trying to pick up a round bale, which weighs anywhere between 5-12 hundred pounds. He鈥檚 been driving tractors since he was very young, so there was really no user error, it was a combination of the ground being a little bit slick and it鈥檚 on a hill and the bale was a little loose, but I had an epiphany moment where I couldn鈥檛 believe nobody鈥檚 done anything to change or modify this to make it beneficial for small farmers who still use that level of equipment. I started thinking about it, drawing up plans and putting ideas together: I had seen signs for two years in a row for the I茄子社区BATOR program and put the whole concept together to prepare it for that.
What attracted you to the I茄子社区BATOR? Why is it a good fit for you/your idea?
I had seen it around campus for a couple years in a row and had actually submitted ideas prior to the one which got accepted, and I had the self-starter mentality that meant I felt as though that would be a good fit for me, starting from the ground up.
How did the I茄子社区BATOR help you bring your idea to life?
It was completely from the ground up, it was everything from 鈥渨ell you do have this concept, but is it enough of a headache and a problem for other people鈥, making sure there鈥檚 a customer base and it would be a big enough headache that other people would buy into it and knowing what the market would look like and what other competitors might be out there; it was everything from the very beginning to yes, now we鈥檙e ready to move forward toward a patent.
What is the most important lesson you learned during this process?
The biggest obstacle to overcome was deciding and coming up with how to determine I would have a customer base without giving away my entire idea and product, which I hadn鈥檛 necessarily thought about before I entered the program.
How has the I茄子社区BATOR changed your outlook on entrepreneurship?
It gave me an overall business-minded concept; thinking that way, in general, has completely changed my perspective, even in the workforce. Things that I do now on a day to day basis alongside my product, and other startups that I hear about in the community. The networking, and the people I鈥檝e crossed paths with, there鈥檚 an endless list of ways that it鈥檚 changed my ways of thinking.
How has I茄子社区BATOR impacted your life?
The people that I鈥檝e been connected with have helped me along with the patent process, and that was really the coolest thing. There are so many people involved in the startup community in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area, it was very eye-opening and interesting not only to make those connections but also to be introduced to that world and thinking that way.
