{"id":124869,"date":"2022-01-10T08:55:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T13:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=124869"},"modified":"2023-11-27T15:03:32","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T20:03:32","slug":"turning-ideas-into-real-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/turning-ideas-into-real-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Ideas into Real Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

On most days, you can find Mason Mincey in his garage, living his dream. There are no cars or woodworking tools here. Mincey wears booties to ensure everything, including the garage floor, stays as clean as the inside of a bubble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing in here is what you\u2019d find Ph.D.s doing in expensive labs,\u201d Mincey says about his three business partners and himself. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned to work with whatever resources we have available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mincey, who\u2019s on track to graduate from 166su in 2023, studies plant-based fibers at the nanoscale on one side of the garage. On the other side, the fibers are used for the research and development of high-performance athletic clothing. That\u2019s the differentiator for Mincey and his co-founders of Soarce USA: Their shirts, socks, underwear, and headbands will be derived from plant materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our research,\u201d he says, \u201cwe can make high-quality performance-wear and feel good about protecting the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mincey enrolled at 166su as an aspiring aerospace engineer. During his freshman year, he discovered the university\u2019s Blackstone LaunchPad program and a path to entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

\u201cMason exemplifies the kind of student who comes into the program,\u201d says Cameron Ford, founding director of 166su\u2019s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. \u201cBlackstone is the investment company behind our LaunchPad. They share my belief that people who develop an entrepreneurial mindset will be better prepared to take risks and adapt, no matter what they do for a career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it. One student takes classes, graduates, and interviews for a job. Another student takes the same classes, but also had an idea for lip balm, developed a prototype and a website, and tried to market the product. If I\u2019m an employer, that second candidate has me spellbound, whether they succeeded or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford has seen 500-600 students in the LaunchPad center every year since it opened in 2013. Volunteers from the business community mentor students in skills like accounting, marketing, and how to apply for patents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is real-world business development,\u201d says Ford, \u201cbut it isn\u2019t just for business students. You can see that from the alumni who have used the LaunchPad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chemistry<\/a> alum David Nash \u201911 \u201914MS \u201917PhD<\/strong> helped launch IDem Systems in 2015 to help law enforcement agencies quickly detect the presence of illegal drugs. Health sciences<\/a> grad Victoria Weiss \u201916<\/strong> co-founded Rope Lace Supply in her dorm room with industrial engineering<\/a> grad Eric Delgado \u201916<\/strong> and sold $250,000 of shoelaces online in their first year. Management<\/a>alum Jesse Wolfe \u201915<\/strong> created O\u2019dang Hummus, received mentoring in the LaunchPad, pitched his product on Shark Tank<\/em>, and is one of 166su\u2019s most recognized entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now,\u201d says Ford, \u201che comes into the LaunchPad to mentor other students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Mason Mincey.<\/p>\n

Mason Mincey, co-founder Soarce<\/h2>\n

Soarce is the fourth idea that Mincey and his partners hatched. They learned valuable lessons from each swing and miss. As freshmen, they developed a drone to help farmers locate patches of dying crops in massive fields, and even took it into the semifinals of 166su\u2019s Joust competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur pitch didn\u2019t go well,\u201d says Mincey. \u201cWe went back to LaunchPad and began to understand that creativity and drive aren\u2019t enough to build an actual business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, they built a 13-foot rocket as vehicle for organizations without NASA-size budgets to collect scientific data. At a demonstration in Alabama, the rocket blew up at takeoff. Small portions of their own carbon fiber stayed intact, however, and would inspire number-three: a racing drone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had fun and sold some drones, but there wasn\u2019t a big market,\u201d Mincey says. \u201cPlus, it was a toy. I didn\u2019t see it as a business that would make a positive impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the LaunchPad, Wolfe shared some entrepreneurial wisdom from his trials and errors during the early days of O\u2019dang. For example, you can\u2019t build a business on passion alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018You need to think from the customer perspective, a product perspective, and a business perspective. That\u2019s the three-legged stool. And you need to be willing to adjust your original idea,\u201d Mincey says.<\/p>\n

Mincey says without those lessons, and without pro bono help from attorneys, designers, and marketing specialists, Soarce wouldn\u2019t have made it past three months, and he wouldn\u2019t be wearing booties in his garage or using plants to perfect textile fibers a million times smaller than a human hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaunchPad got us on the right track,\u201d he says, \u201cand now we\u2019re onto something cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon Naids \u201914 \u201916MS , co-founder Talon Simulations<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s been said that the Blackstone LaunchPad is a great program for 166su students who have always dreamed of starting a business or those who never could have imagined it.<\/p>\n

Brandon Naids \u201914 \u201916MS<\/strong> is among the latter group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just a na\u00efve engineering<\/a> student trying to come up with something interesting for my senior project,\u201d he says of the virtual reality flight simulator he and four other 166su students created. \u201cAnd I thought it would look good on my resume.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Senior Design Showcase in April 2014, local industry leaders and 166su faculty saw the compact nature of the simulator and heard about the lower cost to make it. Their feedback sparked a fire that changed Naids\u2019 career path before he\u2019d taken his first step on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery person at the showcase told us to check out the LaunchPad,\u201d Naids says. \u201cI planned to look for an engineering job, but once we met with an advisor at LaunchPad and heard about the help available to turn our project into a product, we thought, \u2018Wow, we\u2019re really doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of pursuing job interviews, Naids pursued his master\u2019s degree<\/a> while shifting from an engineering mindset to an entrepreneurial ethos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned that as business owners you can\u2019t just submit plans and wait for results,\u201d Naids says. \u201cYou have to set goals and then be accountable to meet each one of them. A mentor also told us that passion alone isn\u2019t enough to build a business, but it will help you through the tough times \u2014 because those time will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

During those times, Naids would nervously sit in parking lots for up to an hour before meeting with prospective clients of Talon Simulations. Now, with a real business sitting firmly on a three-legged stool, he sees his team\u2019s simulators used in arcades, malls, 150 Dave and Busters locations, and for U.S. Army recruiting events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never imagined this until we went to 166su\u2019s LaunchPad,\u201d Naids says. \u201cUntil then, I thought I\u2019d be doing 3-D modeling behind someone else\u2019s desk. I\u2019m grateful everything turned out this way instead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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