Innovation Quest gives students the knowledge, mentors needed to launch a successful start-up company

This article first appeared in the UConn Business magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1 (Winter 2014)

If you think you know exactly what a spider looks like, Mark Smith ’13 (CLAS), may persuade you to take a closer peek.

Up close—really, really close—that little creature has a breathtaking beauty, intricacy and, yes, even a trace of creepiness, which one can’t appreciate from afar.

Smith, a recent UConn alumnus, scientist and inventor, has developed and commercialized an inexpensive, portable and easy-to-use 3-D imaging technology. It produces high-resolution macroscopic images, like the magnificent spider photographs on his Macroscopic Solutions company web site.

But his product isn’t just for a scientist in the lab. Bring it to a football game and, even from the farthest bleacher, you can take close-ups of your son kicking a field goal, he said. The Macropod by Macroscopic Solutions captures images so precisely they can be enlarged to immense sizes without degrading the quality.

The project won first place last spring in the University’s Innovation Quest (iQ) program, which is akin to “boot camp” for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The 2013 iQ program drew more than 100 students, across all disciplines and campuses, each hoping to take their proposal from an idea to the marketplace.

“Like all scientists, I have thousands of ideas, but I lacked the business know-how and money to get started,” said Smith, who earned a master’s degree in Geoscience from UConn under the advisement of Associate Professor Jean Crespi.

Through the iQ program he, and other students, were paired with business experts who guided them through building prototypes, applying for patents and raising money. Within six months, Smith co-founded Macroscopic Solutions with his best friend and fellow researcher Daniel Saftner.

“This company is our number one priority,” said Smith, who has presented his invention at Harvard University, Jackson Laboratories and a number of other prestigious institutions.

Confidence, Coaching and ‘Mental Toughness’

John Elliott, dean of the School of Business, said he believes the iQ program not only fosters the success of UConn students but ultimately will lead to job creation in Connecticut and elsewhere.
“The creativity of our students is boundless. But what good is a brilliant idea if it doesn’t turn into something useful?” Elliott said. “Innovation Quest gives these students an opportunity to capitalize on those ideas and to receive guidance and inspiration from alumni with the business knowledge, entrepreneurial experience, and passion required to fuel a successful start-up.”

Alumnus Keith Fox ’80, a longtime business entrepreneur, executive and philanthropist, introduced iQ at UConn in 2012, after discovering the successful program at California Polytechnic State University.

“Innovation Quest is about giving students the confidence to follow their dreams and ideas,” said Fox, who serves as both a program mentor and financial supporter. He describes it as an intensive coaching process that includes “inspiring the passion and mental toughness to create a successful company.”

The program’s success is due, in part, to the tremendous teamwork of the university faculty and staff, volunteer alumni mentors, and risk-taking investors, he said.

“We’re grateful to the alumni who provide the mentorship and practical advice to our student teams that will lead to a higher likelihood of market success,” said UConn Provost Mun Choi.

“I hope this program becomes engrained into the UConn culture for decades to come,” Fox added.

Newer Entrepreneurs Enjoy the Opportunity to Give Back

Asking the difficult questions is the job of volunteer alumni and entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs), who serve as expert resources and innovation judges. Tom Bachant ’13 (ENG) and Nadav Ullman ’12 (CLAS) are the founders of Sobrio, a mobile application that connects college students to designated drivers at their university. Named among the Connecticut Technology Council’s “2012 Tech Companies to Watch,” Sobrio is expanding to college campuses across the country. The founders participated in iQ in 2012, and returned as EIRs in 2013 to help others.

“We use this experience to put ourselves in their shoes and share what we learned throughout the process,” said Bachant.

“We had lawyers, accountants, and industry experts help us work through some of the challenges we were facing,” Ullman said. “This hands-on experience helped us with some essential aspects of building a startup.”

“The diversity of experiences and thought can help thrust a powerful idea or concept into a new product or service,” said Mary Holz-Clause, vice president for economic development at UConn.

Adam Boyajian ’12 also served as an alumni mentor. “I love the startup world and the pulse around people who have that entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

Mentor Hugh Tansey ’74 (ENG), agrees. “It’s both satisfying to give something back to the university and also energizing and fun to participate with all the great new ideas being proposed,” he said.

Mike Parelli ’12, a former entrepreneur-in-residence, is an active alumni mentor for iQ. “It was a great experience as a student and I was very appreciative of the successful alumni sacrificing their valuable time, which in turn has motivated me to give back my time. The mentor network that Innovation Quest is building will be invaluable for everyone involved moving forward.”

“Working with the mentors was a pleasure,” said Eross Guadalupe ’13 (ENG). “They genuinely wanted us to succeed and I cannot stress enough how much I appreciated them for taking time to help us learn what it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur.”

Trust in Yourself, Work Hard, Mentors Advise

During the first phase of Innovation Quest, some 31 teams prepared their competition applications, worked on prototypes and discussed marketing plans. The top eight were selected to continue to the next level, and the three top teams received cash prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000 to put toward their new businesses.

Trust in yourself and be prepared to work many hours, advisers told the participants. “There is no room for doubt. And there is no substitute for hard work,” said mentor Dave Pepin ’66, ’70 MBA, a venture capitalist.

“Get out of the classroom, dorm, or office, and talk to as many subject-matter experts and potential customers as you can,” advised Mike Wisniewski ’06 (BGS), ’10 MBA, an investment analyst at Connecticut Innovations.

“When starting your venture, surround yourself with people that see the same opportunity as you and are willing to work just as hard to achieve success,” added adviser Frank Milone ’92, a founding partner in FML, an accounting firm in Glastonbury.

The second step was an accelerated training program, dubbed the inQbator, where students learned how to build their businesses. Alumni specialists in fields ranging from entrepreneurship to patent law donated their time and expertise to guide the inQbator teams.

“Being in the inQbator was like learning a year’s worth of business courses in six weeks,” said Alicia Echevarria ’13 MS (ENG). “The sessions were long and demanding, but also extremely informative and beneficial.”

Boyajian told the students that they have to see if people really want what they’ve created. “Capital providers are interested in funding companies that are focused on serving a market that has well-defined, unmet needs and the potential to gain customers and revenue rapidly,” added Nat Brinn, a partner at Vital Financial LLC, a venture capital investment group.

For the final inQbator workshop, teams may opt to present their business and funding needs to local investors.

“At this stage of Innovation Quest, we want to see these businesses and ideas starting to make their way from innovation to commercialization,” said associate professor Rich Dino, director of the UConn iQ program.

Seeking financing for startup costs, including patents, licensing agreements, product development, and funding go-to-market strategies, seven entrepreneurial teams pitched their innovations to a group of enthusiastic supporters in June.

“The [iQ] experience was invaluable,” said Matt Cremins, an MS candidate in the School of Engineering. Cremins’ company, Secor Water, came out of an idea he developed with fellow engineering students Yanbing Guo, Joseph Mummert, Jeffrey Peterson, and Thuy Pham, of providing clean, green, customizable water delivered to customers through a network of commercial water dispensing stations. Cremins said he and his colleagues now have the confidence to take it to the next level.

Even the experts were surprised at the range and depth of the innovations that were presented.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the students, their ideas, work ethic and dedication,” said Pepin.  “Being an entrepreneur requires a great deal of brain power, willingness to take risk, and dedication to their idea. It is not for the ‘faint of heart.’ ”

“UConn has great talent,” added Brinn. “In comparison to all of the groups and universities that we interact with across the country, the intellectual property coming out of UConn is top notch.”