TOP 5
10 YEARS RUNNING
2019 ANNUAL REPORT
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2020 PRINCETON REVIEW
Front Cover Photo Credit BYU Photo This Page Photo Credit Megan Barton 2
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OVERVIEW
With perennial top-ten grad and undergrad programs, the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology creates a supportive, nurturing environment for all Brigham Young University students interested in starting and growing businesses. We inspire confidence, courage, and the will to take the entrepreneurial first step. We create an environment that unleashes creativity, cultivates vision and innovation, and teaches the governing principles that are the foundation of every successful enterprise. We provide mentors who guide students as they navigate these new waters. We establish courses, lecture series, competitions, conferences, workshops, and other activities that nourish and sustain the entrepreneurial spirit in students. The ultimate test of whether we’re doing a great job is measured by the number of long-term successful ventures that come from students within our sphere of influence. Intermediate measures include such metrics as the number of students who hold equity in a startup by the time they graduate and—more immediately—the number of students participating in the learning and practice opportunities we offer.
Vision
We lead in developing responsible entrepreneurs of faith and character.
Mission
Prepare men and women of faith and character to be world-class leaders in entrepreneurship and innovation, facilitate life-changing mentorship between learners and successful role models, and promote and support relevant faculty research.
Motto
We help students start businesses.
Strategic Imperatives
1. We integrate principles that build faith and character into our program. 2. We offer the infrastructure necessary to build innovative and scalable ventures. 3. We provide a complete suite of startup services to support all types of ventures. 4. We train students in the principles of innovation and intrapreneurship in addition to entrepreneurship. 5. We build entrepreneurial communities within every college and department on campus. 6. We are building a women’s entrepreneurship movement that inspires more women to engage in our program. 7. We are creating a consistent, successful brand that is attractive to all stakeholders. 8. We connect with and engage the entrepreneurial community in order to bless more lives. 9. We are building the largest and most-engaged donor organization in the world. Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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In This Issue:
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A TRADITION OF INNOVATION, SACRIFICE, AND SUCCESS
CHANGING THE WORLD
FEATURED FOUNDERS
ROLLINS CENTER STUDENT LEADERS
MILLER NVC WINNERS
ALUMNI UPDATES
HARVEST BIGGER THAN MONEY
NEWS
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YEAR AT A GLANCE
BY THE NUMBERS
WHO’S WHO
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DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Rollins Center directors (left to right): Mike Hendron, associate academic director; Scott Petersen, executive director; Steve Liddle, academic director; Jeff Brown, operations director
Geoffrey Moore’s book, Crossing the Chasm, is a landmark treatment of the difficult journey of a startup moving past early adopters, gaining market traction and full-product market fit with the early majority, and then scaling the new venture. BYU Marriott’s Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology was the first universitysponsored center in the world to fully adopt the lean startup movement nine years ago. Some in those early days
thought we might have been adopting a fad, but instinct and experience gave us confidence that we were heading in the right direction.
than ever before, confirming that we have indeed crossed the chasm as a program and entered uncharted waters of success with no signs of slowing.
Evidence for this conclusion has been established by the systematic and institutional success we have generated year after year, with limited resources. This report chronicles our journey and tells the story of an amazing year with more innovative and scalable startups
We thank you, our valued stakeholders, for helping us achieve this triumph and for helping to launch so many successful companies and entrepreneurs—who are developing faith and character in the process.
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Entrepreneurship & Innovation Kickoff
Fusion
This kickoff was an opportunity for students to learn more about the oncampus resources available to those interested in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Fusion is the largest networking event in Utah. The purpose was to bring together members of Utah’s entrepreneurial community and connect them with BYU’s talented students.
Proto-typea-Palooza
Startup Career Fair
In this first-of-its-kind competition, business and engineering students were paired up to create a prototype within a thirty-hour time period.
A singular opportunity where BYU’s talented students connected with Utah startup companies in a unique and targeted career fair.
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Big Idea Pitch Competition
Inventech Fall
Business Model Competition
Students chose one of three inventions from BYU’s Tech Transfer Office to develop a plan for commercialization.
In this competition, students shared their process of testing, validating, and improving their business products based on gathered data.
Students only needed to have a business idea. They submitted ninety-second videos describing problems, markets, and their solutions. Finalists were selected to present to a live audience, and winners were selected along with top entrants from each college.
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App Competition Students developed and presented apps for iOS, Android, mobile-friendly websites, and virtual assistants. They were judged on utility and construction, design, and analytics.
Year at a Glance
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Student Entrepreneur of the Year
New Venture Challenge
International Business Model Competition
Founders Launchpad
BYU’s elite entrepreneurs were honored and awarded, while one was selected to become the Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
Inventech Winter Students chose one of three inventions from BYU’s Tech Transfer Office to develop a plan for commercialization.
The final competition of the Miller Competition Series; students competed for over $150k in cash prizes and inclusion in the Founders Launchpad.
The top-forty student teams from thousands that applied around the world competed for over $200k in cash prizes. Teams presented the customer discovery and validation they had been through with their ideas and business models.
A summer accelerator patterned after Y Combinator that provided twenty companies space in the Tanner Bldg, lead mentors, and two different speaker series.
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THE ROLLINS CENTER A tradition of Innovation, Sacrifice, and Success In July 2010, Scott Petersen, executive director of the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, took a close look at the center’s curriculum. Already a strong presence in the field of entrepreneurship, the center was supported by an exceptional group of donors and faculty members and 8
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had produced a handful of outstanding entrepreneurs. “What we lacked,” Petersen says, “was an institutional approach to training large numbers of entrepreneurs.”
Four Pillars With that in mind, Petersen and the
Rollins Center team identified four pillars upon which they planned to build the center’s program: · Offer the best course curriculum · Create the best real-world experiential-learning environment · Build the best competitions · Develop the finest mentoring program.
“Once we introduced the lean movement and put those pillars in place, we started seeing the institutional success we were seeking.” Within two months, the center’s curriculum was focused on what was being called the lean startup movement. “I did have people ask me if I was sure we weren’t just following a fad,” says Petersen, who sold his first business in 1997 and had been a Rollins Center Founder himself since 1998. “I told them I’d experienced the pain of doing things the wrong way, and I knew we were teaching positive principles of truth.” As a testament to that statement, the Rollins Center was ranked no. 4 by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine the very next year—and it’s been ranked in the top-five every year since. “Once we introduced the lean movement and put those pillars in place, we started seeing the institutional success we were seeking,” Petersen says.
To Learn, Earn, and Return Not that the program hadn’t been successful before Petersen came along. Don Livingstone joined the center in 1995, when it was still in its infancy. Livingstone had just wrapped up a 29-year career with Arthur Andersen when he was invited to join BYU Marriott as a professor in the School of Accountancy and then as the Rollins Center director. Livingstone assessed the program and decided that “we would never be successful competing against entrenched departments for faculty slots and university budget,” he observes. “So
we expanded the unique approach of using seasoned entrepreneurs to teach classes under faculty supervision and mentor students. We also determined to raise our own money—a lot of it.” At the heart of the success of this approach was a small dedicated band of full-time faculty members, real-world entrepreneurs, and many more Rollins Center Founders. “These were people who deeply believed in the mission of the center and invested an incredible amount of time, effort, and resources to make it happen,” says Livingstone. “To market this approach, we adopted the slogan that you get three privileges in life—to learn, to earn, and to return,” he continued. “Then we went after entrepreneurs who had learned and earned, and we asked them to return, both in time and in financial support. And they did.” During his twelve-year tenure, Livingstone oversaw the center as it developed a curriculum of classes that allowed students to either major
or minor in entrepreneurship as undergrads or MBAs; added a number of business competitions; recruited more faculty from BYU Marriott to participate; reached across campus to other departments, particularly engineering, manufacturing, and computer science; and dramatically expanded the Founders program. In addition, the center began offering a summer internship program that evolved into the Summer Launchpad.
Merging Two Centers As Livingstone headed off to serve a mission, Bill Price was named the next Rollins Center director in 2007. A true entrepreneur (“I’ve started at least 20 companies,” he says, “but many of them I don’t talk about because they lost money; you only need one home run”), Price came on board during what would prove to be a particularly challenging time. “I had just barely wrapped my arms around what Don had built when we hit 2008, and the bottom fell out of the Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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“The center team is also working to strengthen every aspect of the entrepreneurial process and create a program that produces the best entrepreneurs out there.” market,” he says. “Like many around the nation, we went into survival mode. Some wonderful Founders kept us afloat, but we operated on a bare-bones minimum, and our best-laid plans were temporarily interrupted by the economy.” For Price, the highlight of his threeyear tenure was the merger of BYU Marriott’s Center for Entrepreneurship with its Rollins Center for eBusiness. “Although at times it felt like the two centers were in competition,” Price observes, “we were actually drifting closer together. Tech was where most of the startups were happening, and the merge only made sense.” It helped a lot, he says, that Kevin Rollins, who was the founder of the technology center, was on board. The Rollins Center is named for Kevin and his wife, Debra. While it took some time to finalize the merger, Price describes the process as invigorating. “I loved my time at the center,” he says, “not only with the students but also the Founders. They are simply remarkable human beings. They know what it means to sacrifice everything, to build something that has such a lasting influence, not just for the Church but for the individuals who have the privilege of being involved.”
Men and Women of Faith and Character The evolution of the Rollins Center continues under Petersen’s careful leadership. In addition to the focus on lean startup curriculum, Petersen and the Rollins Center team have revamped the competition series, creating a cycle so each competition builds on the one before, allowing participants to build their businesses as they compete. The center team is also working to strengthen every aspect of the entrepreneurial process and create a program that produces the best entrepreneurs out there. “I liken it to basketball,” says Petersen. “To be an outstanding basketball player, you’ve got to be good at dribbling, shooting, free throws, passing, rebounding, and defense. Plus you’ve got to be in good shape and understand the dynamics and philosophy behind the game itself. If you’re not proficient in all the aspects, you won’t be an elite player. “Likewise, we teach each aspect of the startup process: 1) product development, 2) marketing, 3) sales, 4) operations, 5) customer service, 6) finance, and so on—and we laser focus on each one,” he continues. “We teach our students how to become excellent in each area, so that ultimately, they can become outstanding entrepreneurs.” But producing outstanding entrepreneurs isn’t the only goal for the Rollins Center. “We are not in the business of helping people become wealthy for the sake of acquiring wealth,” says Petersen. “In part, our vision statement says that we prepare men and women of faith and character to be world-class leaders in entrepreneurship and innovation. That idea of building faith and character is integral to what we do. We are about the business of building the rising generation of the Church and helping them to be financially and spiritually successful so they can accomplish what the Lord wants them to achieve.” Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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CHANGING THE W RLD: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor
By Cody Cutler
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Riley Meik had always dreamed of starting an aerospace company but never actually thought he would do it. For this BYU mechanical engineering major, the idea of starting an enthusiastically backed aerospace company poised to disrupt the space industry as he knew it was simply a dream. But things can change. “Starting a business, especially aerospace, had always been a dream of mine,” says Meik. “But I never gave it serious consideration as a short-term goal until I met Steve.” Steve Heller, a fellow rocket enthusiast, was introduced to Meik in 2017 by a mutual friend who knew of their shared passion for rocketry. Soon thereafter, the pair joined forces for a rocket launch at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The launch would be the beginning of a wonderful partnership. “I had a rocket, and Steve had a rocket motor,” says Meik. “We put the two together, and it was a match made in heaven.” But it was, in truth, more than just a good match in rocket components. Heller was looking for an engineering partner for a new venture, one that could change how the common man viewed space. According to Heller, it all started in 2014 as SpaceX was first broadcasting its rocket landings and public interest in space was at an alltime high. “All of a sudden, people were talking about this,” says Heller. “Space was in the public eye because it had gone from government to private billionaires. So what’s next? Regular people. My thought was, what if I take these skills, find the right engineering partner, and we bring space to everybody?”
Riley Meik (left) and Steve Heller (right) at launch testing site.
And that right partner was Meik. “Riley has brought a level of technical pizazz, moving the rockets from ‘we’ll try this to see if it works’ to ‘here are the numbers and equations,’” says Heller. “I knew that Riley was the guy I’d like to have in that role, but I also knew that there needed to be more. For this business to go anywhere, we needed a place where we could get some traction.” So instead of setting up in California, as so many tech companies tend to do, Heller and Meik set up shop right in Provo. Upon doing so, they got involved with the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at
BYU. At the center, they found a level of guidance, support, and resources unlike anything they’d ever anticipated. “I feel like the Rollins Center has provided the pieces we were missing,” Meik says. “I was surprised at how welcoming the center was to nonbusiness students. The combination of the problem-solving and technical skills taught in the Fulton College of Engineering with the entrepreneurial expertise found at the Rollins Center has been incredible.” Thanks to the Rollins Center, Heller and Meik’s company, Sugarhouse Aerospace, is now poised to disrupt Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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“The combination of the problem-solving and technical skills taught in the Fulton College of Engineering with the entrepreneurial expertise found at the Rollins Center has been incredible.”
enrich the preparation of students from both colleges,” he says. Aislynn Edwards, an industrial design major, highlights this idea as she explains how pairing her education with starting a business has allowed her to design a wireless sprinkler system for student company Thrive Smart Systems. “A lot of industrial design is the technical side such as product design, computer-animated design, and just being able to be diverse,” she says. “It’s been helpful.” Grant Hagen, an electrical engineering major and co-founder of Auxilium Automation, a robotics company whose first product is aiming to help make roof teardown or de-shingling much easier, explains that real-world opportunities to apply his education have been abundant. “The skill sets we learn in our majors are key,” he says. “Each of us on my team is applying what we learn in school.”
Aislynn Edwards representing Thrive Smart Systems at a conference.
a billion-dollar industry, effectively changing the world by bringing space to the common man. None of this would have been possible, however, without a partnership between Heller and Meik’s engineering abilities and the Rollins Center’s resources and training. It appears that changing the world is very much an interdisciplinary endeavor. Heller and Meik aren’t alone either. They represent the experiences of dozens of young entrepreneurs who come through the Rollins Center every year who are 14
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not business students. They come with dreams and know-how that they combine with Rollins Center resources and training to produce spectacular results. According to Michael Jensen, dean of the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering at BYU, the interdisciplinary aspect of this endeavor has always been crucial. “It has enhanced opportunities for our students to interact and collaborate with students from the BYU Marriott School of Business, opportunities that
Many students credit incredible professors from their disciplines with mentoring them through the process and helping them overcome challenges. “Marc Killpack, a mechanical engineering professor, has helped us refine what we should be looking at. He’s been a great resource for us,” says Hagen. “Phil Lundrigan helped me understand a lot more about wireless networks and how they work,” says Grant Rowberry, a computer engineering major and Thrive Smart Systems team member. While many benefits of partnering with the Rollins Center are financial, such as in the case of Sugarhouse Aerospace, which recently raised a first round of funding during the Rollins Center’s Founders Launchpad, the benefits run much deeper than that. The Rollins Center is taking students from all disciplines and
developing them into entrepreneurial leaders of faith and character. “One profound way the Rollins Center helps is by teaching us that we can build a business. But if you don’t become somebody in the process, what’s the point?” asks Lucas Pessoa, an Auxilium team member.
Auxilium team members testing their product with a group of roofers.
“What I’ve learned from the Rollins Center is, if we accumulate wealth and prestige in our lives through our efforts here but we lose our faith, it’s worthless. It’s ultimately a dead end,” says Hagen. These character- and business-building experiences are largely facilitated by students interacting with alreadysuccessful entrepreneurs of faith and character who mentor and lecture at the Rollins Center. “I love hearing stories about someone who has been successful because they have learned to rely on God,” says David Chin, a mechanical engineering major and team member at Auxilium. “Because of that relationship, they understand their responsibilities to help others. It’s inspiring to see what you can become with God’s help. You can build a successful business and change the world, but you can also change individual lives because you have the means to do so. So I feel like it is a way to build the kingdom of God.”
Grant Hagen and Todd Paskett of Auxilium pose after their big win in the Miller New Venture Challenge.
As long as dreamers with know-how and passion exist, BYU will continue to produce leaders of faith and character who are committed to change the world through their interdisciplinary endeavors. Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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FEATURED FOUNDERS: Principles and Purpose By Cody Cutler
The road to successful entrepreneurship traverses a rocky terrain. For every success, a dozen different failures can act as deterrents. It is crucial, then, that an entrepreneur be rooted upon a sure foundation of principles and purpose. Rollins Center Founders represent this ideal at their cores. Faith, family, and business become inseparable for them because the principles that guide each are the same.
James Clarke
Labor and Honor
Early in life, James Clarke’s parents taught him an important lesson about labor and honor, a concept held dearly by the Clarke family for generations. “When I was a young boy, I worked for my parents each summer doing whatever needed to be done around our home for a whopping $1.33 per hour,” says Clarke. At the end of each week, if Clarke had done a good job, been on time, and completed what was asked of him, the memo section of his paycheck would read, “Labor and Honor,” the very words that adorn the Clarke family crest in Latin (Labore et Honore). “But if I had not done my best or if I had been late, or the like, the memo section would simply read, ‘Labor,’” Clarke explains. “That stung but taught me great lessons. I quickly learned that labor without honor was not enough.” Now a parent himself, Clarke seeks to instill labor and honor in his own children by working alongside them and helping them reach labor and honor in all they do.
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The founder of both Clearlink in could do this, what could stop a kid like “I quickly learned 2003, which was acquired by Sykes me from doing it too.” that labor without Enterprises in 2016, and Clarke Capital Partners in 2011, Clarke has Clarke also explains the powerful part that honor was not enjoyed great successes through his faith has played for him in guiding both labors, including building businesses, his life and businesses. “It’s everything,” he enough.” serving on boards, and earning advanced says. “In every part of what I do. People degrees from both Harvard and Oxford will talk about the secular and the spiritual, universities. But as anyone who knows him can tell you, he and I don’t know that there is a separation between the two. I has done it all with a trademark humility, generosity, and see all things as spiritual. It’s what drives me.” warmth that have truly brought honor as well. These traits have largely been fueled by his faith and inspired by key role Through his involvement in the Rollins Center, Clarke is models, particularly his aunt, Sybil Ferguson, an incredible seeking to help develop entrepreneurs of similar faith and entrepreneur and philanthropist. character. “It’s an incredible investment,” Clarke said. “I don’t know of a better place where we can allocate our dollars in a “She was my first great example of a wonderful entrepreneur,” philanthropic sense and see how it moves the needle with the he says. “She was the kind of elegant creature who you wanted students. The center is as good as it gets in higher education to be around, full of kindness and love. I thought, well, if she in developing business leaders.”
Ryan Smith
Hardworking and Mission Driven The CEO sets the tone for a company, and in the case of Qualtrics founder and CEO Ryan Smith, it’s easy to see where his company gets its hardworking and mission-driven spirit from.
“We don’t let other people determine what our success is,” he says. “We don’t care what the rest of the world thinks success
“My parents always taught us to work hard,” Smith says. “I think of the time they dropped us in downtown Provo as kids and said, ‘You’re not coming back until you have a job.’ I had a job before I was sixteen.” For Smith, experiences like this were pivotal moments in his development towards entrepreneurship. “There was an expectation for us as kids that we’d go and work,” he says, “but that’s not all—my parents were willing to let us fail. That’s rare in today’s world. But you need to fail, because that’s where you learn. “It was a culmination of seven or eight moments like that where I had to operate in a way where no one was going to bail me out,” he continues. “Those moments teach you key lessons that culminate to what you’re good at, what you think you can develop.” What Smith developed was a product that changed the face of research. Qualtrics has grown into an international tech behemoth that was recently acquired by SAP for $8 billion, one of the largest transactions of its kind in Utah history. According to Smith, however, we each define what success means to us.
Dean Brigitte Madrian, BYU Marriott School of Business, and Ryan Smith, founder of Qualtrics, after Smith’s 2019 convocation address inspiring graduates to be “all in” in their future endeavors. Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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looks like for us. It’s something inherent in our DNA. If you’ve already outlined what success looks like for you, and you can view yourself being happy with it, then that’s great.”
“You’re not coming back until you have a job.”
That level of autonomy, facilitated by being mission driven, is a huge part of who Smith is, along with his faith. “I’m someone who believes a lot, and I don’t think you can separate faith and family and business,” he says. “They become this everconnected world of who you are. At some point, you have to believe that you’re doing something that is bigger than you.
You have to be mission driven. I’m mission driven to the core.”
Through the Rollins Center, Smith hopes to help young entrepreneurs avoid the pitfalls he encountered early in his career. “Hopefully the world isn’t as lonely as when we started,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot of people to talk to. I can count the number of mentor sessions we had starting out on one hand. It’s a lot easier today. If there is anything I can do to help the next folks not step in the holes we did, it’s worth it.”
Eric Rea
Dignity and Macro Optimism Eric Rea knew from an early age that entrepreneurship was for him. “My dad was an entrepreneur,” Rea says. “Growing up I loved how he was able to start a business. It was something that influenced me early.” Clearly it was a strong influence. Rea is the co-founder and CEO of Podium, a fast-growing and successful software company that helps businesses improve their online reputations. Recognized by Forbes as one of its Next Billion-Dollar Startups, Podium is already a great success and destined for even more achievements in the future. While many factors have contributed to Podium’s growth, Rea points to one principle in particular—one which he follows as he runs the company as well as lives his own life. 18
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“We have a general principle of being good to other people,” he says. “We treat everybody with dignity. That’s something we’ve tried to do at Podium, and you can see how it changes the interactions you have with people.” Along with treating others with dignity, the company seeks to focus on the positive. “We have a saying,” Rea says. “Micro pessimism, macro optimism. It means that we do worry about the small things, and we take care of them. But we are super optimistic about the opportunities that lie before us, and we do not let the little things get in the way of that.” Rea supports the Rollins Center because of the influence it had in helping him get Podium off the ground, including key mentors that helped him and his co-founder. “Mentorship was pivotal for Dennis [Steele] and me,” he said. “The center put on all these events, and they inspired us. Through Rollins Center faculty like Craig Earnshaw, we were introduced to our first investors, and the rest is history.” Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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ROLLINS CENTER STUDENT LEADERS
When Kyle Poulin played football in high school, he became known not for what he did on the field but for what he was able to accomplish off the field— raising money.
“Nobody really likes school fundraisers,” says Poulin, who graduated from BYU Marriott’s MBA program this year. “But I’ve always had a knack for seeing something that needs to be done but that nobody is doing, and then going out and getting it done.” It is precisely that ability that led Poulin to BYU Marriott’s Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. “They were touting the Big Idea Pitch, and I submitted my idea,” says Poulin. “Although that first pitch didn’t go anywhere, it paved the way for my second-year pitch, which has evolved into my own startup company.” In addition to pitching an idea, Poulin also worked as co-director for the center’s Miller Competition Series, an added responsibility to his already-heavy load as an MBA student but one that he recognized would provide invaluable experience.
“Being a student leader at the center has allowed me to not only learn about entrepreneurship but also to work behind the scenes and gain additional skills and resources,” he says. “I’ve honed that natural ability I have to see a need and an entrepreneurial ability to move into the market with an idea that helps others.” 20
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Helping others is a common theme among the center’s student leadership. “What interests me most about entrepreneurship is the ability it gives me to serve,” says Preston Walston, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship who served as the center’s team tracking manager and I-Corps coordinator. “Many businesses stem from the desire to solve someone else’s pain. Entrepreneurship just comes down to serving.”
“I gained real-life experience that helped me in my school work and in building my career.”
But what he’s learned through his involvement with the center has extended far beyond his future career. “I have applied lean startup principles heavily to my life,” Walston says. “I make sure that I truly listen to people and that I’m empathetic to the needs of others. I see the big picture better now and am able to see both sides of a situation.” Abigail Tanner, a junior majoring in communication studies, was hooked the moment she walked into the center, and she was thrilled to work in the center as an events and communications specialist. “I gained real-life experience that helped me in my school work and in building my career,” she says. “The people I met and connections I made while in my leadership role at the center helped to shape me into the leader I am today because of their examples of faith and character.” Jennifer Scherbel, who worked closely with the center as president of BYU’s Graduate Entrepreneurship Association,
The IBMC leadership team made this year’s International Business Competition the best ever.
“When we put God first, the important things fall into place, and everything else drops out. My time with the Rollins Center has better prepared me for that.”
Working with these and other students is one of the highlights of being at the Rollins Center, says Jeff Brown, associate director of operations for the center. “The students we work with—both those we employ and those who take advantage of our programs and services—make work so enjoyable. I learn so much from them, and the things they accomplish are inspiring. The students are the secret behind our success and what makes us a perennial top-ranked program.”
echoes that sentiment. “Without question, my involvement with the center helped me grow,” she says. “Being a leader frequently means more pain than fame, and leadership roles often come with a large dose of humility due to the inability to accomplish everything you envision. But when we put God first, the important things fall into place, and everything else drops out. My time with the Rollins Center has better prepared me for that.”
Jennifer Scherbel, 2018–2019 Entrepreneurship Association president, with every past president since the club began.
Preston Walston has been the center’s team tracking manager, I-Corps coordinator, and lead student mentor for the past two years. Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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Miller New Venture Challenge Acrea 3D: Anna Nielsen, Kent Hooper
Neptune: Marx Acosta-Rubio, Grant
Acrea 3D has built the highest-resolution stereolithographic 3D printer in the world. This printer can be used to make microfluidic devices that enable a variety of medical, pharmaceutical, and technological applications that are currently impossible to fabricate. While it is still building its product, Acrea has several groups testing the printers and has already sold its first printer for $125,000.
Neptune makes single-use plastic that is good for the environment. The company has made significant technological progress as well as forwarded its understanding and relationship with clients to create the biggest impact for good in client organizations.
Sugarhouse Aerospace: Riley Meik,
Christensen, Hal Jones
Thrive Smart Systems: Seth Bangerter,
Steve Heller
Bryan Brittain, Skyler Rowley, Grant Rowberry,
Sugarhouse Aerospace enables students, researchers, and engineers to access space (payloads, not people) at a consumer price. The company recently raised a round of angel funding and will be using that money to fund its next round of technology and full-scale development. Sugarhouse Aerospace has planned launches for December 2019 and September 2020 that are already fully booked.
Aislynn Edwards Thrive transforms any irrigation system into wireless. This is accomplished by eliminating the existing wiring-control system to the valves. The company has more than $50,000 in signed letters of intent and has brought industry experts onto the team who will help get its product off the ground. Company officials have also been in discussion with a number of interested investors.
Speech Cloud: Cameron Stoker, Kyle Hale,
Auxilium Automation: Todd Paskett,
Emily Jones
Grant Hagen
Speech Cloud is a SaaS platform for the hard of hearing. The software streams audio from a teacher’s microphone to students’ hearing aids and provides a live transcription on students’ tablets, laptops, or phones. The company is currently working with multiple colleges and universities to pilot its software.
Auxilium is a robotics company that aims to solve laborintensive problems. The company’s first robot is used to automate roof teardown. Its five-censor system maps the roof and ensures proper removal of all shingles, nails, and paper. The company is currently partnered with Roofer1, a national roofing company, and is looking to form a partnership with ABC Roofing Distributor.
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Winners
The New Venture Challenge is the final phase of the Miller Competition Series. The top-ten teams in the New Venture Challenge are awarded $15,000 and admitted to the summerlong Rollins Center Founders Launchpad accelerator.
RepowerU: Kathryn Ivancovich, Samuel Duzett, Spencer Ford, Kaushay Colvin RepowerU is a software used to reduce sexual crime in school communities and reduce the liability for schools in the case of lawsuits. With its bystander training and app platform, the company provides students with an easy-to-understand guide of their options and helps them access the care they need. At the same time, the software helps school administrators manage their workload and get access to the victims who wouldn’t otherwise report their experiences.
SoloSuit: George Simons, Bert Grabinger SoloSuit is a TurboTax-like web app that provides individuals with the resources needed to file a lawsuit response. The software asks specific questions about the individual’s case. Next, a licensed consumer-protection attorney will review the document. Last, the attorney will print and mail a copy of the response to the court and the other plaintiff. To date, the company has generated four hundred responses, and a total of $44,000 has been saved through the app.
True Adherence: Kyle Poulin, Chris Bright True Adherence Inc. is a biomechanics platform that gamifies resistance training. The company’s innovative kiosks provide real-time, hands-free feedback to enhance strength training, making it more efficient and safe for all body types and sizes. The company’s next step involves the Master of Business Creation program at the University of Utah. True Adherence plans to launch sales by the end of 2019.
Thinkative: Benjamin Bush, Chad Baucom Thinkative is a technology company focused on delivering superior mobile-gaming products. Thinkative founders created and patented a phone-case game controller that provides for competitive game-play on the go and folds into a small sleek form providing 24/7 phone protection. The innovative folding feature allows the phone to support the joysticks, creating a traditional controller feel and providing more support while playing.
Other Founders Launchpad Companies BookDrop – Innovative platform for selling back textbooks, $1.5 million in revenue in 2019
MyoStorm – The world’s most-advanced massage ball, made a deal with Lori Greiner on Shark Tank
The Girls Co. – Wearable, all-day heat for menstrual cramps, won $40 thousand at International Business Model Competition
Comm – Radio device for climbing, won first place and $45 thousand at Outdoor Weber Competition LaunchPod Media – Creates native and highly ranked podcasts for companies, more than $1 million in current revenue
Versatile Imagery Services – Comprehensive drone-imaging solution provider, more than $400 thousand in current revenue
Calibur – Recruitment platform for collegiate Esports, gaining significant traction ControlAlt – Alternative assets marketplace
Nacier – Helps salons increase sales by educating clients on their hair needs
Adventum Outdoor Systems – Innovation that helps snowboarders strap in while standing up
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ALUMNI UPDATES
Founded: 2002; Founders: Ryan Smith, Jared Smith, Stuart Orgill
Qualtrics has created the world’s most agile platform for experience management. Experience Management (XM) is how the world’s most successful businesses continuously improve the experiences people have with their organizations. More than ten thousand brands and the top-one hundred business schools have switched to Qualtrics. SAP acquired Qualtrics for $8 billion, the largest transaction of its kind in Utah history.
Founded: 2004; Founders: Aaron Skonnard, Keith Brown, Fritz Onion, Bill Williams A technology-skills platform for software developers, IT admins, and creative professionals offering expert courses, skill assessments, and one-of-a-kind analytics that make it possible to align an organization around digital initiatives, upskill people into modern tech roles, and build adaptable teams that deliver faster. Pluralsight has more than fourteen hundred employees and almost eighteen thousand business accounts, including 70 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. The company went public in May 2018 at a $2 billion valuation.
Founded: 2008; Founders: Tom Burton, Steve Barlow Health Catalyst is a mission-driven data warehousing, analytics, and outcomesimprovement company that helps healthcare organizations of all sizes improve clinical, financial, and operational outcomes needed to improve population health and accountable care. In February 2019, Health Catalyst became a unicorn, hitting a $1 billion valuation when it closed a $1 million Series F equity and debt-funding round led by OrbiMed.
Founded: 2010; Founders: Ben Dilts, Karl Sun, Darrell Swain Lucid helps millions connect the dots and bring big ideas to life through its two cloud-based, visual-productivity solutions: Lucidchart and Lucidpress. Lucid has raised almost $115 million in funding over four rounds with the most recent being a $72 million round in October 2018. The company’s solutions are utilized in over 180 countries by more than 27 million users; 96 percent of the Fortune 500 use Lucidchart.
Founded: 2010; Founders: Josh James Domo’s mission is to be the operating system for business, digitally connecting a company’s people, data, and systems, empowering a company to collaborate better, make better decisions, and be more efficient—right from a smartphone. Domo raised almost $700 million in funding over eleven rounds before raising almost $200 million more in a June 2018 IPO.
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Founded: 2014; Founders: Eric Rea, Dennis Steele Podium is a privately held technology company that develops cloud-based software to help businesses modernize customer interactions, such as messaging and customer feedback, and improve their online reputations. Podium participated in Y Combinator, was thirteenth on the 2018 Inc. 5000, and has raised over $96 million in funding to date, with the latest round of $60 million coming in June 2018.
Founded: 2016; Founders: Blake Murray, Alex Bean Divvy is the leading spend-and-expense management platform for business. The platform fuses with a smart corporate credit card to provide instant visibility and control of companywide spending. The best part? It’s free. In less than a year and a half, Divvy built its client list from zero to more than three thousand and announced a whopping $200 million funding round. The Series C funding brought Divvy’s total financing at the time to more than $250 million.
Founded: 2014; Founders: Kurt Avarell Canopy has created a cloud-based software that helps tax and accounting professionals streamline their practices. The software eliminates any element of tax work that doesn’t utilize the strategic and analytical skills of tax professionals and accountants, allowing tax professionals to simplify their practices and help more clients. Canopy has raised $72 million in funding, with the most recent round of $12 million coming in May 2018.
Founded: 2017; Founders: Austen Allred, Ben Nelson Lambda School is a combination of a school and an investment fund. Lambda offers its students a free computer-science education until they get hired. The school’s mission is to find untapped or underutilized talent, and train that talent for the most in-demand jobs worldwide. Lambda School is pioneering a new model of higher education in which the school invests in the students, instead of the other way around. Lambda has raised almost $50 million in funding over five rounds.
Founded: 2012; Founders: Marc Chenn, Thomas Hatch SaltStack develops award-winning, unique, intelligent, IT-automation software that helps businesses more efficiently secure and manage all aspects of their digital infrastructure, including event-driven IT automation for efficient configuration, control, and security of complex digital systems at any scale. In 2018, SaltStack announced a $15.5 million Series A round, led by Mercato Partners. In addition to prior investments from Peak Ventures, Epic Ventures, and Deep Fork Capital, total funding for SaltStack is now at $28 million.
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By Nikaela Smith
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Forbes reports that nine out of ten startup companies end in failure. BYU Marriott’s Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology is working to change that statistic through its International Business Model Competition (IBMC). The IBMC focuses on the process and methodologies used to validate new business ideas and mitigate risk and uncertainty. This methodology is based on entrepreneurs talking to potential customers and partners and leveraging their feedback. Since the center adopted this methodolgy in 2010, The Princeton Review has consistently ranked BYU Marriott’s Rollins Center as one of the top-five entrepreneurship programs in the country.
principles and best practices, championed by the IBMC and its nineteenpartner global competitions, are helping to build sustainable companies in economies and countries around the world. “Customer-driven empathy, real industry learning, and rapid experimentation help entrepreneurs develop more successful and sustainable business models without spending significant early capital or time,” explains Scott Petersen, Rollins Center executive director.
The first day of the competition is devoted to education where student participants listen to and learn from successful entrepreneurs; the second day, students compete for prizes totaling more than $200,000 in cash prizes. “Education is an integral part of the “The speakers taught competition because we believe smarter us the secret sauce of entrepreneurs launch better companies that are less likely to fail,” states Brown.
“BYU Marriott wants to be a spokesperson on just how valuable entrepreneurship is to solving the world’s economic problems,” building a prosperous says Rollins Center associate director Jeff business.” Brown. “We want to be identified as using “Our team did not get the results we the best principles and methodologies to wanted at the IBMC,” says Hideyuki educate smarter entrepreneurs, and we are using the IBMC as the Akashi, a student from Japan, whose team competed at this year’s vehicle to get that message out to the world.” event. “We realized that we need to think about how to communicate the internationally common challenges our business can During the two-day IBMC conference, budding entrepresolve and highlight issues that are specific to that country. This neurs across the globe come together to showcase how the discovery was a much bigger harvest for us than money.” Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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The education element of the competition was a highlight for Taylor Phoo, a member of a team from Cambodia. “The speakers taught us the secret sauce of building a prosperous business,” he says.
The IBMC is helping build local and national economies in the countries of the competing students. “It is not a coincidence that, since being the first university in the world to adopt the principles of the lean startup in 2010, I-15 in Utah is filled with billboards of companies started by BYU students participating in our program,” says Petersen. 28
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In Cambodia, the entrepreneurship ecosystem has rapidly expanded over the last seven years since participating in the IBMC. “More students are viewing entrepreneurship as a future career path,” says Stephen Paterson, a dean at the National University of Management International College in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“The IBMC woke up a sleeping giant in Jamaica.”
Japan and Jamaica have also seen an increase in entrepreneurial achievements. “The IBMC woke up a sleeping giant in Jamaica,” says Brown. “The students have been hungry for this type of entrepreneurial education.”
Phoo Taylor, Alex Wai, and Ethan Wai from Myanmar Maritime University, representing their company, MMTutors, at IBMC.
Six years ago, Paul Ahlstrom, author of Nail It, Then Scale It and an IBMC judge, challenged young Jamaicans to enter the IBMC by putting up his own money, matched by Jamaican business leaders, to help finance a countrywide, IBMC-inspired competition. Only a few years later, Jamaican teams are perennial winners of the IBMC competition and have helped launch numerous successful enterprises in this developing country. “It has been incredible to see how good their teams are,” observes Brown. Among other numerous success stories, IBMC’s influence has
led to the creation of a national business model competition in Japan. Students from several Japanese universities have created an incubation center that helps accelerate and grow successful entrepreneurial businesses in that country. “Studies show that when you increase the number of entrepreneurs in a country, the GDP grows at the same rate,” Petersen explains. “We believe that entrepreneurship is the key activity that will solve the world’s big problem of poverty and sustainability.” Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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NEWS
BYU Startup The Girls Co. Crowned Champion at IBMC Global Final
Miller New Venture Challenge Winner Tackling Plastic Pollution
Three women from BYU Marriott took home the $40,000 grand prize for their company, The Girls Co., at the 2019 International Business Model Competition where forty teams from around the world competed for more than $200,000 in cash prizes. The team developed a wearable, all-day heat pack that allows women to live their lives normally, despite debilitating menstrual cramps.
Neptune, a student-run company that developed an innovative biodegradable plastic, made a clean sweep at the Miller New Venture Challenge (NVC), winning a $7,000 prize for both the Founders’ Choice and Crowd Favorite Awards on top of the $15,000 it received for being a finalist. The NVC is the final competition of the Miller Competition Series hosted by the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.
The three founders of the Girls Co. are Zoia Ali, Abby Warner, and Taimi Kennerley, who are all entrepreneurial management majors. “Period cramps affect so many women,” Ali says. “So we were surprised to discover something like this didn’t already exist.”
Three hundred million tons of plastic waste are produced each year, causing significant harm to wildlife and the environment, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Wanting to help solve this waste problem, Neptune provides a solution to this plastic predicament. Neptune’s plastic is made of chitin, a byproduct of shrimp shells that completely degrades in five days, making it more ecofriendly than plastic bags and bottles.
Their effective use of customer validation and rapid iteration of their product ultimately won them the grand prize. The Girls Co. team members hope this win will inspire other women to begin and realize their entrepreneurial dreams.
Student Innovator of the Year Winning Team Sets Sights on Space Known for launching BYU students’ great ideas into real businesses, this year’s Student Innovator of the Year Competition launched its winner’s idea even further—into space. Riley Meik, a mechanical engineering major and co-founder of Sugarhouse Aerospace, presented the winning idea: an affordable way to make suborbital space more accessible to educators, researchers, and consumers to explore the final frontier and its unique environment. For its efforts, Sugarhouse not only won $7,000 in prize money but also the title of 2019 Student Innovator of the Year. 30
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BYU Teams Take Home $65,000 at Outdoor Weber Competition BYU students landed the first- and second-place spots at Weber State University’s Outdoor Weber Competition where students pitched outdoor-related business ideas. Breanna Davis, a BYU graphic design major, and her husband, William, won $45,000 and first place with their business idea Comm, which is a lightweight, data-transferring, radio-frequency device that allows outdoor enthusiasts to communicate while climbing. Second place and $20,000 went to Jason Glenn, a mechanical engineering major, for his business idea: springloaded snowboard straps.
BYU Wireless Sprinkler Company Takes First Place at Utah Entrepreneur Challenge
Thrive Smart Systems—a completely wireless sprinkler system that is reliable, ecofriendly, and affordable—took home the $40,000 grand prize and first-place title at the 2019 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge at the University of Utah. Seth Bangerter, a mechanical engineering major and CEO and co-founder of Thrive Smart Systems, assembled his team in January 2018. The team worked to identify a pain in the landscape industry. “A lot of people were asking for a wireless sprinkler system since they found wired systems troublesome, and we wanted to be the company to make this change,” Bangerter says. “The grand prize of $40,000 will go right back into the company, especially into developing the technology that sets Thrive apart. We anticipate the funds will be used to move our product into the beta phase and eventually have contractors implement the sprinkler system in the ground.” Bangerter and his team are excited about their big win and look forward to working on the company full-time.
BYU Cougar Capital Wins First at Regional VCIC and Second at Global VCIC Competition
The Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) is a prestigious global competition where students are the investors and real entrepreneurs pitch to them. Participating in the VCIC event is a significant accomplishment by itself, as only the top schools and students in the world are invited to attend.
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BY THE NUMBERS REAL COMPANIES STARTED BY BYU STUDENTS WHO GRADUATED IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS:
714
FUNDING RAISED BY BYU ROLLINS CENTERINSPIRED COMPANIES OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS:
$
3,151,552,226 TOTAL AMOUNT OF EXITS BY BYU ROLLINS CENTERINSPIRED COMPANIES OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS:
$
11,393,000,000
FUNDS DONATED TO ROLLINS CENTER BY FOUNDERS IN 2018:
$ 32
845,335
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RECENT STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR ALUMNI WHO BECAME FOUNDER DONORS IN 2018:
5
foreUP Fuse Reel, LLC Owlet Baby Care Smart Rhino Labs VolleyMetrics
CASH PRIZES AWARDED AT BYU COMPETITIONS:
$
CRASH PRIZES EARNED AT EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS:
528,800 293,000 $
ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLASSES OFFERED ON CAMPUS:
STUDENTS ENROLLED IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLASSES:
NUMBER OF STUDENTS INTERACTING WITH THE CENTER:
NUMBER OF UNIQUE STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN CENTER ACTIVITIES:
83
12,527
3,903
6,365
TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED:
134
DOLLAR AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED:
271,552
$
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BYU ROLLINS CENTER
WHO’S WHO
Full- & Part-Time Staff
Scott Petersen Steve Liddle Jeff Brown Mike Hendron Taunya Brown Rose Blamires Meeshell Jewell Alison Bawden
Aaron Hawkins Aaron Miller Brian Reschke Bryan Howell Chad Carlos Chia-Chi Teng Chris Mattson Curt Anderson David Busath Derek Hansen Frank Christianson Gary Rhoads Geoff Wright Gibb Dyer Gordon Smith Jason Weaver Jeff Dyer Jeff Humpherys Jeff Jenkins John Salmon Ken Rodham Marc Hansen Mark Keith Nile Hatch Rick West Steve Liddle Taylor Nadauld
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Executive Director Academic Director Associate Director, Operations Associate Academic Director Program & Events Manager Office Manager Marketing & PR Manager Financial Manager
Academic Faculty
Electrical Engineering Public Management/Social Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship Industrial Design Entrepreneurship Technology Mechanical Engineering Law Physiology & Developmental Biology Information Technology English Marketing Technology & Engineering Entrepreneurship Law Manufacturing Engineering Strategy Mathematics Information Systems Mechanical Engineering Computer Science Physiology & Developmental Biology Information Systems Entrepreneurship Instructional Psychology & Technology Information Systems Finance
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Professional Faculty
Gary Williams Mike Hendron Scott Petersen Todd Manwaring Alan Boardman Brigham Dallas Corbin Church Craig Earnshaw Damian Fink Gavin Christensen James Ritchie Kim Scoville Ralph Little Rob Cornilles Scott Johnson Sid Krommenhoek Taylor Halverson Tom Peterson W illiam Arnett, III
Sterling Wentworth Corp./ SunGard Arcwise Consulting Omadi Unitus BD Medical Dallas Media Church Properties LifeLink Corporation California Capital & Investment Group Kickstart Seed Fund The Ritchie Group Silvermark Services Little & Company Game Face Inc. Motivosity Peak Ventures Creativity, Innovation & Design Group Trammell Crow Company Theatrisoft
Donor Organization Board of Directors
Scott Petersen Bryan Welton Case Lawrence Corbin Church Craig Earnshaw Cydni Tetro Dave Royce Derrin Hill James Clarke Jeff Burningham Jeff Danley Jeremy Andrus John Sperry Kristen Lamb Mike Morgan Mike Sharp Nick Greer Ron Mika Scott Moscrip Spencer Millerberg
Omadi (Board Chairman) Namify CircusTrix Church Properties LifeLink Corporation ForgeDX, Women Tech Council Aptive Environmental RevRoad Clarke Capital Partners Peak Capital Partners Peak Capital Partners Traeger Grills InMoment EcoVap Morgan Family Foundation LogMeIn Skipio Sorenson Capital Internet Truckstop Group One Click Retail
The Meteor is the world’s newest and most innovative massage ball. It utilizes vibration and heat therapy to reduce pain and speed up recovery.
Photo Credit Courtesy of MyoStorm BYU’s MyoStorm team pitches its innovative massage ball, the Meteor, to the investors on ABC’s hit TV show Shark Tank. Rollins Center Annual Report 2019
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HARVEST BIGGER THAN MONEY _____ p. 26