Tag: john turner

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Accelerator clients give progress updates

Corrosion control.

Stan Baker
Stan Baker talks about his company, Baker Seed, which produces nutrient-coated grass seed.

The safe storage of energy.

Sustainably produced sunglasses and ski goggles.

Four-legged military robots whose motion replicates the efficient gait of animals.

Those were just a few of the presentation topics the evening of Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Corvallis as the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator held its first Demo Day.

The event’s aim was to bring together current and future clients for a night of networking and getting the word out regarding their technologies and business operations to an audience that included state Sen. Lee Beyer and various members of the OSU College of Business, including Dean Ilene Kleinsorge.

Beyer, a Democrat from Springfield who represents District 6, led the $3.75 million funding effort in 2013 that created the South Willamette Valley Regional Accelerator Network, known as RAIN, which has locations in Corvallis and Eugene; those cities, along with Albany and Springfield, are partners in the network as well.

OSU Advantage Accelerator co-directors Mark Lieberman and John Turner hosted the event, at which each member of the fall 2014 Accelerator cohort was asked to give a seven-minute presentation about his product, the technology behind it, the status of the business, and projections about short- and long-term growth and profitability.

The fall cohort includes Agility Robotics, Baker Seed, Bosky Optics, KW Associates, NRGindependence and TAPs, a stainless steel surface modification technology business whose motto is “Solving the World’s Corrosion Problem One Piece of Metal at a Time.”

After the presentations, Lieberman and Turner presented four awards. The Archimedes Award went to Accelerator intern Brady Finkenauer, a wealth management MBA student; the Chasing the Bone Award went to Alex Cruft and Matthew Miner of Bosky Optics; the Pounding the Pavement Award went to Stan and Glenda Baker of Baker Seed, whose product is grass seed coated in nutrients for optimum germination and health; and the Entrepreneur of the Year Award went to Paul King of KW Associates, which aims to solve safety and efficiency problems in the specialty metals and industrial microwave industries.

After the fall 2014 cohort presentations, members of the winter 2015 cohort spoke for a minute or two each outlining the technologies they’d be bringing to Accelerator for commercialization assistance. They’ll get a chance for longer presentations at the next Demo Day, a date for which has not yet been set.

Mark Lieberman and John Turner.
OSU Advantage co-directors Mark Lieberman, left, and John Turner were the Demo Day hosts.

 

Bosky
Bosky Optics sunglasses.
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Three student ideas selected for Oregon State Venture Accelerator

Lyndsay Toll (right) explains her website BuyBott at the 2013 Oregon State CEO Summit.
Lyndsay Toll (right) explains her website BuyBott at the 2013 Oregon State CEO Summit.

The life of an entrepreneur isn’t always easy, but it never lacks for excitement.

Lyndsay Toll was reminded of that recently as she waited to hear whether her startup, BuyBott, would be one of the first picked to join the Oregon State University Venture Accelerator.

Toll graduated from the College of Business in June. She and co-founder Darren Marshall started BuyBott, a website that simplifies online shopping and enhances social interaction, while the pair were students at Oregon State.

They applied to the Venture Accelerator hoping to take the business to the next level.

“Thoughts were running through my head,” Toll remembered about the wait. “If we don’t get in, how are we going to carry this forward? Will we still have the same momentum? What are our next steps without the Venture Accelerator?”

The Venture Accelerator announced the first business to join August 6. BuyBott was one of three ideas developed by College of Business students to be accepted.

“I remember being able to finally breath deep again,” Toll said. “It was a moment of giddy excitement and relief. I remember spamming friends, family and fans. It was a great moment and definitely a high point in our history.”

Joining BuyBott from the College of Business are Multicopter Northwest and PlayPulse.

Multicopter Northwest, started by incoming Oregon State junior Michael Williams, builds small helicopters capable of producing aerial photography up to 400 feet in the air.

OSU students Ryan Connolly, Andy Miller, Zack Anderson and Hannah Vincent developed PlayPulse. The startup measures engagement of video game players by using biometric sensors. Both Connolly and Vincent are from the College of Business, with Connolly also an intern with the Venture Accelerator before graduating from OSU this June.

It’s the type of student buy-in John Turner, an instructor at the College of Business and co-director of the Venture Accelerator, loves to see.

Launched earlier this year, the Venture Accelerator — part of the Oregon State Advantage initiative — is designed to provide support and guidance to businesses and technologies at Oregon State. The program brings together the resources and talents gathered across campus, with partners in the business community and Oregon State’s alumni network.

Ideas were solicited from four student-based entrepreneurship programs at Oregon State — the Austin Entrepreneurship Program’s Weatherford Garage, Startup Weekend, UPTIC and the Entrepreneurship Academy at the College of Pharmacy.

Turner said he was excited about the potential all the three projects, and is already encouraged by their development.

“They span a broad range of ideas and reflect the creativity, initiative and commitment of COB students,” Turner said. “Less than two months into the program we have seen good progress already in the development of their businesses.”