Tag: michael williams

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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.”

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Entrepreneurship student’s high-flying innovation taking off

A strange object appeared this year at the first day of the Oregon State University spring football practice. Or more accurately, it appeared above it.

For the first time, the Beavers used an aerial camera to document its practices. The person responsible for the copter was Oregon State sophomore Michael Williams, part of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program in the College of Business.

Williams said he’d always been interested in creating his own flying machines, starting with radio-controlled airplanes.

“Throughout middle school and high school I kept building bigger stuff,” said Williams. “Right around when I came to college I got involved with multicopters.”

Multicopters, so named for the multiple blades configured around the copter body, have become popular over the past few years as a way to do aerial photography.

When Williams started, the technology he had access to wasn’t advanced enough to lift a high quality camera, but advances in both photography and flight since then have made it possible.

Last year he started tests with a small camera, and immediately got a huge reaction from friends.

“It was an instant success,” he said. “Eventually my friends would say, ‘Oh, you’re the multicopter kid.’”

Michael Williams explains his Multicopter NW business at the Oregon CEO Summit.
Michael Williams (right) explains his Multicopter Northwest business at the Oregon CEO Summit May 7 in Portland.

Williams started Multicopter Northwest, selling kits so others could build their own copters. But a chance meeting sent the project in another direction.

Originally an engineering major, this fall Williams transferred to business on a friend’s recommendation and got involved with the Austin Entrepreneurship Program. From there he also joined the Weatherford Garage, which provides resources to help students start their own businesses.

“This past fall I fell into the hands of Sandy Neubaum, [Weatherford GTA] Dale McCauley and Bob Mayes,” Williams said. “It transformed from selling a couple of kits to friends to something bigger.”

During the fall Oregon State head football coach Mike Riley spoke at an entrepreneurship class and Mayes, a former Oregon State quarterback, pushed Williams to approach and share his business plan.

It turned out the Riley was looking for a better way to get photos and videos of offensive lineman, often packed too close together to see well from the sidelines.

“I got the opportunity to do a mini pitch and he was instantly interested,” Williams said. “He invited me to come to spring practices and do some demos.”

Williams showed up on day one and went to work. The system records video but also sends it to a video unit on the ground, so coaches can watch in real-time.

The next step for Williams is getting funding for better equipment while continuing to develop the business.

No matter where the idea takes him, so far he’s happy with the decision to jump into his own business.

“I walked into Weatherford [Hall] not knowing what to expect,” Williams said. “Now I spend hours on hours in that building.