Several Mississippi State University students pitched their business startup ideas to the Entrepreneurship Center Advisory Board’s monthly meeting last week.
ECAB is a step in the VentureCatalyst Program, where individuals present their startups to a board of about a dozen professors, CEOs and businessmen and women. The board can decide to grant them up to $2,000.
The board meeting is similar to the show “Shark Tank,” and allows both students and staff to get their business ideas up and running.
In addition, the board gave $2,000 to Direct Flow, a product created for veterinarian neurosurgeons to use specifically on hydrocephalic animals during surgery. Hydrocephalus is when excess fluid builds up in the brain. Chief Operating Officer Jackson Coole and Chief Executive Officer Sage Lewis, both biological engineering majors, gave the pitch.
Coole said right now, the condition is treated the same way in both humans and dogs—both using a shunt connected to a tube in their bodies. In dogs, the tube is connected to the brain and abdominal cavity.
“You can imagine that that’s a crazy procedure,” said Coole.
Coole said complications in the surgery could include kinks in the tube or if the animal grows or loses weight, the tube could become too short or long.
In order to prevent complications and make the surgery more simple, Coole proposes Direct Flow, a shunt could replace the valves and tubing, and be placed directly into the ventricle.
“What our product hopes to do is to make this a quicker surgery, a less intensive surgery and then have less need for revision,” Coole said.
Direct Flow currently is a finished prototype, and they have submitted a provisional application for a patent. Once they receive models of the product, Coole said they will begin cadaver testing.
Andy Shores, a clinical professor and chief of neurology and neurosurgery in the Department of Clinical Sciences, will perform the cadaver tests.
Coole said the money received from the board will go toward purchasing more devices, hiring a graphic designer to make a logo and testing.
Next, Logan Martin and Sam Miller gave a pitch for an app, which allows listeners to tip and request songs from live bands they are listening to.
The app, called Live, can be used by both bands and users. Bands can add a list of songs they know how to perform, both covers and originals, and they can also create events. Users can add a preferred payment method, tip bands and utilize a map that shows where bands are playing.
While there are other networks similar to Live, like ReverbNation, Martin and Miller’s app is concentrated on song requests and tips, not solely promoting bands. Another competitor is Bandsintown, but it focuses on A-list performers.
“Our competitive advantage is that we’re focused on small spaces, the local musicians,” Miller said.
The app features a check-in option, which is where listeners have the option to tip the band, request a song from the list the band has provided and see merchandise. Also, if people request songs, a bidding war starts to see which one will be played first.
Live received the full $2,000 from the board, of which Miller said they will use on graphic design, technical costs and beta tests.
Madison Grant, a junior business administration major who pitched at the January ECAB meeting and was granted $500, returned to re-present her idea for a coffee trailer where anyone can get a beverage “on the go.”
Grant said she wants jitterbeans to cater to not only students but a large market of adult coffee drinkers. The board decided to grant $1,500 to jitterbeans last week.