Meet the 16 startup teams in our Company Launch program at Lassonde Studios for fall 2021. Find a complete list below. They are working in areas ranging from entertainment to e-commerce.
Company Launch offers these startups office space at Lassonde Studios, cohort gatherings, workshops, staff coaches, professional consultants, and more. All students at the University of Utah are welcome to apply to join the program. Startups are admitted every semester.
The program is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and sponsored by Zions Bank.
Learn more and apply to join the program at lassonde.utah.edu/launch.
Fall 2021 Startup Teams
Argus Entertainment – Argus Entertainment provides DJ and audiovisual production services to the Wasatch Front and beyond, primarily serving weddings, school dances, and private events. Launched in 2020 amidst a global pandemic, Argus Entertainment understands the ever-changing needs of the event production industry and is constantly evolving to meet those needs. From intimate 30-guest weddings to 6,000-person concerts, Argus Entertainment handles audiovisual needs in a variety of sectors and capacities.
Camspire – Created to spread awareness for suicide and mental health. The mission of the company is to ease the conversation of mental health, provide coping skills, and create a community of supporters.
Carpe Zen Productions – A production, content and marketing studio.
Cortex Evolution – Their mission is to create a community where people passionate about self-improvement learn from an expert and from each other how to better learn, think, and act. They cultivate greater personal growth, life success, and happiness. They are pioneering new methods to make personal development systematic, effective, and enjoyable for two audience segments: people sick of unproven, ineffective “”self-help”” strategies and people sick of trying to do it alone, which is often lonely and ineffective.
Executive Solutions – Executive Solutions is a real estate tech startup. Founded by Walter Brock, a University of Utah executive MBA graduate, they seek to push the commercial real estate market into the 21st century. By leaving behind antiquated processes and automating steps in a real estate transaction, Executive Solutions can provide higher quality services for a fraction of the cost. This would result in lower costs to acquire space for small business currently impacted by COVID 19. In addition, Executive Solutions employs military veterans and will continue to provide a impactful employment opportunity to those finishing active military service. This will provide a supportive environment, which is the number one way to reduce mental disorders and suicide of these veterans
Foam – The DoorDash for your laundry, Foam is an innovative, direct-to-consumer laundry service for students living on campus. Their mission is to make laundry as straightforward and stress-free as possible, all while disrupting the traditional “communal laundry” facilities found in high-density living areas – especially within universities as, in essence, they are some of the largest landlords.
FullFeel – An online marketplace for homemade food that allows people to turn their home into a food business.
Highborn Leather – Highborn Leather is dedicated to making timeless, high-quality leather products that are made-to-order by hand. They pride themselves in their passion about recapturing the timelessness of classic leather goods for people that appreciate heirloom quality products.
Keyvan Kash Art – A company dedicated to supporting local artists with extraordinary talents and giving them a better chance and working to spread the voice of many unrecognized visual artists.
Kurl Up – Kurl Up is a sulfate-free, multicultural, and vegan haircare brand for people with very curly hair. Curly consumers have lacked substantial haircare in the past. Haircare has advanced a lot but leaves curly hair out of the conversation, even though data shows curly consumers are willing to spend twice as much as people with straight hair. While big brands are partnering with go-green projects, adding cruelty free labels and cutting costs while doing it, curly haircare has remained mostly the same since it hit mainstream shelves in early 2000s. Kurl Up is giving curly consumers more ethical options with fair trade ingredients, vegan, and cruelty free formulations, and they strive to drive costs down to be more affordable.
Little Wanderers – Little Wanderers Studios is an entertainment company focused on making quality video games that break existing conventions as well as creating memorable, intimate, and thought-provoking experiences. They hope that through their games they can engage players on a deeper level and inspire them to innovate and seize their own opportunities to uplift and educate others.
Manta – Manta is a digitally native company with a goal of creating a widespread coral-reef-restoration impact. Restoration efforts are done in-house and funded though margin-of-sales from plant-based wetsuits designed for scuba divers, spearfishers, and free divers. These wetsuits are only made possible through a recent technological development that few surfing wetsuit companies have adopted, making them a pioneer in bringing this material to the diving industries.
Porcupino – porcupino.xyz combines artificial intelligence algorithms with personalized technologies to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness globally.
Shoedio – Shoedio will be a physical retail store where customers can purchase plain shoes, shirts, hoodies etc., which they can customize using tools and materials in the store. Or, customers can bring in their own clothing items and pay to use the tools and materials. Basically, it is a Gem Studio or Color Me Mine for sneakers and clothes. One of the biggest problems with buying custom shoes is the expensive prices. Artists must purchase shoes at retail price then resell. However, having a physical store could mean buying the shoes wholesale and sold at retail.
Whop – Whop is an acronym: we heart our pets. This is a one-of-a-kind service that will provide quality, mindful, and sustainable products that are hand-selected to cater to each pet’s personality. Whop will prioritize working with small and local businesses that align with our values over bigger companies. They are striving to create a business that customers feel good about, and are building a community of pet lovers rather than focusing on maximizing profit.
Z&D Products – A company specializing in e-commerce, drop-shipping, and selling through Amazon.
