Twenty student startups are hard at work this summer in the Company Launch program at Lassonde Studios. They are working together to refine their products, build their teams, make money, change the world and everything in-between.
The founders come from all majors and backgrounds. They are launching ideas from caskets and video games to fashion and emergency response technology. See a complete listing and company descriptions below to learn more about them.
Company Launch is a program provided by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business, and sponsored by Zions Bank. Students apply to join the program and spend one semester or longer learning and growing together. Teams get office space at Lassonde Studios and, more importantly, the opportunity to grow and follow their passions.
Some of the startups are also participating in the Rush to Revenue program, which is designed to help them start making money by the end of the summer through an intense focus on achieving specific milestones. (The Rush to Revenue teams are identifed below with an “R2R” notation.)
Learn more about the Company Launch program and apply to participate here: lassonde.utah.edu/launch. All students at the University of Utah are welcome to participate.
Summer 2019 Company Launch Startups
Beacon Sleep Solutions (R2R) — Works toward helping people suffering from sleep disorders to supplement their care with technology to give them a better night’s sleep. Beaconsleep.com
Craft Casket Co. — Craft Casket Co. produces contemporary caskets. In a market over-saturated with traditional caskets Craft offers a much-needed alternative. Craft offers a casket style that appeals to new and growing generation of casket purchasers. Its designs eliminate unnecessary wood working or gaudy hardware.
FHIResponse — A healthcare technology company that provides just-in-time, relevant patient health information to emergency/crisis responders via a mobile app using smart on FHIR technologies to improve patient care and outcomes by reducing response time and support better decision making. mitchcrawler.wixsite.com/fhiresponse
Gear Hold Technologies (R2R) — Gear Hold Technologies is dedicated to helping engineers through computer-aided-design services. It is currently focused on completing mechanical CAD projects for industrial and commercial companies. Its project management process ensures that all projects are complete to spec with little effort from the customer. To ensure that all projects are completed to customer specifications, it has dedicated project managers, highly trained draftsmen and a rigorous quality assurance team. gearholdtech.com
Grip’n’Strip — Grip ‘n’ Strip is a company that will produce versatile water-bottle sleeves in many different sizes with a magnetic attachment for small personal items and also protects the bottle from damage. The company currently has two founders, both are women from very diverse backgrounds.
Inferno Apps — Inferno Apps is a design agency that provides web development, graphic design and marketing for small businesses. It offers customized web solutions to meet unique needs, as well as providing more generic solutions with CMS systems like WordPress. We also provide video tutorials that focus on helping small businesses feel comfortable making changes to their site and managing their online presence. infernoapps.com
Jurassicorn — Jurassicorn is a social mission first with a bag designed for unique individuals. Its bag will inspire people to be able to connect their bag with their inner inspiration! jurassicorn.com
Kingdomworks — Kingdomworks is launching its first app, Gathr. Gathr is an online web and mobile application to increase engagement between a church/non-profit/other religious groups and its members. Gathr not only allows the organization to send announcements, videos and documents to those who have downloaded the app, but it also uses social media features like commenting and “liking” content, as well as discussion boards and other features to allow members to be more engaged in the organization. kingdomworks.io
Little Wanderers Studios — Little Wanderers Studios is attempting to celebrate the diversity of thought through the creation of fun and entertaining experiences that promote awareness and critical outlooks on the world surrounding the players — inside the game and out.
MounTins (R2R) — MounTins is Park City’s newest guide to dining. It has partnered with 10 of Park City’s best restaurants to create an exclusive dining guide. Each restaurant is featured on a custom drink coaster and packaged in a tin container. Not only did it create a solution that helps alleviate the process of picking your next night on the town, but it filled it with $100 in savings. With each coaster providing $10 off, it aims to spice up the dining experience for consumers while promoting the best local restaurants Park City has to offer. moun-tins.com
NALZA (R2R) — NALZA is a contemporary sports apparel and equipment brand with a mission to revolutionize and capture the market presence of the fastest, toughest and most artistic sports on ice: speed-skating. NALZA’s goal is to create a cultural movement that draws people into these sports’ attractive nature while creating an organic following that is sustainable not only during the Olympics, but also outside of this elevated stage. It is also looking to branch into much more established sports, including figure skating and hockey. nalza.us
NIXE (R2R) — NIXE is the eco-conscience intersection of fashion and sustainability. It is delivering the functionality you need with the look you secretly want. nixe.co
PATCH — PATCH is a multidisciplinary design firm specializing in human-centered design with a focus on improving the way people communicate their ideas. It does anything from design research to graphic design, focusing on the user first. instagram.com/Patch.slc/
Plant Local — Plant Local is a venture in environmental entrepreneurship that offers Wasatch-based alternatives to invasive-based gardening. By selling a physical alternative to invasive plants in the form of seed bombs, packets and live specimens, in addition to partnering with local environmental and plant communities to promote education and advocacy for local botanicals, Plant Local will fill a niche and help restore and protect local ecosystems while making Salt Lake City bloom.
Project Embrace (R2R) — Project Embrace aims to reduce global-health disparities and promote greater access to sustainable healthcare services through the collection and sanitization of previously owned durable medical equipment, such as crutches, walkers and wheelchairs. These devices are then re-purposed for patients in low and middle-income communities. projectembrace.org
Rexchanger (R2R) — Rexchanger intends to be the premier gear-rental service for non-motorized boats and camping equipment in the United States. Utilizing a peer-to-peer formula on an app and website, it facilitates an environment that provides these equipment items at a lower cost and with greater convenience than traditional rental agencies. rexchanger2019.com
SitUp (R2R) — SitUp is developing an automatically adjustable bed wedge controlled via wireless remote or a phone app that can elevate 15 to 60 degrees. This home healthcare device is portable and easy to store. It assists people with getting in and out of bed, sleeping upright, as well as helping them be more self-sufficient and independent with low cost and with the ability to keep their bed.
Skepsi — Skepsi provides high-quality artificial intelligence solutions to small and medium-sized businesses. Its services use various techniques such as neural nets, decision trees and Q-learning to provide customers with affordable implementations of machine learning.
Store n’ Stick — Store n’ Stick enhances portability of objects including, but not limited to, food, textbooks and/or supplies by offering a product that uses a novel way to attach containers to any existing bag or backpack. The two basic components of the product are a magnetized board and a magnetized container. Items are first stored within the container. Then, a magnetized board is placed flat along the bottom of the backpack/bag. The magnetized container will then “stick” to the bottom of the bag.
Unknown — This startup is helping grow awareness for suicide awareness and mental health. With T-shirts, it will have a tag that has the suicide hotlines phone number, as well as on the inside of the shirt. unknownnclothing.squarespace.com
