Today’s class featured innovation at its core. Innovators are extraordinary thinkers, but also know how to transition their thoughts into action.
Pitt houses their own innovation institute, which consists of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR), and help students connect with faculty to turn their ideas into start-up companies. From pitching, to design, to manufacturing, to so many other facets, the innovation institute is a hub for start-up aid and give companies the roots for creating a successful business model.
Mr. Blake Dube, a Pitt engineering graduate in 2017, developed a company called Aeronics with the help of Pitt’s Innovation Institute. By working with the EIR faculty, and his own professors, Mr. Dube created his start-up with his co-founders in hopes to change the medical industry.
Aeronics is a portable oxygen company that will eliminate the need for bulky oxygen tanks for people with lung deficiencies. Also, Aeronics developed a product called “everyday oxygen” that is non-prescription oxygen to help hikers, athletes, and people who undertake altitude adjustments. Both Aeronics and Everyday Oxygen use surface area techniques to compact oxygen more densely into tanks and therefore make oxygen more portable.
I firmly believe that Mr. Dube will be successful in the future and help those with lung deficiencies live a more comfortable life. Mr. Dube gave me tips for college that I will use to help customize my college experience. While it’s simple, he emphasized that if we want something, ask. Whether I am interested in starting a business, obtaining an internship, or needing guidance with my homework, I need to ask and reach out. No one will be next to me encouraging me to ask for guidance. I am my own decision maker.
Following lunch, my classmates and I had our turn to pitch our fictitious companies we have been creating. My company, Flex-Way, was a road material designed for all-weather conditions; flex-way would move with the ground, prevent cracks or potholes from forming. Flex-way would lower maintenance costs, improve safety, and provide the USA with quality roads that they have been lacking for years.
Unfortunately, I was unable to convince my peers of its usefulness and was not selected as one of the three finalists that we would be using for the remainder of the class. I need to learn more about pitching products/companies and also how to make my presentations look more professional; I believe my presentation looked too much like a high school project and not so much like a business pitch. Also, I learned that I need to have a generic script to guide my thoughts so that they are smooth, even-flowing ideas that my audience can easily understand and relate to with their own lives.
Entrepreneurship has always intrigued me, but I am not necessarily interested in the field; I would only seriously consider starting a start-up if I had a good, quality idea that would be feasible to create and sell to the public.
My peers had awesome ideas and I am excited to enhance the idea I am working on now, a cloud-based software company that will store inventory of theater props and props of local schools and allows schools to share inventory with each other. After this week, we will have a better idea of what our business is and how we plan to capitalize on its usefulness for schools that lack funding for the arts.