TRIC Robotics is revolutionizing pest control, using ultraviolet light in place of chemical pesticides to help farmers control pests and disease.

“You can think of our solution like a giant Roomba,” said TRIC Robotics founder and CEO Adam Stager. “It’s tractor scale, and it carries these lights up and down the rows to control the pests.”

The idea for TRIC Robotics originated while Stager was pursuing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware. While in school, Stager met United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists who had spent ten years researching ultraviolet light as a substitute for chemical pesticides. 

Stager eventually decided to turn the innovation into a business — but although the research that inspired TRIC Robotics originated in Delaware, Stager realized his startup might be more successful in California.

California is largely recognized as the leading contributor to United States agriculture, producing 75% of the nation’s fruits and nuts, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. 

California also grows 90% of strawberries in the United States, so in 2021, Stager drove across the country to bring TRIC Robotics to West Coast strawberry farms.  

Once in California, Stager discovered the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Incubator, a two year program designed to help early-stage startups develop into financially stable, scalable businesses. The Incubator provides participating startups with mentorship, networking opportunities and resources that help facilitate smarter, faster growth.

TRIC Robotics officially joined the Incubator in August 2021.

The Incubator helped Stager grow his professional network after coming to California, he said. The program also connected Stager with pitch competitions, as well as mentors who helped prepare him to compete.

In 2022, TRIC Robotics enjoyed a notable winning streak, earning the Audience Choice Award at the Central Coast Innovation Awards, the Central Coast Economic Forecast and AngelCon.

AngelCon is an annual competition, hosted by the Cal Poly CIE Small Business Development Center (SBDC) where tech-driven Central Coast startups compete to win $100,000 in equity backed funding. 

“AngelCon was a great experience for us,” Stager said. “The Incubator really prepared us so that we could get into AngelCon and be really competitive, and once we got there, the mentors really helped us prepare for a round of funding.”

The Incubator program is also associated with Cal Poly, whose College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) is the international leader in undergraduate agriculture education. Stager said he has leveraged this resource, bringing high-achieving CAFES students onto the TRIC Robotics team.

Stager said participating in the Incubator also introduced him to a community of fellow entrepreneurs, many of which are working in a similar industry. He is able to collaborate and engage with other Incubator participants and learn from their experience. 

“It can be a lonely journey of being an entrepreneur, but being a part of the Incubator not only gives you access to resources, mentors and classes that teach you how to take the next steps in your startup, but it’s also a great forum for communicating with other founders,” he said.

Podcasts have gained significant popularity in recent years. Just nine percent of Americans over 12 years old listened to podcasts in 2008, compared to 41% of the same demographic in 2021, according to Pew Research. Podcast popularity is now growing faster than ever, with listenership increasing by four percent between 2020 and 2021.

We asked the CIE community on our Instagram to share some of their favorite podcasts — check out what shows your local entrepreneurs and innovators have been listening to:

Entertainment | Entrepreneurship | Lifestyle, Health & Well-Being | News & Current Events | Science & Technology | True Crime

Chicks in the Office discusses recent news in popular culture. From celebrity scandals, relationships and break ups to TV show recaps, the show keeps you up to date on everything pop culture. 

Distractible is a comedy show in which Internet personality Markiplier and two longtime friends talk about interesting stories from their everyday lives.

Guilty Pleasures is hosted by three comedians who take turns sharing their guilty pleasure movies and television shows each week.

The Late Breaking F1 Podcast keeps listeners up to date on the latest happenings in Formula 1 Racing.

Stay Hot is a sports commentary podcast that covers the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.

Welcome to Night Vale keeps listeners updated on the latest news in Night Vale, a fictional town chock-full of conspiracy theories — many of which may just turn out to be true.

How I Built This is a series of interviews with some of the world’s best-known entrepreneurs about how they built their brands.

Jumpers Jump discusses popular culture and lifestyle from the perspective of three young entrepreneurs. The hosts also include personal anecdotes about their experiences navigating the entrepreneurial world.

StartUp Podcast shares the process of starting a business, from pitching, to attracting investors, to launching and scaling. The first fourteen episodes document the startup process behind Gimlet Media, the media company that produces StartUp Podcast.

Anything Goes is, true to its name, a podcast where anything goes. Podcast host and Internet personality Emma Chamberlain speaks whatever is on her mind — fashion trends, relationships, philosophy, pet peeves or mental health.

Armchair Expert is an exploration of the human experience. The podcast features a series of conversations with guests of all walks of life — celebrities, academics and professionals of all kinds — and a common goal of uncovering human truths.

Financial Feminist teaches listeners how to make money, save money and increase their savings. With themes of feminism at its core, the show is intended to help women grow confident in the male-dominated world of finances.

Maintenance Phase teaches listeners how to achieve a well-balanced diet by debunking myths and misinformation about nutrition, health fads and wellness scams.

My Brother, My Brother and Me is a podcast hosted by three brothers. Each week, they give listeners life advice, despite the fact that they have no real qualifications to do so.

The Psychology of Your 20’s explains the psychology behind the common experiences of people in their twenties.

We Can Do Hard Things is hosted by Glennon Doyle, the author of Untamed, a book which rose to popularity at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The podcast opens an honest dialogue about life’s difficulties in an effort to make the hard seem a little easier.

The Daily gives listeners an in-depth look at headline news stories, featuring the reporting of New York Times journalists and the voices of real people affected by current events. 

Global News Podcast is a daily podcast that covers BBC’s biggest news stories.

This American Life is an award-winning podcast which tells national news stories through narrative journalism, or journalism with an entertainment-style plot. 

Today Explained episodes are uploaded at the end of each day and recap the day’s biggest news events for listeners.

Up First provides listeners with an overview of the three biggest news stories of the day, accompanied by analysis from NPR News, all in 10 minutes or less.

Accidental Tech Podcast is hosted by three self-proclaimed nerds who discuss technology and programming in each episode.

Ologies with Alie Ward is a podcast in which Ward, a humorist and science correspondent, interviews scientists and academics with silly questions about their fields of study.

Science Vs investigates what is fact, what is fiction and what lies somewhere in-between. From veganism and vaping to aliens and asteroids, Science Vs fact-checks fads and trends, replacing listeners’ opinions with hard scientific facts.

Technically Human is a podcast hosted by the CIE’s own Deb Donig, a Cal Poly English professor and CIE faculty fellow. Technically Human is an exploration of ethics and technology and a think tank into how modern technology could be used to better reflect human values.

Crime Junkie features a new true crime story each week about a solved and unsolved murder, missing persons case or wanted fugitives with the use of clear and conversational storytelling.

Dateline NBC shares compelling true crime stories from NBC’s renowned Dateline television show.

National Parks After Dark is hosted by two outdoor enthusiasts who share a morbid fascination with what can go wrong in national parks. The podcast explores the dark histories and tragedies that happen within national parks, as well as inspiring stories of survival and perseverance.

True Spies shares stories of the world’s greatest espionage and detective operations. 

Very Presidential explores the dark secrets, scandals and conspiracies behind some of America’s most powerful politicians.

Biochemistry professor Erik Sapper is on a mission to introduce entrepreneurship to Cal Poly’s College of Science and Math (CSM).

The mission began when Sapper was working with a chemistry student who expressed an interest in starting her own materials design company, but didn’t have the resources to do so — or rather, didn’t know the resources available to her. Sapper, still new to his role at Cal Poly, also didn’t know the resources the university offered for students interested in entrepreneurship.

“I was frustrated because I was a new faculty member at the time and I did not know how I could support a student like this,” Sapper said. “I didn’t know anything about starting a company from scratch. I also did not know about resources on campus, so the opportunity with this student was unfortunately wasted.”

Sapper’s student eventually found a job at a local chemical company, and according to Sapper is happy with her profession, but Sapper said that he felt like he had missed an opportunity to help foster his student’s “entrepreneurial spirit.”

He began to look into entrepreneurship opportunities at Cal Poly so that he could help future CSM students with an interest in entrepreneurship. He discovered the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), and applied to become a CIE Faculty Fellow.

Faculty Fellows are Cal Poly instructors from across campus who incorporate entrepreneurship into their coursework, and introduce students to entrepreneurial opportunities. 

Sapper incorporated entrepreneurship and innovation into his chemistry classes by utilizing concepts of design thinking, which allows “students to think about problems in interesting and different ways that they might not have been exposed to in the past,” according to Sapper.

“Scientists typically think about the scientific method,” he said. “They don’t think about design elements that might not be relevant to a scientific solution, but are very relevant to business solutions.”

Sapper was recently appointed as the first ever Innovation Lead within CSM, which will allow him to introduce CSM students and faculty to the principles of entrepreneurship, as well as entrepreneurial resources on Cal Poly’s campus. The CSM Innovation Lead role was made possible with a donation from Tim Geistlinger, a CSM alumnus and the founding scientist behind Beyond Meat. 

“My number one objective as Innovation Lead is to get the message out that science and math majors can participate in entrepreneurship,” Sapper said. “Entrepreneurship is a method of problem-solving, and scientists and mathematicians are really good at solving problems.”

One of his first endeavors as Innovation Lead was to create an Innovation Summer Camp, a program offered to CSM undergraduate students conducting summer research.

The summer camp was a crash course in innovation and design thinking. Students read and discussed a book about how design shapes the world; toured Cal Poly’s Innovation Sandbox, an on-campus lab of prototyping and ideation tools; and sat in on the CIE Summer Accelerator’s guest speaker series at their downtown HotHouse.

“We learned a lot in the summer camp that you don’t really think about in science and math classes,” said biology senior Paul Kim, who participated in the summer camp. “It opens you up to new ways of thinking.”

Sapper intends to hold another Innovation Summer Camp in the summer of 2023.

2022 Summer Accelerator Spotlight: Grip Safe

Gun owners in the United States currently have two primary storage options available: cable locks and gun safes. Most gun owners use cable locks, which are much more affordable than gun safes — but also much less secure. 

“You can cut through [cable locks] with scissors or garden shears,” said Shaun Tanaka, a recent interdisciplinary studies and business administration graduate who is now pursuing his Master’s in public policy.

Meanwhile, gun safes are very secure, but also quite expensive. Gun safes can sometimes be even more expensive than actual guns, Tanaka said.

Tanaka, who has a military background, recognized a need for increased firearm safety — as well as an opportunity for innovation within the firearm safety space. Having worked extensively with firearms in the military, he decided to approach the issue from a mechanical standpoint. 

Tanaka, equipped with an idea for an affordable and effective firearm safety device, utilized the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Hatchery to found Grip Safe.

The Hatchery is an on-campus program designed to help Cal Poly students develop their startup ideas. Through the Hatchery, Tanaka met Dylan DeFazio, who is a mechanical engineering junior and an engineer at Grip Safe.

“What initially appealed to me about Grip Safe was the fact that Shaun was in need of technical knowledge,” Defazio said. “At Grip Safe, I focus on the manufacturing and prototyping side of things, and I get to put my mechanical engineering degree to use.”

DeFazio joined Tanaka in building a firearm safety device which, once installed on a firearm, acts as a lockbox. If an unwanted user attempts to break off the device, they will likely break the gun itself, which Tanaka said is “part of the beauty of our design.”

The pair recently received a notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on their patent application.

Tanaka and DeFazio also brought Grip Safe to Innovation Quest (iQ), a prototyping and business plan competition hosted by the CIE in which Cal Poly students pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of judges for the chance to win thousands of dollars in funding. Grip Safe won the third place prize of $5,000.

“Innovation Quest allowed us to test our business idea, test our pitch, and honestly, we learned a lot about ourselves, as well,” DeFazio said. “That allowed us to hit the Summer Accelerator running.”

The Summer Accelerator is an intensive, 13-week program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with the resources needed in order to turn their startup ideas into real, scalable businesses. Grip Safe was one of seven startups accepted into the program in 2022. 

They are currently working on developing and iterating their prototype and collecting customer feedback. They hope to have a finished product by Demo Day on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. at SLO Brew Rock, where the Summer Accelerator teams will showcase the progress they made throughout the summer and pitch their startups.

Tanaka founded Grip Safe with the intention of not only making firearm safety more affordable and accessible, but also with the intention of saving lives.

“I got into this space because I lost a childhood friend to an unsecured AR-15,” Tanaka said. “We’re working on a device that will save lives [which is why] we want to be the go-to solution for firearms safety in the United States.”

With the goal of starting an open and honest dialogue about entrepreneurship, we reached out to the local entrepreneurial community to ask what questions they have about entrepreneurship.

Our subject-matter experts from the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) have answered those questions in support of their fellow entrepreneurs: 

What industries are the most successful? The least?

Judy Mahan, the Economic Development Director at the Cal Poly CIE and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) said that business-to-business (B2B) — especially software as a service (SaaS) — is generally the most successful industry within entrepreneurship.

“B2B is sometimes a long sales cycle, but the pricing is typically more compelling and you can sell for a higher price,” Mahan said. “And SaaS typically, you can keep your overhead pretty low. The one tricky part there though, is you have to have a really amazing CTO. Your software developers are really important, and that’s a hard talent to find.”

Meanwhile, the least successful industry within entrepreneurship is typically manufacturing, Mahan said. 

“It costs a lot of money, a lot of upfront investments. You might be left with inventory, and supply chain issues can really jeopardize your business,” she said.  

What does it take to build a sustainable and scalable company?

Mahan said that building a sustainable and scalable company requires (1) a strong foundational team and (2) sufficient funding. 

We’ll delve into the funding and investment process in the next section — but Mahan emphasized that regardless of how much funding a company receives, it is useless without a strong startup team.

“It is a key element to be able to hire the right people to do the right job,” Mahan said. “The right team can really help you execute on the business plan, the business model and hopefully generate revenue.”

How do I know if I need to raise money?

Tom Katona, a Cal Poly professor who teaches in the Orfalea College of Business (OCOB) and the College of Engineering (CENG), provided insight into when founders should begin raising money for their startups.

Startups should raise funding if the business has (1) a need for capital growth, (2) a plan on how the capital will be used to grow and add value to the business and (3) investors who see an opportunity for a return on their investment in the business, he said.

Katona explained that most startups will require funding at some point, but that funding can come from many different sources. 

“Venture investment is only one source and is appropriate for only a small percentage of startups,” he said. “Early investment in companies typically comes from friends and family who aren’t necessarily looking for venture type returns, and although they still want a return on their investment, they are largely investing in the entrepreneur because they have a personal connection or relationship with that individual.”

Katona also pressed the importance of an entrepreneur finding a method of funding that is appropriate for their startup.

“In my opinion, the most important question for entrepreneurs to be able to answer is what is the right type of investor they should be looking for that aligns with their expected business growth and investment return, and being able to identify which investors may be appropriate for different stages of a business’s growth,” he said.

What is a mastermind group, and how do I find one?

A mastermind group refers to a peer-to-peer mentorship group composed of people in similar industries. 

Jose Huitron, the CIE’s Director of Student Innovation Programs and an OCOB professor, suggested that entrepreneurs who are looking for communities similar to mastermind groups use social networks like Meetup.com, LinkedIn and Facebook. He also suggested using existing networks for referrals, or finding like-minded individuals in on- and off-line gathering places — for example, one might find fellow book-lovers at a bookstore or library.

“Part of building social capital is to become genuinely interested in connecting with others whether that means attending a meetup or relevant industry gathering,” Huitron said. “Everyone has a community.”

How do you convince your parents that entrepreneurship is a good choice?

Huitron advised students to explain the significance of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship teaches problem-solving skills and creativity, both of which are valuable skills in a world that is constantly changing.

“A student should use the opportunity to explain how entrepreneurship is an enabler for them to practice their skills and bring their talents to the stage of opportunity,” Huitron said. 

How can we level the playing field to increase diversity in the sphere of entrepreneurship?

Huitron suggested a number of efforts that can be made in order to increase diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the entrepreneurship space:

“Raise the narrative. Talk about it. Highlight the challenges and opportunities for growth. Celebrate progress,” he said.

He also said that it is important to “make equitable progress a focal point.” Organizations should take advantage of opportunities to increase diversity, and create strategic DEI initiatives with measurable impact.

“Find champions and have them model the way to drive an inclusive and open community where ideas and people can thrive,” Huitron said. 

How can heavy industry better engage with early stage startups?

Dan Weeks, a mentor to several student-led CIE startups, including our 2022 Summer Accelerator teams, teaches his mentees “how to test if new business ideas actually solve real problems [for which] target customers are actively searching for a solution,” rather than exhaust time and resources creating a product they assume customers want, he said.

Early stage startups can accomplish this through digital marketing advertisements and single-page websites for new product ideas, then developing products that generate consumer interest.

Meanwhile, Weeks said heavy industry “often has ideas on new products to add to their offerings but does not know how to test if the new product [is worth investing in.]” 

“Heavy industry can learn from the early stage startup best practices,” he said.

2022 Summer Accelerator Spotlight: Venture Rent

Business administration senior Shubh Khandhadia is connecting people to outdoor rental shops with his startup Venture Rent.

Venture Rent is a platform on which people looking to plan their next outdoor experience can find local rental shops. Users input their location and their outdoor experience of choice, and Venture Rent provides a list of relevant rental shops, along with a description of each shop, photos and reviews. Users can then select a shop and book their rental through Venture Rent.

“Our goal is to make it as easy and convenient as possible,” Khandhadia said. “If you’re going to a new place or planning a vacation, we want you to be able to book your outdoor experience in a minute or less.”

The platform is starting with watersports, connecting users to shops that offer products like kayaks, surfboards and fishing boats for rent. Khandhadia said he plans to eventually expand to also include other outdoor activities, like hiking and backpacking.

Venture Rent began as a peer-to-peer platform for renting surfboards, an idea which originated at Cal Poly Entrepreneurs Startup Marathon, a 54-hour long event at which student innovators work through the weekend to develop a startup idea. 

Following Startup Marathon, Khandhadia brought the idea to the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Hatchery, an on-campus program designed to help Cal Poly students develop their startup ideas. Khandhadia began to utilize the Hatchery’s resources to start building his business.

He also enrolled in Introduction to Entrepreneurship (BUS 310), a course taught by the CIE’s Direction of Student Innovation Programs Jose Huitron, which introduces students to the startup process. Khandhadia learned about customer development, product development and the processes behind Minimum Viable Product (MVP) testing.

Khandhadia continued to develop Venture Rent eventually pivoting to become a business-to-consumer platform — rather than act as a platform for people to rent out their own outdoor equipment, Venture Rent would connect people to “mom and pop rental shops.”

He also applied to the CIE’s Summer Accelerator, an intensive, 13-week program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with the resources needed in order to turn their startup ideas into real, scalable businesses.

Khandhadia applied to the program hoping to “be able to get the practice and learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur from people who have done it and were successful,” he said.

Venture Rent was one of seven teams accepted to the program. Since the start of the summer, Khandhadia has been leveraging resources provided by the Accelerator, including $10,000 in funding, office space in downtown San Luis Obispo and opportunities to learn from experienced entrepreneurs.

“All the speakers that come through the program and the mentors who have experience building products, they give feedback and advice, and that’s all really beneficial,” Khandhadia said.

Venture Rent’s MVP is nearing completion, after which beta testing will begin.

There are currently six rental shops who have agreed to be featured on Venture Rent, five of which are located in Orange County and one of which is local to San Luis Obispo. Khandhadia said he hopes to expand to include more rental shops throughout the summer.

He also said he wants Venture Rent to eventually be “the all in one store for outdoor experiences.” 

“Whenever you’re planning a trip, wherever you’re going, we want to be the place that you go to when you’re looking to have an outdoor experience,” he said.

Khandhadia, along with the rest of the 2022 Summer Accelerator cohort, will pitch his startup and showcase the progress he made throughout the summer at Demo Day, on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. at SLO Brew Rock. In-person and virtual tickets are available here.

2022 Summer Accelerator Spotlight: X-Adapt

Evan Lalanne is working to increase accessibility for people with disabilities by adapting mobility devices. Lalanne, a manufacturing engineering fifth-year, developed a modification for an electric unicycle that allows for seated riding by adaptive users. It has greater mobility and capability than most wheelchairs, allowing riders to access environments with tougher terrain, like hiking trails.

Lalanne initially began modifying mobile devices for personal use. The first device he modified was a hoverboard, creating wooden blocks that allowed him to ride it with his wheelchair. The next iteration of that device was a modified electric skateboard. 

Lalanne said the skateboard was “a cool concept, but the practical applications for it were pretty minimal.”

“The next step was asking: How could I apply that same idea, but make it work so that it can benefit more people?” Lalanne said.

The answer came in the form of a modified electric unicycle, which Lalanne is now looking to bring to market. He is working with the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) to scale his business, X-Adapt, formerly Adapted Mobility.

Lalanne initially discovered the CIE through Introduction to Entrepreneurship (BUS 310), a course he took as an elective.

“I ended up loving the class,” Lalanne said. “My background is in engineering, so all the business stuff is a little bit of uncharted territory for me, but I’m throwing myself in and seeing what I can do.”

Introduction to Entrepreneurship led Lalanne to participate in the CIE’s Innovation Quest (iQ), a prototyping and business plan competition in which Cal Poly students pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of judges for the chance to win thousands of dollars in funding.

Lalanne pitched X-Adapt, presenting an early version of his business plan as well as a prototype of the modified electric unicycle. With that pitch, he won the first place prize of $15,000.

“Innovation Quest was kind of a scramble,” Lalanne said. “I started with an idea and had to kind of build a business model around it. Doing that was certainly something out of my area of expertise, but thanks to the resources of the CIE, I made it work.”

Lalanne is now participating in the CIE’s Summer Accelerator, a 13-week program that provides Cal Poly students with the resources needed to turn their startup ideas into real, scalable businesses.

Lalanne currently has a workable prototype of the modified electric unicycle, but throughout the summer, he will be developing a second prototype that is more consistent with the manufacturing techniques that will be used on production versions of the product. He also plans to start reaching out to potential partners.

“I think a big part of the business is going to be getting people past that initial barrier of entry, feeling like they can’t ride the device,” Lalanne said. “I think a great way to make it more accessible for people is going to be to partner with adaptive recreation programs.”

Lalanne hopes to create partnerships with programs that can provide the necessary training for potential consumers to grow comfortable with and confidently use his product prior to purchase.

Although the modified electric unicycle is currently Lalanne’s only product, he hopes to eventually expand X-Adapt to offer “a series of adaptations that can achieve a variety of different tasks, all centered around making the world more accessible for people with disabilities,” he said.

“That can be as simple as something like a hand-mount for a toothbrush — something incredibly simple that’s very different from our initial pathway, but still achieves that Northstar goal for the company,” Lalanne said.

Lalanne, along with the rest of the 2022 Summer Accelerator cohort, will pitch his startup and showcase the progress he made throughout the summer at Demo Day, on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. at SLO Brew Rock. In-person and virtual tickets are available here.

2022 Summer Accelerator Spotlight: Cheekies

Recent biomedical engineering graduate McCall Brinskele was taking Contemporary Issues in Biomedical Engineering (BMED 450), a course taught by lecturer Sara Della Ripa which explores appropriate solutions for maternal health, when she realized the potential for innovation within the period care industry.

Brinskele learned that not only are tampons and pads, the standard solutions for people on their periods, not the entirety of period-wear products available to menstruators, but certain health risks are associated with those solutions.

Brinskele took it upon herself to innovate a new and safer solution — period-wear that utilizes leak-proof technology to provide menstruators with greater comfort while sleeping on their periods.

Brinskele initially began developing the product as a senior project, working alongside Cal Poly business administration majors to found period-wear company Cheekies, formerly FemForward. Senior project advisors then encouraged Cheekies to apply for Innovation Quest (iQ), a prototyping and business plan competition hosted by the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) in which Cal Poly students pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of judges for the chance to win thousands of dollars in funding.

Cheekies was the runner-up at iQ 2022, winning the second-place prize of $10,000 — as well as an opportunity to interview for the CIE’s Summer Accelerator.

The Summer Accelerator is an intensive, 13-week program that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with the resources needed in order to turn their startup ideas into real, scalable businesses.

Brinskele and her co-founder Mariana Inofuentes, a recent industrial engineering graduate who Brinskele found through professor recommendations, were accepted into the 2022 Summer Accelerator.

“The mindset behind choosing to do the Summer Accelerator was that we both want to see this company succeed,” Brinskele said. “We’re very driven and we want to take it all the way because this is very important not only to us, but to all the women who are in our lives.”

Cheekies currently has a working prototype and is ready to start user testing. They are in the process of putting together focus groups and are actively looking for participants.

Cheekies is striving to perfect their prototype and begin manufacturing their product by the end of the summer. They hope to eventually expand to develop similar products, like swimwear and athletic apparel, that will allow menstruators more freedom while on their periods, Inofuentes said.

“We’re interested in seeing if we could expand, still with that same mission in mind,” Inofuentes said. “Allowing women to feel comfortable, secure and still sexy while they’re on their periods.”

Brinskele and Inofuentes, along with the rest of the 2022 Summer Accelerator cohort, will pitch their startup and showcase the progress they made throughout the summer at Demo Day, on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. at SLO Brew Rock. In-person and virtual tickets are available here.

2022 Summer Accelerator Spotlight: Sustainamade

During the early weeks of a Cal Poly senior project course that allows entrepreneurship students and engineering students to work together to create a new solution to a real-world problem, recent business administration graduate Corinne Cooper and recent mechanical engineering graduates Ahkar Kyaw and Shalin Gogri found they all shared a passion for sustainability. 

As a project group, they began to research the agriculture industry with a goal of increasing farming sustainability through innovation. They soon narrowed their focus to the strawberry industry after learning that strawberries are an essential local agricultural product, with the majority of California’s fresh strawberries coming from the nearby town of Santa Maria, according to Cooper. 

Cal Poly also conducts ample research into sustainable growing practices for strawberries through the Cal Poly Strawberry Center, a research facility partnered with the California Strawberry Commission.

“There’s so many experts around us,” Cooper said. “[The strawberry industry] is such a resource-rich area for us to explore.”

Through their research, the project group found that an area’s ability to grow fresh produce is reliant on the local climate and environment. This discovery led them to develop hydroponic technology that would enable fresh produce to be grown locally, regardless of climate or season. 

Hydroponics is a method of farming that allows plants to grow without soil — instead, it uses nutrient-rich water. Implementing hydroponic technology in greenhouses would allow fresh produce to grow in new climates.

What started as a senior project eventually turned into a startup, Sustainamade, formerly BetterBerry, when the project group applied for Innovation Quest (iQ), a prototyping and business plan hosted by the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).

“Innovation Quest forced us to look at our project as a business for the first time,” Cooper said. “It confirmed that we were doing something that could actually make a difference.”

Sustainamade was one of twelve finalists to pitch their startup at iQ 2022. Although they did not win the competition, iQ was a valuable learning experience, Cooper said.

iQ also encouraged the Sustainamade co-founders to pursue their startup and apply to the Summer Accelerator, according to Kyaw. 

The Summer Accelerator is a 13-week program sponsored by the CIE that provides Cal Poly students and recent graduates with the resources needed to turn their startup ideas into real businesses.

“We felt like we had something that we could change, something that we could actually achieve,” he said. “We realized that the Accelerator could help us with that, so we decided to get on board with the program.”

Sustainamade is currently working on their initial prototype modeling, Cooper said. Throughout the summer, they hope to ensure the feasibility and financial viability of their project.

Cooper said that she hopes their work with the Summer Accelerator eventually leads to increased accessibility to local produce for communities everywhere.

“So many communities are out of touch with where their food comes from,” she said. “If there’s a way that we can change the system and make it so local communities can grow their own food and have it accessible to everybody — I would say that’s our overarching goal.”

Cooper, along with representatives from the rest of the 2022 Summer Accelerator cohort, will pitch her startup and showcase the progress she and her team made throughout the summer at Demo Day, on Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. at SLO Brew Rock. In-person and virtual tickets are available here.

It’s the middle of summer, and many Cal Poly students have said goodbye to San Luis Obispo and returned home for the break. With Cal Poly and Cuesta College students making up nearly one-third of San Luis Obispo residents according to SLO City’s community profile, it isn’t uncommon to hear that “SLO is dead” during the summers — but we’re here to tell you that isn’t necessarily the case. Sure, there are less people in SLO, but there are still plenty of things to do. Here are just a few summer activities that CIE staff and students enjoy during our time off:

I like to go up to the coast and take photos. In Morro Bay, you can get up right near the sand and take photos of nature.

– Sheri Burlock, CIE Administrative Specialist 

Networking in SLO in the summer is kind of unmatched because no one has school to do.

– Dylan DeFazio, Lead Engineer at 2022 Summer Accelerator Startup Grip Safe

Surfing at Pismo Beach.

– Emily Gavrilenko, co-founder of 2022 Summer Accelerator Startup Ryde Carpool

For me, it’s got to be going to Blues games. Nothing says ‘summer’ like baseball & beer.

– Alyssa Espinola, CIE Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Downtown SLO’s Concerts in the Plaza.

– Liz Fisher, SBDC Program Manager and Madison Krum, SBDC Project Coordinator

Kayaking in Morro Bay.

– Lyndsey Park, CIE Graphic Design Intern

There’s paddle boarding in Morro Bay. I also like to hike Cuesta Ridge.

– Tyler Revak, CIE Videography Intern

I like to hang out in Avila. I’ll usually bring a book to read on the beach, then get a burger at Avila Market.

– Alyson Smith, CIE Public Relations and Digital Marketing Intern

I’d have to say hiking The P.

– Shaun Tanaka, CEO of 2022 Summer Accelerator Startup Grip Safe

Milestone’s Trivia Night.

– Will Tregenza, co-founder of 2022 Summer Accelerator Startup Quickie

My co-founders and I like to go over to one another’s houses, play Settlers of Catan, make dinner together and eat brownies. We’ve done that four or five times this summer.

– Josh Wong, co-founder of 2022 Summer Accelerator Startup Ryde Carpool

Live music at BarrelHouse Brewing Co. in Paso Robles. And the California Mid-State Fair — I’m going this weekend!

– Stephanie Zombek, CIE Marketing and Communications Manager