We are going back in time this week, taking a look at how some of our participants remember their times at Duke, their experiences in the Start-Up Challenge, and where they are now. To say they reflect positively on the Start-Up Challenge and their other experiences is an understatement! We interviewed Justine Chow (2012), Trevor Ragan (2010), and Chuck Eesley (2002).
Q: When did you graduate from Duke? Which school and program were you in?
Justine: I graduated May 2012 from the Master of Environmental Management program at the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment. I got together some fellow Dukies to form the start-up team that is now BaseTrace--Jake Rudulph (also Nicholas School MEM '12), Paul-Harvey Weiner (both Engineering and Nicholas School MEMs '12), David Roche (Nicholas School MEM and Law '13), and Adam Rigel (Nicholas School MEM and Fuqua MMS '13).
Trevor: 2010. Trinity. Majored in Sociology.
Chuck: I graduated in 2002 (Trinity) with a self-designed major (Program II) in Brain, Mind and Consciousness. I was pre-med and you can think of it as a neuroscience major, but really I was pursuing the advice of Duke's President at the time, Nan Keohane to take "intellectual risks".
Q: Tell us about your experience in the Duke Start-Up Challenge. What type of start-up did you compete with?
J: The Duke Start-Up Challenge was really our first attempt at writing a business plan and pitching the idea for this company. As a science/technology-centered company, we had to think hard about things we hadn't previously considered, like exit strategies. Our business materials and pitch are completely different now, but the Duke Start-Up Challenge helped lay the foundations for our company. Our start-up won first place in the Cleantech track for developing a business around a totally new technology using DNA as environmental monitoring tracers. The business was called SafeTNA back then--we've changed the name to BaseTrace--and we're still doing the same thing we set out to do.
T: The Start-Up Challenge was honestly one of the most significant parts of my Duke education. I competed with my two best friends (Shaan Puri and Dan Certner) and were working on a Fast-Casual sushi restaurant, Sabi Sushi. Before the Start-Up Challenge our idea was a late night brainstorm. The structure of the competition allowed us to work through the concept step-by-step. When all was said and done we ended up winning the whole thing, but more importantly we developed the concept to a point where we all agreed to "go for it."
This was the end of our final year at Duke. I was planning on becoming a teacher, Shaan was Pre-med, and Dan was headed for Wall Street. Because of the support and guidance of the Start-Up Challenge we were able to chase this dream. The lessons we learned over the next couple of years were priceless. After two years we decided to part with the restaurant concept, but we all landed in incredible places; Shaan is now the CEO at the Monkey Inferno, Dan is working for Facebook, and I've started a basketball training company. We are all living our respective dreams, and there is no way any of us are doing this without our experience in the Duke Start-Up Challenge.
C: After an intense study abroad experience in India inspired me to find a solution to the drought affecting corn crops and leading to the malnutrition of millions of villagers, I returned to Duke in the fall of 2001. I happened to see a talk by a wonderful professor in the Biology Dept., Professor Mary Eubanks and teamed up with her to try to commercialize her new strains of drought and pest-resistant corn. With the team we created, I learned and grew as a person more in the span of competing and winning the Duke Start-Up Challenge that year than I think I've ever learned since.
Q: What has happened to you since the Duke Start-Up Challenge?
J: We also received a generous grant from the Nicholas School Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund that spring. Together with the winnings from the Duke Start-Up Challenge, we acquired enough money to set up a closet-sized lab at First Flight Venture Center in RTP and started working. We subsequently received an investment from Cherokee Challenge through their accelerator program, grants from NC IDEA and Megawatt Ventures, and a loan from the NC Biotechnology Center--so now we've upgraded to a bigger lab in the same building. The local start-up community has been incredibly supportive. We also raised a seed round and have gotten some pretty prominent press.
In terms of our technology, we've come a long way. We have a first alpha customer in the nuclear industry, but we're also working on other applications such as detecting potential contamination from hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"). It's a very important area for us, and fortunately North Carolina now has proposed regulatory language that would help define how tracers such as ours could be used to help determine liability in fracking.
T: After we closed down the restaurant concept I got hired to do marketing, business development, and design for an energy start-up in Brisbane, Australia. I spent nearly two years there before deciding it was time launch my basketball concept. I've been running with the basketball start-up for about a year, and I'm having the time of my life. I also write a weekly newsletter for High School and College coaches all over the world.
C: The Duke Start-Up Challenge turned me on to the world of entrepreneurship and innovation. Since then I went on to MIT where I earned my PhD and did a couple more start-ups and now to Stanford where I'm a faculty member. Now I'm working on a new start-up in the online education field, NovoEd (http://novoed.com). We're bringing entrepreneurship education to those who never had access to it before through MOOCs, executive education and professional development programs. We've recently spun the start-up out from Stanford and are working on raising the next round of funding.
Q: What advice do you have for students that are thinking of starting a company?
J: Don't be afraid to see how far an idea takes you. I figured the Duke Start-Up Challenge was a good test to determine whether BaseTrace had a chance in the real business world. We received validation, and decided to keep going--and we haven't had a major roadblock yet. If anything, we've picked up momentum since then, and it's been very rewarding being a part of that growth.
T: Go for it! The lessons you learn will help you in whatever it is you do in life, and, if you're smart about it, it will probably work! Oh, and read The Lean Start-Up by Eric Ries.
C: Instead of starting a company, first think about solving a problem that you have experienced first hand, care deeply about and desperately want to fix. Make sure you talk to enough potential users to thoroughly understand the problem and how your solution fits in to user's lives. For me all the start-ups I've been involved with have been to change the world in some positive way and make a difference.
Q: What's your favorite memory from Duke?
J: One of my favorite and most influential experiences from Duke is of the 2010 Duke-Yale Climate Negotiations Simulation. It was a blast. I got to represent Saudi-Arabia, which is a notorious villain in the real-life UN Climate Negotiations, and had fun completely frustrating the Yalies. It was very out of character for me, but I was fascinated with the country's motivations. I geeked out over the macroeconomics of fossil fuels, water, and technology, even after the Simulation ended and we were having beers and playing tug-of-war. Us Nicholas Schoolers can be weird like that sometimes, and it was nice finding similarly passionate people at Yale's School of Forestry.
Saudi Arabia's policies stayed in my mind for a while afterwards because feasible solutions to their concerns required out-of-the-box thinking. I was used to evaluating sides in environmental issues, but the Climate Negotiations Simulation helped set me on the path to finding new solutions that appeal to all parties in controversial environmental topics.
T: Spending my senior year in a two-bedroom apartment with my best friends, while we worked our asses off to chase our dream.
C: I have so many! Certainly winning the Duke Start-Up Challenge is a favorite and my experiences with Project WILD. Also, I remember walking through the Duke Gardens in the middle of a late night blizzard to see a friend living in Central Campus is a favorite as well.
The Start-Up Challenge proved to be a huge stepping-stone for all these participants, whether they went on to continue with their ventures or move elsewhere. For more success stories and information, check out www.dukestartupchallenge.org.
A special thanks to Chuck (seen below at the Dead Sea this past December), Justine (seen below with colleague Jake Rudulph [credit: Duke Photography]), and Trevor for their help in compiling this story.
This article was written by our sponsor and not by The Chronicle editorial staff.
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