After winning Governor’s Cup, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock student startup has eyes on bigger prize
听On-campus assistance
The center鈥檚听听met Lester in 2016 when Trigeaud was a 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock graduate student. They competed in the Governor鈥檚 Cup together. Lester reached out to his former teammate, now an ASBTDC business consultant, to help the Spiritum Solutions team prepare for this year鈥檚 competition. 鈥淚 helped them prioritize all their great ideas into something they can manage and deliver,鈥� said Trigeaud. Spiritum has also benefited from the center鈥檚听in-depth customer and competitor research. 鈥淢artial has worked with us since we just were an idea, to help us secure funding, and now looking into SBIR grants. He continues to check up on our progress to help address our ever-changing needs,鈥� said Lester.鈥�The market research is extensive and allows us to look into areas that we might not have considered before,鈥� Lester said. 鈥淲e use these reports as a guide for who we might need to make customer discovery with next.鈥�
听Entrepreneur mindset
While the Governor鈥檚 Cup prize was $25,000, commercializing a medical device will require a much larger sum of money and听鈥�moving from a student mindset to an entrepreneur mindset,鈥�听said Trigeaud. 鈥淵ou raise a little through competitions, but you need millions to launch.” Lester and Asher understand the challenge before them and appreciate having Trigeaud and the center in their corner. 鈥淎s our company grows, our听needs change听with the growth,鈥� said Lester. 鈥淲e will consult with experts at the ASBTDC in helping us address our ever-changing听needs.鈥� This article was written by Gwen Green, communications coordinator at the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center.听