Engineering is a very technical field with lots of numbers and statistics. But with some creativity, an engineering degree can transform into a real business. Jacob Gimbel, a Barrett Honors college student studying Engineering Management, has always had many ideas for businesses but nowhere to go. “Coming up with ideas for businesses is the easy part for me. Finding the resources and taking the initiative to actualize the product is challenging.” Jacob’s entrepreneurial knack originated from a young age with his own business selling Pokémon cards and coupon codes on eBay. In his sophomore year of college, he enrolled in FSE 301 – Entrepreneurship & Value Creation to dive deeper into his entrepreneurial goals.
After playing football for six years and being a lifelong fan of the sport, Jacob saw many issues with the sport’s safety for all ages. His product, Impact-Protector, stemmed from this first-hand issue. “Professor Sebold helped me actualize my product from a problem statement to a full-blown model.” His product is a cap that can be placed overtop a football helmet to help reduce impact from other helmets or the ground. What differentiates the Impact-Protector is the state-of-the-art material used for the padding, which absorbs up to 80% of the impact on the helmet.
Jacob mentioned that his understanding of the sport and his engineering study helped him create a more efficient and safe product to incorporate into the sport he loves. Through a shark tank style pitch, Jacob first presented his project to his classmates, who then voted for him to advance to the final round. He presented again to three judges to compete for one thousand dollars towards his start-up. Through FSE 301 – Entrepreneurship & Value Creation, Jacob went from a faint idea to a fully functioning model with funding to start building his business. “This experience building a start-up from scratch has supplemented the data and hard science in engineering with crucial soft skills for the real world.”
Click here to watch Jacob’s pitch for Impact-Protector
Click here to view Jacob’s slidedeck for Impact-Protector