HydroWorx CEO, Anson Flake, has extensive experience working with colleges and universities in his line of business. As co-founder of the company, he’s enjoyed success manufacturing and selling premium aquatic therapy pools to big name institutions and organizations in the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NCAA. I sat down with him to better understand the impact academia, and ITN, could have on expanding a business like his.
In Pa, ITN has assisted HydroWorx by connecting the company with talented faculty in graphics & design, and business at one of our members, Millersville University. Together the faculty pair led a select group of students as they compiled and ultimately presented their findings on market research and competitive analysis to company executives. From Anson’s view, the collaborative opportunity injected a small team into his company for a short-term, specialized project. As he put it, a faculty team identified by ITN is like having your own scout for research talent. ITN did the searching, calling, and connecting of faculty in his designated sweet spot while faculty did the heavy lifting guiding, leading, and supporting students as they addressed real-world issues from HydroWorx.
According to Anson, ITN’s model of representing a group of small colleges and universities is both a pre-launch and post launch opportunity for companies. Pre-launch involves demographics, market validation, product development, packaging, messaging, the works. Post launch is all about studies to confirm and validate the product deliverable, lending further credibility to the product once it lands squarely in the market. With so many experienced faculty to choose from, across such a broad spectrum, the odds of finding the right fit are equally as good, if not better, than working with only one institution.
For students, the experience is one more notch on the belt for those seeking every advantage in building their portfolio and getting a foot in the door as a future hire. In this case, the Millersville student’s successful data collection and information analysis was integrated into HydroWorx existing research and is being used to enhance their decision-making process. These budding professionals got the chance to understand working on a specific timeline, under pressure, and making presentations that had an impact on real business decisions, and then hearing the feedback. All while calling a dorm room home.
Back at ITN, we’ll continue to work on the challenges - coordinating schedules, improving communication, and increasing face time between companies, students, and faculty, all immersed in crammed schedules. This project was a great chance to get our feet wet with HydroWorx, and now, as we discuss our next joint effort, we’re ready to take the plunge.
