Jerald Blakely Williams was up to his knees in cold, murky water a couple of years ago when he got the bright idea. He was out duck hunting, and tired of wading back and forth 40 yards from his shooting position in shallow water to dry land every time he needed something.
“It was costing me shots while I was gone,” said the Mississippi State University mechanical engineering major from Grenada. “I started thinking of a way to keep all my gear near me and out of the water.”
Four prototypes later, the 21-year-old is the winner of a $10,000 grand prize, thanks to his ingenuity and the Tellus Operating Group Entrepreneurship Week start-up competition at MSU.
Through his start-up, TreeTop Outdoors, Williams’ developed the Dry and Wetland Gear Holder. The metal stand with provisionally-patented hooks at the top and spikes at the bottom allows hunters to more conveniently store their gear while hunting.
The simple but ingenious prototype impressed the E-Week panel of judges enough to take top honors over some strong high-tech competitors April 22.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to the numbers,” MSU entrepreneurship director Eric Hill said in an MSU Office of Public Affairs press release. “A simple invention that has a clear customer, a well-identified market and clear path to get there won the day.”
Drawing board
When Williams first came up with his idea for a hunting aid, he headed to his uncle’s welding and fabrication shop.
“I told him what I wanted and how I pictured it looking,” said the college junior. The initial design wouldn’t bear the full weight of Williams’ equipment. A new base was devised to increase stability. The avid hunter used it for an entire season and came up with a few more tweaks. The design has continued to improve with field testing and now even includes an extension component.
“If you’re in water you can make it taller, or if you’re in a ground blind, you can make it shorter,” Williams explained.
While waterfowl hunters are the target audience for the steel prototype, the holder is versatile, he noted. It can be used in all outdoor situations, from hunting any game to camping.
Going public
Williams didn’t initially set out to develop a product for the marketplace; he simply wanted a practical tool for personal use. When he heard about MSU’s entrepreneurship program, however, he was encouraged to present his design to the board for E-Week competition.
This year, 22 start-ups competed throughout E-Week, including conceptual, prototype, e-commerce and growth start-up contests. Representatives for each start-up gave a 10-minute presentation before the judges’ panel and answered questions about their business models and products. Four start-ups won preliminary competitions during the week to qualify for the finals. The field of participants annually gets stronger and more diverse, noted Hill.
“The quality is continuing to rise, and our judges have even attested to that,” he said. “We saw so many viable ideas from young entrepreneurs this year.”
Williams admitted that shock was his initial reaction to winning. It soon turned to excitement when he realized what the money could be used for. With the winnings, he plans to pursue marketing the gear holder to outdoor retail outlets. He hopes to reach a licensing agreement with a well-established company that can get the word out.
“I’m also looking into making a lighter-weight aluminum prototype,” added the outdoorsman who began accompanying his dad to the woods every hunting season when he was about 5. Today, that ingrained sporting know-how combined with Williams’ mechanical engineering instincts have launched an award-winning idea.
“It feels good to see a dream come true,” he said.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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