Alure

University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management

Industry: Agricultural Technology

Founding Student Name(s): James Duquette, Aditya Prabhu, Mohamed Hammadelniel

Brief Description of Solution: An environmentally friendly attract-and-kill netting device to target and eliminate Japanese beetles

Funding Dollars: ~$50,000

What led you to launch this venture? Growing up, Aditya Prabhu had plum trees in his backyard that would be covered with Japanese beetles. The beetles would ravage the leaves of the trees leaving them skeletonized with barely enough energy to stay alive. On good years, they would get a couple fruits; in bad years they wouldn’t get any. And every summer morning and evening, he and his brother had to hit the branches of the trees to knock the Japanese beetles onto a tarp where they then drowned them in soapy water. It turned out that Aditya was not alone in having this problem and there was no better option than to manually catch and drown the beetles.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our biggest accomplishment has been getting our product in the hands of our initial customers. With that, our speedy progress from a problem, to an MVP, and finally to a final product has been mind-boggling. Being able to go from nothing to a final product in under a year was pretty amazing.

How has your business-related major helped you further this startup venture? Both of my majors and my minor have been a tremendous help in developing Alure. First, my Finance major has helped with cost projections and analysis. Second, my Entrepreneurial Management major has helped with customer discovery and company strategy. Finally, my Business Law minor has helped with our IP discovery and protection.

Which business class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? The most valuable business class was Entrepreneurship in Action, as it was the catalyst in starting our venture. In the class, we were tasked with finding a compelling problem and teaming up with our classmates to find a solution. As we were developing our solution, we were able to learn about the challenges that previous ventures faced during their growth phase as well as gain knowledge from the professional community in their respective fields. The biggest lesson I learned from the class was to “go out and do it”! There were many times when we faced a problem and we talked it over as a team and researched different solutions. However, the only way we found the right solution was when we went out and tangibly made an effort.

What business professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? John Stavig. He was one of our main mentors when working on Alure. When we faced roadblocks or had questions, he would answer our questions and give us the solution that we were looking for. More on that, he pushed us by asking questions back at us and sometimes forcing us to have to come up with the solution on our own. In the short term this was very frustrating. In the long term, it helped us build stronger problem-solving skills and allowed us to face roadblocks with greater confidence knowing that we have overcome them in the past.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? Bill Gates. He inspired me not only through his passion for innovation, but more importantly his impact after his success. I remember, growing up, I watched a documentary about him and his charitable foundation. It was amazing to see the kind of impact he was able to make, especially with his pursuits in malaria prevention. Without his focus on the issue of malaria and helping in the development of treated netting, Alure would not be able to exist today.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? My long-term goal is to see our Alure devices make a difference in growers’ lives, for them to have peace of mind when Japanese beetles come to their garden, knowing that our device is hard at work protecting their plants.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? We have been able to collaborate with other entrepreneurs and learn from their successes and mistakes in their ventures. Our local startup community has been the foundation that Alure has been built on, whether it is through the local entrepreneurship competitions who helped us fund the venture or the local professionals who voluntarily gave their time and expertise to help us succeed.

Also, the entrepreneurship competitions have been a blessing not only for providing funding and mentorship, but also for keeping us on track and pushing us to move quickly.

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