My startup, Healthy Soul, first came to me as a dream to try and fix the ever-increasing issues of hunger and food-related illnesses within my community’s homeless population. To help bring this dream alive, I went all around campus in the search of resources that could support me with my idea. Luckily, I stumbled upon the Big Idea Center, saw a large poster for the Randall Family Big Idea Competition (RFBIC) at their office, and decided to participate in the competition. Throughout the RFBIC, we pitched our ideas and received feedback from numerous judges in the innovation community. Right before the final round, I was first introduced to the Big Idea Center’s Blast Furnace (BF) program. Babs Carryer, the director of the Big Idea Center, and I had set up a Randall progress meeting and during that time she had informed me of their summer accelerator program. Essentially, it would be a key factor in helping me understand all the nooks and crannies of what goes into a startup. At this point, I had been working on Healthy Soul for about 5 months. If I was serious about getting my business up off the ground, Blast Furnace would be essential for my progress, and the next step of turning my idea into a reality.
At that moment, I realized I had a lot of decisions to make. As a sophomore from Washington D.C., I did not have any off-campus housing, nor a summer job lined up in Pittsburgh. But I knew how important it was for me to participate in Blast Furnace, so I needed to try and find living arrangements along with a way to support myself financially during the summer. One key lesson I learned during my frantic search for housing/jobs was to leverage the power of my network. Luckily, one of the people that I met along my journey was Jordan Robarge, the owner of a local food truck, Revival Chili, in Wilkinsburg, PA. He offered me a paid summer internship where not only would I get experience in the food industry, but I would also be able to support myself financially throughout the summer.
On the first day of Blast Furnace, I could instantly tell that this was going to be a great group of people to work with. From EIR Phil Marzolf’s teasing jokes (mostly aimed at Don, another entrepreneur in residence) to the dinner that we received every night, I realized that I finally found a place on campus where I could devote all of my time to Healthy Soul and to understanding what it takes to be the founder of a new company. My favorite part of the program was the discussions I was able to have with the other BF teams. Even though we all had our own separate ideas and companies, we all wanted to see each other thrive and succeed. I really appreciated being able to work in such a supportive environment with my peers as we all made progress on our own ideas!
Throughout May and June, we learned everything from market analysis, to competition, to budgeting, and everything in between! At the beginning of the program, each team was paired up with at least one of the Big Idea Center’s EIRs (entrepreneurs in residence). I was blessed to be paired with my mentor, Jeanine McCreary, as well as Don Morrison. Jeanine and I were able to go out into the community, work at a food pantry, and see firsthand the problem that exists in food deserts. By using this knowledge, I was able to mold my business model to help as many people as possible.
Brooke Walker (left), with EIR Jeanine McCreary (center), volunteering at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
With this being said, creating a big idea and turning it into a functioning business are two completely different things. Most ideas aren’t ready to go to market immediately – there are more steps that have to take place in order for your idea to become market-ready. Blast Furnace enables young entrepreneurs like myself to see the faults in their ideas and ask realistic questions that help mold their idea into a sharper business model. The major benefits of participating in Blast Furnace are that it will test you on all that you think you know about your idea, and show you all that you need to learn. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that you (the founder) are your company. In other words, the role of the CEO/Founder is to know every aspect of your company and you must be prepared for anything in the moment that may come your way because in the beginning, the entity consists of only you and your network. This meant that the full responsibility of starting a business fell onto my shoulders since I didn’t have a team member I could look to to pick up the slack, which turned out to be challenging for me. However, this was a great way for me to learn what my own strengths and weaknesses were and thus be able to relay this information to Jeanine and Don who could help me in those areas.
I’m very thankful for all of the EIRs’ dedication to helping each of our companies succeed and grow to the point where it could be successful in market. Getting to work closely with influential, powerful mentors who have been in this industry for longer than I have been alive is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They were able to expand my network by introducing me to key members of the field, help me create a track to success (which included what important skills and tactics I needed to become a successful business owner), and help me understand the food industry on a big picture scale.
Additionally, the great thing about having Babs and the team of EIRs guide you is that they are not your professors, they are not your parents, and they are not your friends. They will not sugarcoat their feedback but they don’t do that to hurt you, but to push you and make your idea better because of it. This form of tough love has enabled me to create a successful startup that has been featured on campus and will continue to grow and reach people who are in desperate need of healthy diets and lifestyles.
At the end of Blast Furnace, all teams had to do a final pitch of our concept to some of Pittsburgh’s top investors! I think I can speak for every Blast Furnace 2019 member when I say that all of the information we have learned during the program can be applicable to all sorts of scenarios, regardless of whether we chose to pursue our ideas afterwards or not. At the very least, we walked away with a broader skillset, which has made us more employable and opened up more career paths for us. I recommend Blast Furnace to every startup or idea that wants to get real feedback, information, and guidance from experts in all industries to make their idea one step closer to being a reality, just like mine.
Brooke Walker is an undergraduate theater arts and Spanish major at the University of Pittsburgh and is also the CEO/Founder of Healthy Soul. Healthy Soul is an innovative food service that serves healthier options to traditional soul food to fix issues of access, affordability, and malnutrition in food deserts. Healthy soul is bridging the gap and allowing everyone to have access to healthy, affordable food. Check out Healthy soul here.