This week’s 1 Million Cups at the Kauffman Foundation featured pitches by startups for a prescription drug to treat vitamin D deficiency and a custom aluminum photo-printing/frame-hanging system.
This week’s guest panel of post-pitch questioners included Jeff Shackelford of Digital Sandbox and Richard Shipley of LocalStart.org.
Before the pitches got underway, Annette Beck, senior director of entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, led a mini-pep rally for the Kansas City Royals in the World Series and spoke of the team’s late founder, Ewing Kauffman, and his “love for baseball.” Tickets to tonight’s game between the Royals and the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium were also given away to one lucky audience member.
“Cheer ‘em on,” Beck said. “We’ve got four games to win. Go Royals!”
Novadiol at 1 Million Cups
Joe Brickner, CFO of local biopharmaceutical company Novadiol, began his pitch by explaining how human beings need vitamin D, which is traditionally absorbed by the body through sunshine or diet. The problem, he said, is that “society can’t stay out in the sun” and doesn’t always eat right.
To help individuals with Vitamin D deficiencies and related health problems, Novadiol offers a soft-gel pill that delivers the ideal weekly amount of vitamin D, which the company holds exclusive worldwide licensing rights to through 2029, Brickner said.
The potential market for Novadiol’s vitamin D supplement in Australia, the United States and Europe is more than $50 billion, Brickner said.
“If you get 5 percent of that, 2 percent of that―that’s a lot of money,” Brickner said. “There’s a lot of money to be made here.”
Tin Man Prints at 1 Million Cups
Next up was Bryan Azorsky, one of the organizers of 1 Million Cups, who pitched his company, Tin Man Prints. The company turns personal photos into custom aluminum prints that come with a patent-pending “floating” magnetic mounting system that requires no nails or screws for hanging.
“There is no damage to your wall in any way,” Azorsky said.
Photos can be sent directly from a smart phone to TinManPrints.com, where they become wall-worthy aluminum custom photos ranging in size from 5×5 inches to 15×15 inches. The hanging system can hold up to 5 pounds of weight. Pricing for each photo and its custom hanging device for home or office ranges from about $30 to $85
“Custom products are enormous these days …” Azorsky said. “The margins are there. You’re not just skimming by.”
