University Entrepreneur Program Keeps Producing Winners

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The cycleWoods Solution team (left to right) Priscila Silva, Kevin Oden, Jack Avery and Nhiem Cao.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Another startup company nurtured and tested in the entrepreneurial program at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business is proving in the marketplace and in business competitions that it is ready to take flight.

The company, cycleWood Solutions, offers a sustainable alternative to the ubiquitous single-use plastic bag. Its product is a biodegradable bag called a XyloBag(TM) and is made from an organic material that breaks down into humus in just 150 days. The company says it can make XyloBags for as little as 1.5 cents each, which compares favorably to conventional plastic bags that cost about 1.2 cents each.

In 14 months of working together, the cycleWood Solutions founders – Nhiem Cao, Kevin Oden, Priscila Silva and Jack Avery – have been very busy. They started their business, located in the Arkansas Research and Technology Park in south Fayetteville; raised $750,000; produced a prototype of their material for making bags; and have gotten a lot of interest from potential customers.

In addition, the company recently was selected as a finalist for the Association of University Technology Managers 2012 Venture Forum Business Plan Competition. The company is one of just four firms selected to compete March 16 in Anaheim, Calif.

That is only one of the competitions that cycleWood Solutions has topped in the past year. It also was the south central region winner for the CleanTech Open in Austin, Texas, and competed in the finals in San Jose, Calif., in November. The CleanTech Open is a competition for clean technology startup companies that are addressing energy, environmental and economic challenges.

The company got its start as one of the many successful entrepreneurial teams at the Walton College coached by Carol Reeves, associate professor in management, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship and holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship. Reeves was among the 10 women featured last fall by Fortune magazine in its article about women who are “doing it for themselves” in the world of entrepreneurs. The magazine recognized Reeves as a “winning coach who inspires her teams, expects excellence and keeps students focused on the big picture.”

“CycleWood Solutions is another startup success story from the University of Arkansas,” Reeves said. “The team members’ backgrounds in paper manufacturing, chemical engineering and marketing prepared them to address one of the major environmental problems in the world – plastic bags. They have been terrific representatives of the university for the past year, and they are poised to join a long line of very successful Arkansas entrepreneurs.”

When they were competing as students, the team also placed high in the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition. “It’s the largest and richest competition in the world, with prizes of well over a million dollars,” said Cao, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “We finished fourth overall out of over 500 global submissions.”

Competing against other startups in competitions offers benefits beyond the cash the company wins and the contacts the founders make, Cao said. “It’s a validation that our business is compelling and provides a solution to a pain in the marketplace,” he said.

Cao credits Reeves with getting the company’s four principals together. “Kevin and I had decided that we would work together, and Priscila and Jack had decided that they would work together, but we did not all come together until Dr. Reeves suggested we see if we could come up with something,” he said. “Through all this encouragement, we began to build our relationship and realized how well we all worked together.”

Oden is now the company’s chief operating officer and treasurer, Silva its chief marketing officer and Avery is the chief business development officer.

Cao credited Reeves’ mentoring with helping drive them in the right direction. “Dr. Reeves is a great adviser and coach,” he said. “She understands what investors are looking for in a startup. Her guidance provided us with a winning formula. Aside from her knowledge of investors and competitions, she also has a great network of industry experts and business professionals. Any gaps we had in our management team were quickly filled with well respected advisers.  Carol's hard work and dedication are the reasons the University of Arkansas has solid teams year-over-year.”

CycleWood Solutions joins other successful business plan teams from the Walton College, such as BiologicsMD, which produces a drug that helps fight osteoporosis. BiologicsMD is made up of Michael Thomas, Robyn Goforth, Misty Stevens and Paul Mlakar Jr. The team met in the New Venture Development class, forming their company as part of a class project and going on to win the 2010 Rice Business Plan competition.

In the Fortune article highlighting her teams’ successes, Reeves gave this advice to fledgling entrepreneurs: "Get ready to work very hard. It's not very glamorous, but you will be amazed how much you can get accomplished if you work hard."