Katherine Olives
Some startups dream of changing the worlds social problems, some want to change the way we interact with the world, and others want to advance themselves. For SnapPitch, a startup competing for the Kaylie Hardware Prize, the best thing about the #startuplife is that you get to work on things youre most passionate about.
Every single one of our startups has a unique story, and a unique reason they got involved with our program, but rarely is it so simple as wanting to help fellow baseball players. I sat down with the SnapPitch team–made up of Josef Bystrik, a student at the Sophie Davis School majoring in medicine and the pitcher on CCNY's baseball team; Andres Hinkey, a second year mechanical engineering student; and Dylan Kirdahy, an electrical engineering student–and talked about the importance of humility in entrepreneurship.
The Zahn Center: So what brought you to the Zahn Center?
Josef Bystrik: I first heard about the Zahn Center last Fall at the Maker Olympics kick off. At first, I was just interested in the workshops–I thought, wow, free education. I like learning about how things are built. For me, The Zahn Center is an opportunity to have a tangible education. Ive never learned anything thats directly applicable to how the world works. And once I experienced that here, it just kind of trapped me…in a good way…the atmosphere was something I was drawn to.
Andres Hinkey: I went to a lot of Zahn events during the Fall, and I started making friends with other people who were going to them too. I met Josef at the welding workshop. We started SnapPitch for the Maker Olympics Hackathon, and won $1,000 for our club.
ZC: It sounds like you were drawn to the Makerlab, the prototyping aspect?
AH: Its definitely a place to just make things. But for me, the Zahn Center was where I made friends. I feel like the people I know on campus has doubled…its like a little family.
JB: A lot of people will say Zahns like an exclusive club, and that you have to be a certain person to get involved with it. I think thats partly true, because the competition is a big commitment.
ZC: Totally, the competition is a big commitment…what made you decide to go for it?
AH: I think the day we won the Hackathon we were like wow, this is awesome and we got fast tracked to the interview round of the competition process, so we kind of just thought, Why not just work on SnapPitch for another semester? I think things just started falling into place.
ZC: It was just the two of you then. How did you meet Dylan?
AH: After we knew we were accepted into the competition, you guys put together a tabling session for all of us (the startups) to meet new members so that we could grow our team.
JB: Dylan was there, and hadnt planned on joining a team, but after he heard our idea, he wanted in. He fell in love with it.
AH: We were excited to have him because he worked on a startup before when he was in high school, so he has experience.
JB: Yeah, the startup world is his thing. Its definitely his lifestyle.
ZC: So Dylans in it for the #startuplife–hes excited about what it means to be an entrepreneur. Is that why both of you are here, Josef and Andres? What makes you so passionate about SnapPitch?
JB: Ive been playing baseball since I was nine–Im the pitcher for CCNY now–and Id always been better than the average player…up until the end of high school. Thats when I started to plateau, I guess, and in order to get better, I had to spend a lot of extra time one-on-one with a coach. It was that extra one-on-one practice that made me better, and soon my performance improved.
ZC: Is that how you came up with the idea?
JB: It definitely inspired it. I thought, I want to make something that can help pitchers improve, with or without a personal coach or trainer.
ZC: And Andres, are you also into baseball?
AH: I dont play seriously like Josef does, but its always been the sport Ive been drawn to. I play pickup baseball, and play baseball with my little brother a lot. I like making things in general, so its just an added bonus that SnapPitch also involves one of my favorite hobbies.
ZC: Is SnapPitch geared to players who play baseball recreationally? Or just for players who want to play at a collegiate or professional level?
JB: SnapPitch is for a range of ball players. The appeal is that the device is for anyone who wants to become better, its not really marketed to a certain age or experience level. If the user has that motivation to get better, it can be valuable to them. Everyone has that what if I can make it big mentality at some point in their life. So, that might attract people to SnapPitch.
ZC: I think even in entrepreneurship, that mentality is there too. Everyone wants to be on Shark Tank, everyone wonders if theyll be the next company to make it big, you know? It sounds like both of you have that mentality. Do you that gives you a competitive edge?
JB: The competitive attitude is both healthy and unhealthy. Its easy to get sucked into the competition, but at the end of the day, this project is like our own little world and were all in it together. Really, its like were on our own little boat in a big ocean, just focusing on SnapPitch. The desire to be better than others isnt the strongest force thats driving us. Theres passion behind it.
AH: Its just like in baseball, or as an athlete. You dont want to be an average pitcher, but its not because youre comparing yourself to anyone else. You want to be happy with your own performance on a personal level.
ZC: Speaking of performance…it sounds like youve made a TON of progress on your prototype! Where are you at in the process?
AH: Weve modified the one that we made at the Maker Olympics to be our proof of concept, and now were working on a full-scale prototype to demo with pitchers, and of course to show it off at Demo Day. (psst! Check it out below!)
JB: We cant wait to get it out there and have people test it out. Were working with my old teams to test it. Working on this project has reconnected me with a lot of my old teams and coaches. When I went back to my high school to test it out, I ran into my old coach.
AH: We keep learning more from meetings with mentors, and working here in the prototyping room, were really learning how we want to make our product user-focused.
JB: Yeah, I think weve been reflecting a lot on what were learning from customer interviews. Its so important that we dont miss anything and get everyones opinion. The most valuable thing weve learned as part of this process is that we dont know everything.
ZC: It sounds like you have such a humble outlook on your progress. Most entrepreneurs talk about how their startups are going to change the way we do things, and their downfall is that they dont listen to what their users are saying.
JB: Im just looking forward to seeing someones eyes light up when they see the product and they know that theyre cared for. Of course theres part of me that gets excited by what SnapPitch could look like years from now as a company, what other products we could make for other sports. But for now, Im focused on making our first clients happy.
AH: Exaclty. I want to know that something we all made is going to make one persons experience a little better. Itll be so cool to think wow, we made that. Thats the satisfaction were looking for.
JB: Itll feel like weve left our mark.
Don't miss meeting these team players on Demo Day, May 1st outside of the NAC. You can test SnapPitch for yourself!