Hagan Walker and Kaylie Mitchell are about three-quarters of the way to Hollywood.
The pair of entrepreneurs, both recent Mississippi State graduates, have been invited to show off their product, “Glo,” — a lighted cube added to drinks — at a celebrity gift event before the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 25. Their product will be featured in front of more than 100 invited guests, including celebrities, models, actors, singers and entertainment executives.
As is often the case with small start-ups, there was no money available for the trip, so Mitchell turned to the crowd-funding company GoFundMe to secure the funding they will need to bring their product to Hollywood.
“This event could prove to be a very pivotal moment for our start-up and launch us onward to success,” Mitchell wrote on the GoFundMe account, which has a goal of $2,000.
The account opened Wednesday evening and by this morning, 28 people had contributed $1,410.
“That’s pretty awesome,” Walker said. “We really hope to represent Mississippi well and, of course, it’s a big deal for our company. Our product will be in every drink served, and we expect it to create a lot of buzz with these important people. Kaylie and I will be there to talk about Glo and the back story of how it all got started.
“Hopefully, some big celebrity will fall in love with it and order a million,” he added, chuckling at the thought.
Scoring the invitation
Over the past year, Walker and Mitchell have taken to social media to market their drink light — garnering an estimated 10 million viewers for videos featuring Glo.
It was Glo’s social media presence that led to the invitation to the Oscar event, an invitation that almost went unnoticed, Walker said.
“It’s kind of funny,” Walker said. “The production company that is putting together the event saw Glo on one of the YouTube videos and sent Kaylie an email inviting us. At first, Kaylie thought it was junk mail and ignored it. So, a few days, later, they sent another email. That’s when Kaylie realized what it was. We almost blew it. We’re really glad they sent that second email.”
Background
Walker, an electrical engineer from Columbus, and Mitchell, a graphic designer from Pascagoula, have been working on Glo since the spring of 2015 when Mitchell sought his help with a graphic design project during her junior year at MSU.
The project required student to build a marketing/design strategy around a fictional product. The product itself didn’t matter — at least not then.
Her idea was a lighted tea bag, but after asking for Walker’s help with the electrical component, it quickly evolved into a plastic “cube.”
In the almost two years since Walker and Mitchell began their collaboration, the idea evolved from a classroom assignment to a bona-fide start-up company — Vibe — first operating at the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach business incubator at the Thad Cochran Research Center.
This month, the company moved to downtown space in the Greater Starkville Development Partnership building, which has a partnership with the research center.
Glo is a liquid-activated “light show,” about the size of an ice-cube, designed to be added to drinks. Because liquid is needed to complete the electrical circuit that produces the light, when the drink is empty, the light — which cycles through nine colors — is extinguished, alerting waiters/bartenders for the need of a refill.
The Glo units can be designed in any shape to suit the customer’s preference, and Walker and Mitchell will allow their product to be purchased in bulk as custom-designed novelty items.
Increasing public exposure
Ideally, Walker and Mitchell would have designed the Glo units they’ll take to Hollywood in the form of an Oscar statue, but time did not permit.
“We were really moving a little away from that anyway because of the expense and time involved,” Walker said. “Of course, if some company wants to do that, we’re certainly not going to say no.”
Although Glo has seen great success through social media, February will be the first large-scale public exposure for the product. On Feb. 3, Glo will also be featured at a trade show in Columbus, Ohio.
“We’re sending our entire inventory there: 10,000 units,” Walker said.
The invitation to the Oscar event comes at a great time for the company, Walker said.
“We’re just getting to the point where it’s beginning to be profitable,” Walker said. “Crossing the Valley of Death, they call it. So, yeah, the timing couldn’t be any better.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.