Most people consider coastal cities or large, booming metropolitan areas like Denver or Austin to be innovation hubs.
Yet, as one of this year's Inno Under 25 honorees put it, "capital is everywhere." It just takes a dedicated support network to turn an idea into a reality.
Each year, Albuquerque Business First and New Mexico Inno look for young startup founders, entrepreneurs and people who are doing their part to advance the state's economy. After a call for nominations from the public, the editorial team then reviewed nominee applications and selected four individuals as part of this year's Inno Under 25 group. To qualify, those selected had to be 25 years old or younger.
From building a video game to shaping a brand identity to educating the next generation of gamers to developing kitchenware, these four people are driven to innovate. And they are doing it, right here, in New Mexico.
Today, meet Christopher Nance.
Kitchen storage can be a hassle, especially for large baking pans and sheets. That's where Christopher Nance and his product, The Pan Pantry, come in.
The Pan Pantry is a shelf designed to hold pans horizontally, as opposed to the more standard vertical storage. Nance said when he and his mother searched for horizontal options, they couldn't find one.
There was a gap in the marketplace, Nance said, and he was confident his product could fill the void.
"The main issue we saw in the marketplace was that the vertical solutions displace everything else in the cabinet and take up all that space — vertically and horizontally," Nance said. "With a horizontal solution, you retain the use of the rest of the cabinet while adding the storage solution at the bottom."
Nance went back and forth on design iterations for over two years, he said, trying 3-D printed models and different shapes and sizes. He settled on a wooden box design because of its simplicity and, in the future, its modularity. Down the road, Nance wants to create other kitchen storage products that could attach to The Pan Pantry.
In developing the product, Nance said he has stayed focused on kitchen "pain points," or areas his product could help alleviate.
"That way, instead of just being a simple bakeware storage solution, it could be a storage solution for all sorts of products in the kitchen and potentially even outside of the kitchen — like the bathroom or workshops," he said.
Nance received $2,000 from the BizSprint program at New Mexico State University. After landing a deal with Everett Industries LLC, he said he is now in the manufacturing stage.
And throughout its development, work on The Pan Pantry has been a team effort. Nance said he has engaged with engineers at New Mexico Tech, as well as with legal experts in Albuquerque.
Soon, Nance will be ready to take The Pan Pantry to market.
"The main thing with The Pan Pantry is that it meets the main consumer needs but also provides the ability for consumers to find additional ways to meet their own specific needs that might not be generally in the market," Nance said. "The adaptability of the unit is a big point of success."
