Xavier University junior Lance Kuo-Esser's business idea earned him a first-place finish at this year’s Big East Startup Challenge.
Kuo-Esser, who is studying chemistry at Xavier, hopes to transform the process of sexually transmitted disease testing for college students. With his new company, TestU, he’s hoping to make testing easier, more affordable and more confidential.
His idea was sparked by an anecdotal story of a friend.
“He went out one night, and the next morning he was worried,” Kuo-Esser told me. “He was like, ‘It’s expensive to go into the clinic, and if I go and get tested, then my parents are going to see something.'”
Kuo-Esser’s goal with TestU is to incorporate lateral flow technology, similar to that used in Covid-19 at-home testing kits, to simplify and expedite the process. However, he has yet to develop that technology.
“That's a lengthy process and requires a good amount of funding,” he said.
His mentor, professor and adviser Mike Halloran, a teaching professor in the management and entrepreneurship program and Xavier Center for Innovation Task Force member, said it's less about the cost to develop the test, but more the cost to get the FDA to approve it.
“The good news is because it's so similar to the Covid test technology, it may not be too difficult to get it through FDA clearance … so we'll see,” Halloran said.
According to Kuo-Esser, the testing issue impacts too many young people to just sit around and wait.
“I really want to tackle this problem now, which is why I'm going to be marketing existing technology, which is a ship and test kit,” he said. “It’s where you urinate in a cup or take a swab, and then you would leave it in a dropbox or mail it in to a facility and you'd get your results texted to you in about a day or two.”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows people between the ages of 15 and 24 are the most at-risk for catching an STD.
“There’s a very high preponderance of STDs in that college population. And so he wants to attack it both from a distribution and marketing standpoint, plus a technology standpoint,” Halloran said.
Kuo-Esser has managed to raise around $10,000 from a grant he received and from his earnings winning multiple competitions, including the Big East. He’s now moving TestU into the minimum viable product launch phase to focus on gathering user feedback, refining the product and advancing the technology.
In the fall he’s bringing his test kits to a few campuses in Ohio to see which distribution patterns and marketing strategies work best.
“Each college campus is its own unique environment, which is why we didn’t want to take a one size fits all approach,” Kuo-Esser said.
He wants to work with student ambassadors who understand the ins and outs of each campus to better assess what implementation and integration will work.
“We don't have one set distribution method, more we want to give options and see what works, whether that be vending machines with drop boxes, whether that be discrete door-to-door delivery services or whether that just be actually just shipping it to them,” he said.
His plan is to eventually move into Series A funding after he gets enough data.
Despite being from San Francisco, a global hub for startups and innovation, Kuo-Esser is determined to stay in the Cincinnati area as TestU continues to grow.
“Something that San Francisco does not offer that Cincinnati does is this immensely approachable ecosystem,” he said. “Whether that be through Cintrifuse, whether that be through Main Street Ventures, everybody has just been amazing.”
Kuo-Esser is looking to grow the TestU team in the coming months.
"I'd really like to get people more in the product development and business-based marketing (areas),” he said. “I need some more advisors. I’m a chemistry major. I'm not a businessperson, so a lot of this business aspect is very new to me and I'm still learning and trying my best.”
The young entrepreneur has a lot on his plate. While continuing to develop TestU further in the fall of his upcoming senior year, Kuo-Esser also plans on applying to a Ph.D. program in clinical pharmacology.
Regardless of where his academic journey takes him, he has no plans of parting ways with his startup.
“My plan is to keep TestU close to me,” he said. “I don't want to get rid of it.”
Halloran, who taught Kuo-Esser when he was just a freshman, said its been an honor watching him grow and develop in the startup world. And he’s the perfect example of resilience in the face of doubt.
“I give him a lot of credit. He had a few people tell him initially that this was probably not a good idea. And he kept saying, ‘No, I think this is a good idea’ and kept working," Halloran said.
According to Kuo-Esser, he would not be in the position he is today without Halloran’s guidance.
“He's just an amazing Cincinnati and entrepreneur ecosystem type of guy, and I couldn't do anything without him,” Kuo-Esser said.
Xavier’s Center for Innovation seeks to engage students with mission-aligned ventures and opportunities while aiming to foster interdisciplinary experiential learning. In 2018 Cincinnati made Forbes list of the top 10 rising cities for startups.
