Lucas Patten
Title: Founder
Company: Powder Pal
Age: 21
Lucas Patten’s idea for Powder Pal was born out of a passion for fitness. But it was also inspired by his mother, Debbie, who used to scold him for spilling protein powder on the counter.
“I thought to myself, ‘There has got to be a better way to do this,’” he said.
After some encouragement from Robert Vera, a Grand Canyon University professor and founding director of the Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Patten connected with some engineers to help design a device to dispense accurate portions of protein powder and other supplements.
Patten finalized Powder Pal’s design and pitched his product in April at GCU’s Canyon Challenge, taking home first place and $2,500. Since winning the pitch competition, Patten purchased a 3D printer to produce and sell his Powder Pal product, which is steadily gaining traction among fitness enthusiasts, he said.
Patten’s company, which operates an office at GCU's Canyon Ventures, is in a “huge growth stage” with future plans to ramp up production to meet sales demand, he said.
“If things continue the way they are going now, I expect a lot of orders in the near future, so I am definitely preparing for that as well as trying to grow my social media pages and influence in the social media world,” Patten said. “Everyday is a new challenge but I love every bit of it.”
Read about the rest of this year's honorees here.
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