“My decision to attend the U was in large part due to the connections that I’d made over the years and the opportunities that were available here. It provided me with an ideal environment to advance my business as well as further my education. Lassonde seemed like the perfect fit due to their focus on entrepreneurship while still providing a solid academic foundation, a combination that I was unable to find anywhere else.

I competed in Lassonde’s High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (HSUEC) during my junior year of high school. HSUEC is a business pitch competition where students brainstorm potential business ideas and present them to a panel of judges. My business partner and I came up with the idea to develop a water-testing device that allows users to test the quality of their water easily and comprehensively at home. We recognized that most products on the market were either too expensive to be accessible or they were far too cheap to function properly. With this in mind, my partner and I founded our company, Pure Solutions, which aims to design and manufacture water testing equipment that allows anyone to easily test their water.

The support from the staff at the university has been instrumental in my journey and a key part of why my experience at the U has been so positive. Last semester, my entrepreneurship professor, Stan Christensen, went out of his way to introduce my partner and I to a startup attorney who helped us draft all our documents and register our business.

Being involved in the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute has provided us with a wide variety of resources. For instance, last year, when we were working on our prototype, the Maker Space allowed us access to all the tools and equipment required for our device. Lassonde has also allowed us to connect with industry experts who have helped us greatly in driving our business forward. Last year, during the Utah Entrepreneurship Challenge, my team and I connected with the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy who graciously invited us to tour their facility and walked us through their water treatment process. They also expressed interest in testing our device and potentially purchasing our suite of testers for their facility when we launch.

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur at the U, my advice is to find a problem that affects you or someone in your community and just see what you can personally do about it. From there, it’s all about taking small steps forward every year. Keep going, and if something fails, try again.”

— Vivek Anandh, a junior studying computer science with a minor in entrepreneurship.