Grace Beauchamp, '23 | GB Carbon Solutions (Environmental Sustainability)

Describe your company: This company aims to develop a product to eliminate a large portion of carbon emissions in manufacturing and recycle them into a useful byproduct. This goal stems from the numerous company sustainability goals that have been set in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement.

Target Industry: Environmental Sustainability

What is your role in the company, and please list team members' names and their current role in the company: Currently I am the only member of this company so I have taken on many roles to aid in the growth of this company. I hope to expand this company to include other individuals that share similar aspirations of putting a stop to global warming from anthropogenic causes.  

Why did you apply to Race To Revenue? What are you hoping to get out of this experience?  After hearing so many great things about what the program can do to aid in the success of my idea, I applied with the hopes to learn from other young entrepreneurs and mentors. Race to Revenue will allow me to explore a possible business idea without the risks that many individuals take on as they attempt to grow a startup on their own. With this program I will be able to gain knowledge from many other young entrepreneurs that may be facing similar difficulties. Whether I am successful in this idea or not, I believe that pursuing this idea through Race to Revenue will give me universal skills that aren't typically found in a classroom. In working with IDEA Center up to this point, I have come to realize how fortunate I am with all of the support and connections they have the ability to provide.  

Has there been someone who has helped you with your venture so far?  With the early stages in this venture I worked independently and nearly gave up the product idea due to my lack of resources and connections. I saw this as a side project or a hobby without any real potential. An individual that inspired me to continue and opened doors for me was Dr. Michael Seelinger. I met with this professor of mine to find out if I could work on drafting this product with the university owned CAD software. After briefly explaining what I was working on, he introduced me to an individual at the Notre Dame Energy Center and told me about the IDEA Center as well as undergraduate research opportunities. With all of these options that I had never heard of, I automatically grew the drive to continue working on this idea and saw the potential in it. After many meetings that stemmed from these connections, Dr.Seelinger was also able to give me advice on careers paths and patents. Needless to say, I wouldn't be in this position without his help.  

What do you want to learn more about, relating to business development in general or your own company/venture specifically?  From the start I had no real knowledge in the business and marketing fields. As a student pursuing engineering, I had only focused on the technical side of the product and it's implications. I would like to learn more about the product development process and how to successfully bring a product to market. I would also like to learn more about partnering with existing companies and what the effects of this product would be in the real world. In many situations, manufacturing companies are not motivated by their environmental influences but rather the related monetary streams. Because of this, I would like to explore the different values and uses of the product that I'm developing so that it will be used by a larger number of customers.  

Entrepreneurial fun fact: A fun entrepreneurial fact about me is that I basically co-owned a small snow cone business with my best friend at the age of seven. We priced our snow cones based on all of the costs associated with making them so that we could make a profit. 

Favorite place to get tacos and what kind?    My favorite place to get tacos is my parents' house. They make the best street tacos with steak, avocado, lime, and Tabasco.