Success Stories

USD alumnus Jorge Muniz, Jr. '23, a 25-year Navy veteran helicopter pilot, knows firsthand the challenges of delivering aid in disaster-stricken areas. The logistical hurdles of establishing operational infrastructure can significantly delay critical assistance. 

In a momentous milestone for entrepreneurial support, The Brink Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a community-facing innovation center housed at the University of San Diego (USD), has proudly celebrated its 20th cohort of the Lean Essential Sprint (LES) program. Launched in 2020, this transformative 9-week course has rapidly become a cornerstone of innovation and startup support in the region. The celebration, marked by an exciting Demo Day showcasing the latest crop of emerging ventures, highlighted the program's substantial impact on local entrepreneurship.

The 2023 Fowler Business Concept Challenge (FBCC), organized by the Knauss School of Business' Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyzer, marked a momentous celebration of innovation and creativity at the University of San Diego. With 15 semi-finalist teams presenting groundbreaking ideas to an audience of over 350 people, the event exemplified the entrepreneurial prowess and commitment to addressing real-world problems.

They say the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Well, anyone who saw three-year-old Dominyck Bullard at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) baseball complex would add the following certainty to that list – Bullard would grow up to be a professional baseball player.

We’ve heard it before — the easiest way to maintain your health or lose weight is to get 10,000 steps or at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Remy Meraz, the co-founder of Zella Life , first joined the Brink Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of San Diego in March 2021. Zella Life is an online coaching platform that aims to bridge the diversity gap in personal and professional development by equipping its clients with coaches of color that understand their needs. Meraz originally came to the Brink SBDC in the midst of a business pivot into a new venture with new partners. She sought expertise and support to gain clarity on the customer journey, customer acquisition strategy, re-branding, and legal assistance. Meraz’s goals with the Brink SBDC included launching her business, acquiring customers and securing angel investment.  Meraz received one-on-one consulting with one of the Brink SBDC’s advisors on market research, validation, financial modeling, branding and marketing activities.  “Working with the advisors offered fresh perspectives and insights to tackle problems where I had knowledge blindspots resulting in increased awareness and confidence as a founder,” states Meraz. Because she was pivoting, Meraz’s advisor recommended Meraz to enroll in the Brink SBDC’s Lean Essentials Sprint eight-week course to assist with developing her minimal viable product (MVP) and validating the customer. In Spring 2021, Meraz joined the course and was able to create revenue models and projections, a pitch deck, and define its MVP/product offering. “Participating in the Brink's Lean Essential Sprint provided the framework to take an idea out of my head, create a living blueprint to execute against, and turn it into a revenue-generating business in less than a year,” says Meraz. With an MVP established, they rebranded to Zella Life and launched the new business in September of 2021, acquiring their first paying customers shortly after. Meraz shared the good news with the Brink SBDC, “we launched Zella Life which yielded 100 site visits, 20 bookings, and two paid customers within our first two weeks via word of mouth marketing. The Brink SBDC was instrumental in helping us get to this point!” Meraz continued receiving consulting for marketing strategy and has been acquiring more customers. In June 2022, they secured their first enterprise client, Biogen . In July 2022, Zella Life was selected as a recipient of the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund , receiving $100 thousand in non-dilutive funding, hands-on programming and support from Google, and more. Meraz was identified as one of 50 founders chosen for this opportunity with her company recognized as one of the high-potential startups from LatinX entrepreneurs based in the U.S.  Zella Life is on a continued trajectory upward with the full support of the Brink SBDC.

 “ As a first time founder/CEO, it is amazing to know that I can reach out and have people that support me and my decisions. They understand what my vision is as a founder, and use their resources to help me get there. “ - Dr. Debbie Chen, Founder and CEO of Hydrostasis Debbie Chen, PhD, is a mother, founder, scientist, muay thai fighter, and strong advocate for underrepresented founders. She is passionate about hydration, health, and performance, which led her to create Hydrostasis. Dr. Chen founded Hydrostasis in 2018 and grew it with the support of the unique San Diego innovation ecosystem — starting with  Hera Hub and Ad Astra Ventures . In 2018-2019, Hydrostasis competed as one of seven finalists out of 91 applicants in the first San Diego Angel Conference and joined the Brink SBDC seeking fundraising assistance. The Brink SBDC introduced Dr. Chen to investors and gave timely business advice for their pitch deck during this critical growth season “The advisors introduced me to investors, other successful CEOs, relevant conferences I should attend and were available for general questions as I progressed in my journey,” stated Dr. Chen. With The Brink SBDC consulting in guiding Hydrostasis on business strategy and support, Hydrostasis applied and won a $225,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Health in 2020. “Working with the SDBC has been an absolute pleasure. They helped me understand what I needed to do as a founder to position myself to be successful in investor relations, as well as general business strategy,” said Dr. Chen.  In early 2021, Hydrostasis received a U.S. patent for their technology, being part of the 4% all-female invented issued patents in the last decade . As Hydrostasis continues to grow, Dr. Chen continually participates in events and summits beyond San Diego. In May 2021, Hydrostasis was chosen as a finalist for the Angel Capital Association Angel Summit. Recently, they participated as a presenting company in the Connected Health & Fitness Summit Innovation Showcase and won first place.  Dr. Chen states, “It's amazing the amount of milestones that we were able to accomplish in just one year. I really couldn't have done it without all the help and support. Thank you to the team at the Brink and SDBC!”