California startup wins incubator's 1ST50K competition

Codefi business incubator in downtown Cape Girardeau has awarded Los Angeles-based startup Nutlock $50,000 -- the top prize in the inaugural 1ST50K competition.

The competition received more than 100 applications from 13 countries and 23 states.

"I join the competition committee in welcoming Nutlock and its founders to Missouri," Codefi co-founder and competition director James Stapleton said.

"We are pleased to attract such a talented set of founders who have created a very innovative product to work with [our] talented competition committee and other mentors in Cape Girardeau."

Amir Atighehchi and Mikey Ahdoot founded Nutlock after having bike parts stolen from their apartment while studying at the University of Southern California.

They set out to create a better bike lock -- one that was simple to install but would deter would-be bike-wheel thieves.

Their eventual design, now patent-pending, impressed cyclists so much, trade publications FastCompany and Bike Rumor took notice, and a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter raised more than $60,000.

After their application made it to the final round of the competition, Atighehchi and Ahdoot traveled in July to Cape Girardeau to pitch their business to Codefi's competition committee, where they were pitted against four other startups.

After a 10-minute presentation, 20 minutes of questions and several weeks of deliberation, Nutlock was deemed the winner.

Competition committee member Jeff Maurer said Nutlock's adaptability and forward thinking were their most notable qualities.

"I think one of the frameworks we used to evaluate all the businesses is how much progress the applicants had made in getting customer feedback and adapting to that," Maurer said. "The Nutlock founders had gone through 50 designs for their product. ... The degree of customer validation that they had obtained and the supply chain that they'd put in place [impressed the committee]."

Maurer also said the coachability of Atighehchi and Ahdoot was crucial in their success.

"They were willing to change and adapt," he said. "That's part of the process at Codefi. We want businesses that will thrive in the incubation processs."

Atighehchi and Ahdoot will be back in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 2 to establish their operation and make a public presentation at 1 Million Cups at 9 a.m.

"Part of the competition requirements are that any company that receives investment awards will put operations in Cape Girardeau," Stapleton explained. "They'll be doing a variety of things from here."

The prize is in the form of equity-free grants and pro-bono support services to help Nutlock's founders grow their business.

"The next step is to go to market with an online direct channel as well as selling into a variety of local bike shops," Stapleton said. "The next step is for us to try to help them on those tasks."

The 1ST50K competition committee anticipates more awards for the other finalists in the near future as well.

Maurer said Codefi already is working on the next round of pitches and awards, which organizers hope will take place before the end of 2015.

"Our intent is not to have artificial timelines, but to have a rolling admission where applicants are constantly submitting their plans and we're constantly providing them feedback," he said, adding what sets Codefi's model apart from other incubators is its scheduling structure.

While similar programs usually are academic and necessarily governed by semester calendars, Codefi's members come from the for-profit world and are building a more constantly running operation. "We're trying to re-create what we see in the real world. When we get qualified people, we'll do another pitch day."

Stapleton said Codefi hasn't released any information about the other finalists because they're still being groomed, with the hope they'll be award-ready come next pitch day.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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