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Peninsula startup weekend brings business ideas to town

Tara Bozick / Daily Press
Staff mug of Tara Bozick. As seen Thursday, March 2, 2023.
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A new drone company founded by a 30-year-old former NASA Langley scientist took home the top prize of $10,000 in Start Peninsula’s fifth annual business idea contest Nov. 6.

Maxwell J. DePiro, 30, launched Unmanned Aerial Propulsion Systems in June after finishing up his University of Virginia doctorate degree and research at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton. His introduction to the Peninsula Technology Incubator in Hampton through a NASA colleague persuaded him to take a shot at growing a business based on his idea for creating a quieter, safer drone for taking aerial photos and video.

“I always wanted to start and run a business and take an idea of mine and make it happen,” said DePiro, who lives in Newport News.

His idea, which came to him after he saw a drone filming the crowd at a concert, is to develop a hovering drone that would keep its spinning propeller blades guarded in a ducted-fan design but that would also allow easy hookup underneath for various types of camera equipment. The design would also include noise suppression so weddings or other events could get aerial imagery with minimal disruption, he said.

The Start Peninsula weekend helped DePiro meet experts who gave advice on how to make his business work in addition to getting it some exposure, he said. Girlfriend Louise Knudson also worked to help hone the company’s pitch to the judges. Next, DePiro plans to apply for research funding and will continue working on developing a better, fully functioning prototype that could catch the eyes of investors in the future.

“Regardless of winning, we validated ourselves,” DePiro said.

Second place and $7,500 went to the idea for Harper, an interactive toy bear that would use artificial intelligence to build and tell stories by talking with children, said Tim Ryan, director of The Launchpad business incubator in New Town in Williamsburg. Harper was envisioned by first-year William and Mary master of business administration student Yingjia Liu.

AnswersNOW, a cloud-based mobile app that connects parents of children with autism directly to a certified expert, earned third place and $5,000 in the contest. Co-founder Adam Dreyfus, director of the Sarah Dooley Center for Autism in Richmond, said the startup plans to use the money to continue beta testing the app with parents.

The idea is that if a parent is overwhelmed on how to respond to a child in a crisis moment, a real-time expert could give that needed advice and support in an on-demand, text-based format, Dreyfus said. Eventually, the company would like to see which instructions work best for parents in particular situations.

Dreyfus said he was referred to Start Peninsula by the Unreasonable Lab Virginia business accelerator program in Richmond.

“It was really energizing and empowering for me,” Dreyfus said of Start Peninsula.

All three winners get free membership for 90 days in the Hampton University Business Incubator, the Peninsula Technology Incubator, The Launchpad or Ignition Center in Williamsburg, Ryan said. All the Peninsula localities funded Start Peninsula at 10 cents per capita, for a total of $47,700.

Twenty-eight participants had 90 seconds to pitch their ideas Friday night at Thomas Nelson Community College, Ryan said. Ten were chosen for a final round of 5-minute pitches Sunday night after working with mentors during the weekend to refine their business plans.

Next year’s Start Peninsula will be hosted by Williamsburg in the first weekend of November, Ryan said. For more information, visit startpeninsula.com.

Bozick can be reached by phone at 757-247-4741. Sign up for a free weekday business news email at TidewaterBiz.com.