Student Success Story: Sapien

As a Boy Scout during the 2008 recession, Ryan Murphy saw first hand how his local troop and fellow participants struggled with funding the activities and experiences he loved so much. “In times of hardship, extracurriculars come second to putting food on the table and paying the bills. It is what it is. It's just unfortunate that it could be at the expense of a child missing out on discovering their passion or meeting their friends,” said Ryan. To meet these not uncommon financial challenges, scouting organizations like many nonprofits operate a number of consumer good-based fundraising programs. (Of course, the most well known of these is the Girl Scout cookie campaign.) 

But in Ryan’s experience, all of these product-based programs have a number of significant issues and shortfalls - problems he felt, he could solve.

Following his years in Boy Scouts (ultimately becoming an Eagle Scout in 2016), Ryan decided to pursue his education at Texas A&M and enrolled in the Fall of 2016. As an Aggie, he first began exploring entrepreneurship as a freshman by joining the school’s Entrepreneurship Society, but shortly thereafter transitioned his focus to more traditional academic pursuits. By his junior year, he could no longer tame the entrepreneurial instinct that was ready to break free and come alive. Ryan, his father, and fellow student Xerxes Libsch, soon began working together on two precursor companies to their current endeavor, Sapien (www.sapiengoods.com to be launched July 1). The first was ‘Timeless Adventure’, a coffee product which catered to Boy and Girls Scouts fundraising needs, and the second was a Boy Scouts-focused private label coffee called ‘Good Turn Daily’. With these endeavors, Ryan hoped to remove the economic barriers faced by participants via formal partnerships and endorsements from the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts national organizations.

A Successful Idea - and Lesson Learned

“With a lot of product based fundraisers, the product itself is often an expensive or unwanted item, leaving the customer lacking the excitement they deserve for their act of kindness,” said Ryan. “Not to mention, the percent of funding going back to the local level is often negligible and as a result, the individuals that worked hard to sell products remain stuck in their situation.”

The coffee idea was a hit. Unfortunately, around the same time, the Boy Scouts began partnering with their existing fundraising product supplier, Trails End, to begin offering a coffee fundraising product themselves, effectively eliminating their market share within the scouting world. Ryan and his father also began to question whether they were targeting the right nonprofit market or whether they were being too narrow in their focus.

A Strategic Solution and Customer Pivot

In January 2019, they were back to the drawing board and determined to achieve startup success.

Ryan and his partners’ newest venture, Sapien (a B Corp) solves the burden of distribution, lack of clarity tied to funding uses, and relationship issues experienced by other product-based fundraising programs. This is accomplished by working with an outsourced distribution partner, creating a transparent donation tracking system, and providing an interactive marketplace dashboard that creates opportunities for additional and ongoing giving. 

This new startup also eases the traditional (and currently challenging) in-person sales-fundraising process by digitally directing customers to an online store. And it is available to a wide range of nonprofit partners, including music programs and sports teams, PTAs, churches, and many more. Interested organizations are vetted through an easy application process.

An Inspirational Trip and Critical Mentorship

Ryan’s introduction to LauraLee Hughes, Assistant Director at the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship and the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars - two entities instrumental to his success - was a result of a study abroad trip this past school year. Organized by Sophia Bishop and led by Don Lewis and Bailey Urban, Ryan and a team of entrepreneurial-minded students spent two weeks in Belgium May 2019. While there, they consulted with Belgian startups and learned about the European business environment.

“LauraLee, as well as Sophia, Don, and Bailey are all extremely engaged with Startup Aggieland students,” said Ryan. “I don’t think any of the programs I’ve benefited from at Texas A&M would be successful without each of their efforts.”

In addition to the trip, Ryan has also regularly participated in Tuesday and Thursday night programming, which included panel discussions on VC funding, establishing branding, etc. and mentoring rotation nights. These organizations have also provided Ryan a wealth of critically important advisors and partners. From an early Girl Scout executive contact to more recent distribution partners, web developers, attorneys, and CPAs. 

Once Ryan identifies a need, there is almost always someone in one of the networks that he can connect to for help.

Bright Future Ahead

It would have been reasonable to expect the coronavirus to slow down Ryan’s progress: His final undergraduate semester transitioned to remote. His 4-year employment at a local hotel came to an end. And several student pitch competitions he was in (including three as a finalist) were postponed or canceled. But Ryan hasn’t let any of these challenges hinder his progress.

“We’re lucky that our product and business partners have continued working uninterrupted through the past two months,” said Ryan. “Plus, the virtual class schedule flexibility has actually enabled us to focus more on the business, and we’re finding mentors are more committed than ever to help us succeed.”

Ryan will be participating in the University of Texas, Austin Summer SEAL program and Startup Aggieland, and ... to continue his progress with Sapien. He is also preparing to begin a masters program at Texas A&M in the fall. He credits his family for instilling the values, drive, and character that have helped him achieve his early success. According to Ryan, “I simply couldn’t do it without them and I am beyond grateful for their unwavering support.”

RYAN’S ADVICE FOR STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS:

• Put yourself - and your ideas - out there. Perhaps surprising advice from a young entrepreneur who has had the experience he has, but Ryan says, “In terms of student entrepreneurship, taking a risk costs nothing whereas not taking a risk costs everything.” Most people, he observes, don’t want to put in the work to launch an idea, and the possibility of getting some unique feedback or perspective is invaluable.
• If you’re not doing something that helps someone else, you’re wasting your time. (Not unlike the Techstars #givefirst philosophy) Ryan has received this advice every step of the way. “Without fail, all of my Aggieland advisors and mentors and Texas A&M professors have promoted this mentality of serving others,” said Ryan. “And as a result, that’s exactly the philosophy that has guided me and my work on Sapien.”