Creating a culture of entrepreneurship bonus content, part 1

UGA College of Engineering student Garrett Stigall shares his experience with the FABricate program that helped him launch his energy drink company, Compulsion.

The following bonus content is part of our full-length episode about creating a culture of entrepreneurship through the FABricate program. In that episode, we spoke with Chris Rhodes, director of industry partnerships and project-based learning at CAES, and UGA students Chris Ayers and Jeffery Whitmire about FABricate, an entrepreneurial pitch contest. Participants get the chance to expand their leadership and business skills while developing a new food product or agricultural, environmental or sustainable business.

Resources:

Learn more about FABricate
Read more about Keith Kelly's long-standing partnership with CAES
Successful FABricate business examples:
Chiktopia
Gently Soap
Automat

Edited by Carly Mirabile
Produced by Jordan Powers, Emily Davenport, Carly Mirabile
Music and sound effects by Mason McClintock, an Athens-based singer, songwriter and storyteller who creates innovative soul-pop music that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Hailing from small-town Southeast Georgia, Mason's influences range from the purest pop to the most powerful gospel. Mason is a former Georgia 4-H'er and a recent University of Georgia graduate! Listen to his music on Spotify. 

Almanac is an annual publication that provides a window into the work being done at CAES to make the world increasingly healthy, equitable and sustainable. We are pleased to announce that the 2024 edition is now available online. Explore stories of science in service of humanity and the environment.

Get social with us!
Follow CAES on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and check out UGA Extension on on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest updates.

Episode Transcript

Sound Effect (00:00):
[music]

Emily Davenport (00:01):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.

Jordan Powers (00:13):
And I'm Jordan Powers, and we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.

Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]

Jordan Powers (00:21):
The following bonus content is part of our
episode about creating a cultureof entrepreneurship through the
FABricate program. In that fulllength episode, we dive into the
details of the pitch contest andspeak with FABricate winners,
Chris Ayers and JeffreyWittmeyer. We'll link that
episode in the show notes foryou. Be sure to give it a listen
for more context about theFABricate program.

Sound Effect (00:41):
[chime]

Jordan Powers (00:43):
And now we're joined by Garrett Stigall, a
student in the College ofEngineering, who participated in
FABricate two years ago with hiscompany, Compulsion. Welcome,
Garrett.

Garrett Stigall (00:51):
Thank you for having me.

Jordan Powers (00:52):
Let's kick off with, how did you hear about
FABricate?

Garrett Stigall (00:55):
When I got accepted to UGA, I got accepted
into UGA through the LaunchpadLiving Community. And that is an
entrepreneurship livingcommunity that UGA has set up
for incoming freshmen who wantto experience entrepreneurship
here at UGA. So I got connectedthe moment I came to UGA into
the entrepreneurship dialogueand all UGA has to offer for

(01:18):
entrepreneurship. I gotconnected through Studio 225
that the EntrepreneurshipDistrict runs programs through,
and it was there that I learntabout FABricate and I felt that
FABricate would be a perfectcompetition for my idea at the
time to run it through and getsome experience.

Emily Davenport (01:35):
Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Garrett Stigall (01:38):
From a young age, I knew I never wanted to
have a regular nine to five job.
I was recounting my storiesgrowing up and I was talking to
my mom, and she was like, yeah,when you were in fifth and sixth
grade, you want to be a Denny'scook in the back. Because it
wasn't a regular nine to fivejob. It was something that was
out of the ordinary and just notgoing to be the same old, same

(01:59):
old. It wasn't until ninth gradethat I was like, you know, the
entrepreneurship life could befor me. And that's when,
actually, the idea forCompulsion, the business that I
have now going, started andsince then I've just been all
about what I could be as anentrepreneur and having that as
my driving force to continuegoing down this path.

Emily Davenport (02:25):
Can you tell us a little bit more about your
company?

Garrett Stigall (02:27):
Yes. It's a new take on the sports drink
industry. Right now in thesports drink industry, your
brands like Gatorade andPowerade, the two main ones,
they use electrolytes to helpreplenish your energy during the
workout. I did a lot of researchgrowing up in from ninth to

(02:49):
freshman year of college, aboutthe benefits of caffeine. And I
worked with many differentuniversity professors from the
University of Florida to theUniversity of Pittsburgh about
the benefits of caffeine and howcaffeine can help also replenish
the energy. So Compulsion isjust a Gatorade, add caffeine,

(03:10):
and it's a faster way toreplenish the energy when
working out. One of my otherfavorite parts I like about my
product is that is a naturaldrink. So you we use natural
flavorings. So the three flavorswe have are peach, blueberry and
pineapple, so we use the naturaljuices instead of chemically

(03:33):
made flavors.

Jordan Powers (03:35):
That's amazing.
You also had me at caffeine.

Everyone (03:37):
[laughter]

Jordan Powers (03:39):
I love that. So can you tell us a little bit
about how Compulsion andFABricate interacted and what
FABricate did for your company?

Garrett Stigall (03:45):
Yeah, so I heard about FABricate probably a
month before signups wereclosing and I was like, eh, I
had other stuff in theEntrepreneurship District that I
was already in. But I was like,I should give this a try since
this is meant forsustainability, food, ag
products, and mine is a beverageso I was like this is a fit for

(04:06):
my product. So I went ahead andsigned up. And when I got signed
up, I got paired with a mentorof mine through Chris Rhodes.
And at the beginning I was likehe's not going to be of help
because I was like the beverageindustry is such a niche
industry. He won't be able tofind a mentor that will be able
to help me in such a nicheindustry. But he did. He got me

(04:28):
in contact with a mentor whoworks in an FDA-like system and
my mentor helped get my productcompliant with all the
regulations I had to jumpthrough and he helped me jump
through all the barriers in thistime. So it was a part of the
industry I didn't even know Ineeded to tackle, and then this

(04:50):
mentor opened my eyes and, like,no, we do need to address this
before we can get your productto launch. So I was very
thankful for his mentorshipthroughout this program. But
that's just the mentorship sideof FABricate. It was also, there
was many different pitchesinside of FABricate that helped
my company. It was just thepractice of pitching. I've been

(05:14):
told time and time again, youjust need to keep practicing and
practicing. And it's getting outthere in front of the judges or
just in front of the peers andtrying to explain your product
in a manner, try to convince thepeople that this is a viable
product. And it was thecontinuous practice that
FABricate allowed me to havethat really helped out my
business.

Jordan Powers (05:35):
Absolutely.
Between the pitching and thementorship, it sounds like a
perfect pairing. And I heardthat you're still speaking to
your mentor two years afterparticipating, which just goes
to speak to the longevity of thebenefits of FABricate.

Garrett Stigall (05:48):
Yes, we still have a good connection with each
other. And every single time I'mrunning into another regulation,
I'm like, Red is the guy who Ineed to talk to on this one. So
he's he's always there for me,he's never turned down a meeting
with me, he always makes time tohelp me out in any way he can.

Emily Davenport (06:06):
That's awesome.
What surprised you most aboutyour experience with FABricate?

Garrett Stigall (06:11):
The level of connection that I had with my
mentor and the level ofconnection I had with the people
competing. Going into this, likeI said, I was inside of the
entrepreneurship district. Andso I was used to
entrepreneurship competitions. Iwas like, I thought I was going
to know everybody who was goingto compete in FABricate. But I

(06:33):
didn't. I walked in there and Iwas like, who are these faces?
I'm not used to these faces. Butit got me connected to a whole
new group of people that haven'theard my idea before. And they
were able to give their pros andcons and they were able to help
me build up my product and shinea new light on it that I didn't

(06:54):
see before. And I was like thisis perfect. It's always good to
have multiple different lightsshowing on your idea or your
product. And it was going toFABricate that opened up that
new door for me to allow thatopportunity to happen.

Jordan Powers (07:08):
I mean, that alone is a pretty darn good
testimonial. But if you couldtell other students about
FABricate and encourage them toparticipate, what would you say?

Garrett Stigall (07:16):
There's just no reason not to. I know that's
been said before. But there'sthere's no reason not to try it.
I think the whole entire collegeexperience is about trying new
things. And if you are wantingto have the entrepreneurship
lifestyle, you do need to getout and try new things. And it's
just the practice makes perfect.
And FABricate is just anothertool for you that you can use to
help practice your capabilitiesof becoming an entrepreneur.

Emily Davenport (07:42):
Alright, so if you could describe FABricate in
one word, what would it be?

Garrett Stigall (07:48):
That is always a difficult question. But I
think what it boils down to frommy experience is mentorship.
Whether that be from the mentorthat they hook you up with,
through the program, or throughthe judges and getting to ask
them questions, or through yourpeers. Everybody's able to help
each other out in some way orform. And that's the key tool
behind it all is that we justhelp each other out. Because it

(08:11):
is a competition. But it doesn'tfeel like that as a competitor.
I felt like, no, we're justhelping each other out. And we
compete as a side project. Butwe're there to help each other
out. And so it all boils down tojust mentorship.

Jordan Powers (08:26):
What's next for you and your company?

Garrett Stigall (08:28):
So it's been a craz, two years, ongoing three
years here at UGA with mycompany and building up the
product. But I'm in talks withone of my investors right now.
And we just put in the firstorder for our first batch of
products. So it's expected tocome in within six to eight

(08:51):
weeks and then you'll be seeingthis product out at tailgates
and just passing it out andgetting it in people's hands.
That's our main goal is just togo out there and get it in
people's hands and then we'llworry about future batches and
how we're going to sell it. Butyeah, I'm very happy and excited
for this first batch to actuallybe coming to life. And being

(09:12):
able to have the bottle andeverything see fruition finally,
after my now seven years of workinto my idea.

Jordan Powers (09:21):
Wow. And then that shows the dedication, that
shows the amount of resources ittakes to take an idea from that
initial concept. Seven years.

Garrett Stigall (09:30):
Yes.

Jordan Powers (09:30):
And you're looking at seeing those first
bottles. That must be exciting.

Garrett Stigall (09:34):
It's something that I've only dreamed about and
now I can actually have it, seeit in front of me.

Emily Davenport (09:41):
We can't wait for our bottles.

Everyone (09:44):
[laughter]

Jordan Powers (09:44):
You're telling me I need to go to a tailgate.

Everyone (09:47):
[laughter]

Emily Davenport (09:47):
Where do we go to get one? Is there anything
that we've missed that youwanted to share with us?

Garrett Stigall (09:55):
I've harped on it before but FABricate's an
amazing competition, but it isjust a drop in the bucket that
UGA has to offer forentrepreneurs. There are so many
different entrepreneurshipplaces and competitions
throughout the whole entire UGAthat I think is very viable for
future entrepreneurs. And it allboils down to you just need to

(10:17):
go out there and do it and signup for the different events, or
go to a club or organizationlike the Society of
Entrepreneurs, where you canmeet like minded individuals.
So, yeah, compete in thecompetitions, but also get to
meet with the peers that thinkthe same as you guys.

Jordan Powers (10:35):
That's amazing.
Well, Garrett, we cannot wait tosee your product out there in
Athens and beyond. Thank you fortaking the time to join us
today.

Garrett Stigall (10:42):
Thank you guys for having me.

Sound Effect (10:43):
[music]

Emily Davenport (10:44):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
Curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.