Winners at the November 1st Start-Up Challenge Pitch Night

Winners at Tuesday night, Nov. 1, Sheridan 2022 Start-Up Challenge were Gannet Health, HorseWell, and OCR Fly Reels.

Louisa Crosby of Gannett Health was one of the winners. Currently, Crosby has a mobile, advocacy-focused direct primary care medical practice but plans to open her practice in Sheridan in the next few months.

Crosby said her goal is to build life-long, meaningful relationships with each one of her patients. A direct primary care model allows her to reduce overhead, guarantee patient access, remove barriers between the patient and provider, and increase time with each patient.

One winner was HorseWell, a myofascial blade designed by Megan Welles for horse massage to treat muscle soreness in horses. One testimonial for the HorseWell was from equine vet Dr. Paul Wollenman, who said, “I think this is a long time coming and should have been out a long time ago. You can tell a horse owner has made this: it is tremendously user friendly.” The prototype was created on a 3-D printer at SonaPure, founded by Austin Ledingham, who won last year’s start-up challenge. Ledingham talked about the advantages to 3-D printing.

Another winner as well as winner the audience choice, was O. Clarkii Reels, designed and manufactured by Zac Sexton, Rodney Fought and Brad Williams, which is a fly reel that contains many features not available in any other fly-fishing reels.

The name, O. Clarkii come from Oncorhynchus clarkii, the scientific name for Cutthroat Trout, which is Wyoming’s state fish, and a popular species for fly fishing.

O. Clarkii also plans to present a reel to Governor Mark Gordon.

Although they did not win the $5,000, one of the ideas that was pitched last night was titled, I Call Shotgun, a concept created by Alaina Gross and Izzy Haas. The girls created a game that provides safe and legal entertainment for young adults in small, rural town. Gross and Haas are students at Buffalo High School, and Kami Kennedy, their business teacher shared this about the student’s idea.

Scott Rendell, Director of the Sheridan Impact team, talked about this year’s pitches.

The winners are eligible to apply to the $100,000 Seed Fund.

Also pitching their products were Darwin Williamson with Solid Hitch, a safer way to tow a trailer, and Marissa Logan with Cannoli Bliss, a specialty bakery providing Italian desserts and food items for food lovers.