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Splash Magazine featured Think Board in their family and children gift guide, saying Think Board "Lets Students Brainstorm, Solve Problems, Write Notes On Desks And Walls."

Description: Want to brainstorm? Solve math problems? Write poetry? Develop ideas for stories? Make a list? Just write on your desk or wall. It’s not vandalism – it’s creative learning! Think Board lets kids, as well as their parents and teachers, write about anything on a clear, reusable, removable vinyl adhesive film that they can use on a desk, wall, table, refrigerator, or any other smooth surface. It sparks students’ creativity, stimulates thinking, and facilitates problem solving. Unlike stationary, heavy white boards, dry erase Think Boards can be used anywhere, with no nails or drilling. Think-Board comes in three sizes: 8-1/2” x 11” ($17.49), 30” x 30” ($24.99) and 54” x 30” ($29.99). Two sizes of monthly calendars. Each kit includes an Expo marker, spray bottle, squeegee (for installation), a set of Velcro dots (to attach the marker), and an instruction card on Think-Board.com.

Price: $17.49 to $29.99

Source: LA Splash, http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Family_and_Children_Gift_Guides/family-children-gifts-2015.php

This past Thursday (April 16), teams of undergraduate and graduate students as well as alumni competed $20,000 grand prizes in the Babson Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (BETA) challenge. The event, which is in its fourth year, is hosted at Babson College’s Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship.

Three semifinalist teams in each category presented their ventures to a panel of 10 judges and one from each category was selected for a $20,000 prize. “The teams did not make it easy for the judges,” says Janet Strimaitis, executive director of the Blank Center. She said the reason why is students this year did a great job of tapping into networks outside of the private business school.

“We don’t have engineering and science, but the students have gotten ideas outside of consumer products,” Strimaitis explains. “They’ve tapped into networks outside of Babson to tackle big problems. We had teams in the clean energy space. Another team tapped into the clean hands issue in medical environments.”

Indeed, they had ventures producing everything from a hand-hygiene measurement and analytic platform for medical facilities to a provider of clean energy to slums in developing countries to a tea company.

A RICH ENTREPRENEURIAL UPBRINGING

While the winners of the undergraduate and graduate categories are examples of the diversity of ideas in the challenge, they both personally come from a lineage of entrepreneurship. Hanson Grant, a junior at Babson, had the beginnings of his winning idea when he started a t-shirt company in high school. “I was experimenting with adhesives and dry erase coding, trying to invent a dry erase t-shirt,” Grant recalls.

When Grant graduated from high school he left the t-shirt company behind. But the entrepreneurial spirit stayed close. Both of his parents are entrepreneurs and self-employed and Grant wanted to follow their paths. He applied to a few East Coast schools but when he was accepted to his “reach school” of Babson, he decided to go.

It was during prof. Len Green’s Ultimate Entrepreneurial Challenge course when the second piece of his winning idea was put together. In the elective course, students are given ordinary objects and told to come up with out-of-the-box ideas with them.

“Our group was given a mug and told to make it into something entrepreneurial,” Grant says. “We made it into an optimism mug by cutting it off half way so it was always half full.”

‘THEY WENT BANANAS OVER IT’

As Grant was brainstorming ideas, he wanted a writing surface. So he took what he had learned from adhesives and dry erase surfaces and created a clear sheet of dry erase surface with an adhesive back. He put it on his dorm room desk. Soon others in the dorm started taking notice and asking about the product.

“They went bananas over it,” Grant says.

Suddenly, Grant had a product and a market. He called it Think Board. He soon realized college students don’t have a lot of money so he started reaching out to businesses. Companies can put their own logos on the Think Boards they but in their offices. Finally, Grant partnered with a local middle school to put Think Boards on the desks of students.

And that’s the market where Grant sees the most room for growth. He’s spent the past few weeks developing the product based on recommendations from teachers and students and will soon be introducing the product to other schools. “We hope to be in five middle schools by the end of the summer and 50 schools before fall semester begins and then nation-wide by 2016,” says Grant.

Source: http://poetsandquants.com/2015/04/21/75k-given-away-at-babson-challenge/

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Think Board is aiming to change the game of note-taking, list-making, and plenty of other tasks. The product is essentially a clear, removable and adhesive panel that turns any surface into a dry erase canvas. It can be overlaid onto desks, walls and doors, to name a few.

Now, nearly three months shy of the one-year anniversary of the product’s launch, Think Board has had an increasing number of sales – proving the consumer support for the product is strong.

Hanson Grant, a 2012 graduate of Saratoga Springs High School and current third-year student at Boston’s Babson College, is the creator of Think Board.

Grant says back in high school, he created and sold whiteboard t-shirts that his peers could draw on, and used that same layering process and technology to create Think Board. He began using the prototype in his dorm room at Babson.

“I needed a place to write down ideas and stay organized and I felt that these resources from high school could really benefit my personal use,” said Grant. “Then a lot of people started to see it and thought it was cool and wanted purchase it.”

From there, Grant started a fundraising campaign through Kickstarter and was able to raise $10,100 through 199 “backers” to help bring his Think Board project to life.

“I wasn’t expecting it…upon starting the Kickstarter, I mainly did it for customer and market validation,” said Grant. “I wanted to make sure people thought the product was cool and that it was a viable idea. People loved it way more than I imagined.”

Through the fundraiser, Grant was able to improve the manufacturing process, create unique packaging and start mass-producing Think Board. He even set up Think Board’s headquarters – located at 610 Maple Avenue in Saratoga Springs. It’s currently staffed part-time by SSHS students John Layden and Jack McCarthy. Grant’s brother, Garrison, serves as the office manager. Because Grant is a full-time student, he works remotely from Boston.

Grant says the three goals of Think Board are to give college students a place to write down ideas and stay organized; give elementary students a platform to practice writing and math; and distribute the product in schools developing countries who cannot afford a whiteboard, chalkboard or paper. 

An even heftier goal – Grant says he’d like to see Think Board on every desk in school’s across the country.

“We’re in two classrooms right now in Watertown Middle School out near Boston and we have a waitlist now of 60-70 teachers who are waiting to get Think Board into their classrooms. It’s an incredible learning tool,” said Grant. “I’ve had teachers tell me that it has increased the effectiveness of their teaching, the efficiency, the engagement of the students and the excitement within the entire class.”

It seems as though there’s no chance of Grant or Think Board slowing down any time soon. Grant says he and his team are exploring different markets and uses for the product, such as hospitals, offices, even bar countertops.

Think Board and those whiteboard t-shirts haven’t been Grant’s only business ventures. The business major, with a concentration on entrepreneurship, started EyeCare for Boston his freshman year at Babson – a venture selling “Boston Strong” sunglasses to support the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon and raise pride in the city.

“After these couple businesses, I realized that I’ve got something here that I really enjoy doing and I’m good at it, so I might as well keep going,” said Grant.

Think Board is available for purchase. The product comes in three different sizes and costs less than $30. Each Think Board kit comes with one Expo marker, one spray solution, one Squeegee for installation, one set of Velcro dots for the marker, and an instructions card.

Source: Saratoga Today, http://saratogatodaynewspaper.com/index.php/today-in-saratoga/education/item/4242-saratoga-grad-finds-success-with-think-board