{"id":122860,"date":"2020-05-07T13:18:27","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T19:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=122860"},"modified":"2020-08-27T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T17:27:14","slug":"commencement-feature-haider-turns-idea-into-reality-at-uccs-launches-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=122860","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Feature: Haider turns idea into reality at UCCS, launches startup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Lee
Lee Haider, center, presents at “Get in the Ring” startup competition at UCCS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lee Haider knew\nhe wanted to attend UCCS before he ever visited Colorado Springs. The North\nDakota native packed his bags in pursuit of a startup culture with a degree\nthat could support his passion for entrepreneurship: the world\u2019s only Bachelor\nof Innovation program at UCCS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to\nattend a college that could provide me the resources, network and overall\nenvironment to help launch a startup, which is something I couldn’t find in\nNorth Dakota,\u201d said Haider. \u201cI chose marketing emphasis because I believe\nmarketing is crucial for any business to succeed and I enjoy experimenting with\nall the different ways to tell the world about a company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Colorado transplant, Haider learned firsthand the difficulties of\nmeeting people when you come to a new city. He and a fellow student quickly\nrecognized a need in Colorado Springs for an app that allows you to meet new\npeople, face-to-face. This initial idea sparked his first project as an\nundergraduate student. With three other colleagues, Haider developed an app\nconcept to connect people together over food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headshot<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy co-founders and I started Trof to solve a problem we all\npersonally experienced,\u201d said Haider. \u201cBetween the four of us, we all had\nexperienced what is like to move to a new city, not know anyone and feel\nlonely. We looked around for solutions and felt we could do something better\nthan what was currently available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By his junior year at UCCS, this concept became a reality. Utilizing\nresources such as The Garage at UCCS, his professors and local community professionals,\nHaider celebrated the launch of his company: \u201cTrof.\u201d Trof is an app that allows\nyou to organize meet-ups at local restaurants to meet new friends and discover\nnew food in your area. The app focuses on building community and supporting\nlocal businesses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trof team took\ntheir startup to compete in several state-wide angel investment competitions.\nOnly two months into their startup, Haider and team placed third in an\ninternational competition, which sparked a large amount of interest from app\ndevelopers. On day three of the 2019 Rockies FUND Conference, Trof was voted a\n\u201cTop 10 Startup\u201d out of 100 companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juggling a new\nbusiness and his academic studies was no easy feat. Lee quickly recognized the\nchallenge of launching a startup while pursuing his undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think any\nstudent who is trying to be an innovator while in college knows the struggle of\nmanaging time,\u201d said Haider.  \u201cI\nconstantly had to juggle homework and studying while trying to manage\neverything that comes with building a startup. I always had to ask myself, \u2018Is\nthis homework assignment or exam more important to my future than a pitch to an\naudience of 50 plus entrepreneurs and investors?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haider quickly\nlearned the importance of time management and found comfort in confiding in\nother Bachelor of Innovation students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think my biggest support system was being around other\nentrepreneurial classmates,\u201d Haider recalls. \u201cWe all were going through the similar\nstruggles and could relate to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also attributes his success in college to the professors\nthat believed in him and helped him launch his business. Haider developed a\nstrong bond with his Bachelor of Innovation and College of Business faculty\nthat went above and beyond to encourage his entrepreneurial passions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am beyond thankful for all of the professors that have taken an interest in me and helped me grow as an entrepreneur, student and innovator, especially Dr. Tom Duening, Dr. Colleen Stiles, Dr. Ben Kwitek and Dr. Terry Boult,\u201d said Haider. \u201cUltimately, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing professors that really helped me and my startup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staying true to\nbrand, Haider stresses the importance of staying connected. His favorite aspect\nof Colorado Springs is the sense of community, from which he has had the\nopportunity to meet incredible friends and colleagues. Alongside \u201cTrof\u201d and his\nschool studies, Lee served as president of the Entrepreneurship Club, which he recognized\nas an amazing learning and leadership experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After taking his virtual commencement walk in May, Haider hopes to continue expanding his current startup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdeally I\nwould like to get into one of the startup acceleration programs, receive\ninvestment and turn Trof into my full time job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think as an\ninnovator you often do not know what is next but you do know how to seize\nopportunities. I am looking forward to exploring what the future holds for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lee Haider knew he wanted to attend UCCS before he ever visited Colorado Springs. The North Dakota native packed his bags in pursuit of a startup culture with a degree that could support his passion for entrepreneurship: the world\u2019s only Bachelor of Innovation program at UCCS. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":122862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,46],"tags":[53,107,40,348,42,332],"class_list":["post-122860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-business","tag-academic-affairs","tag-alumni-relations","tag-college-of-business","tag-college-of-business-more-news","tag-commencement","tag-more-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Lee-Haider-GITR.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-vXC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122860"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122865,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122860\/revisions\/122865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/122862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}