In today’s work environment, students with an entrepreneurial mindset can be assets, but the path to launching a business can be long.
For the developers of MultiRag, it started with a rag.
MultiRag is a multi-purpose cleaning cloth developed by Texas A&M students with the help of on-campus business accelerator Startup Aggieland. The rag is worn like a glove and can be flipped inside out to reveal a variety of fabrics separated by waterproof membranes.
MultiRag, LLC was founded in November 2013 by Madison Jones, MultiRag founder and Class of 2014, who was joined in June 2014 by marketing senior Matt Kinsel and fellow Startup Aggieland entrepreneur Jared Knowles.
“Being at Startup Aggieland, they motivated me and they kept my head above the water,” Jones said. “Even after graduating and not having any income, I felt support from here and from my teammates.”
The team had to go through several prototype rags to get to its current product, Jones said.
“We were in the think tank room with six different fabrics lined up, cutting them and cutting the membrane,” Knowles said. “There were little fibers all over the desk and people were getting mad at us, but we’re making progress.”
As the semester progresses, the MultiRag team has goals for where they want their company to go, recently driving to Austin to talk with a manufacturer.
“We gave our tech pack and a sample and they got sent over to China, so we’re waiting to hear back on some quotes from different manufacturers in China,” Jones said.
Those prices are important to the team members because they are also in the process of introducing their product to Ducky’s Car Wash in Bryan, Jones said.
“Madison brought us some samples and we’re beginning to take a look at them,” David Borski, manager of Ducky’s Car Wash said. “We’re trying to use some of these MultiRags in our carwash to allow the customers to utilize them, see how they like them and how we like them. The fact that this is an A&M student business is an exciting opportunity for us.”
Gaining these connections and resources through Startup Aggieland motivates the team to push itself and get into personal development, Knowles said. MultiRag recently pitched its product to Walmart — a far-away dream when the company was first forming, Jones said.
“If we were doing this on our own, Walmart would have been the last person we wanted to talk to. [Startup Aggieland mentors] said, ‘No guys, let’s do this, get out of your comfort zone and make it happen,’” Kinsel said. “Now it doesn’t matter who we go talk to tomorrow — they’re not Walmart. We’ve already jumped over that biggest hurdle.”
MultiRag, LLC will continue development throughout the year with hopes of fully establishing the company in the business world.