A tip from a new StartUp at NMBU: - Just do it!
A tip from a new StartUp at NMBU: - Just do it!
Are you sitting with a StartUp dream? A really good idea that you want to get out into the world? Then it’s just a matter of getting started, say the guys from Hyrden.
Journalist: Kristoffer Hedman
Photographer: Ingunn Reimers
Translator: S. Faseeha F. Gillani
Ayear ago, Stein Oskar Hinderaker and his friend Sigurd Flø Gustad spoke to one of the collective who had been sheep herding and told them how it worked. Then they learned that it is expensive and cumbersome to have GPS on the sheep on pasture.
- We can do it much cheaper, we thought, says Hinderaker
Slow start
However, it was not until the new year that the project properly got under way. Then it only took a short week before they had a working prototype of a GPS collar.
-The unique thing about this collar is that it uses radio signals directly from the collar to the tracking service. Unlike other products on the market that use masts or satellites.
Easier said than done
It is not an easy affair to start your own StartUp, as the boys quickly found out. There were several surprises along the way.
- It was much more complex than we first thought. We had never set up an AS before, they say.
Long evenings with application texts to various funds, changes to the prototype and some negative feedback are to be reckoned with as an entrepreneur. Everything is not only negative, however. The boys have received a lot of help and contacts through NMBU Startup and EIK during the process.
- People are very eager to help us and be part of the process when we tell them about the idea.
After half a year of work on the project, they have encountered several challenges.
- There have been several people who thought that the product was a bad idea. We often realized that they had not understood the idea, says Gustad.
Why can’t you just put an air tag on all the sheep?
- An airtag and other trackers depend on it being able to talk to other mobiles in order to send a ping, explains Hinderaker.
- There aren’t many iPhones on the moors, adds Gustad.
Now the second prototype is ready. The goal is to make the next prototype even smaller. They have estimated that the tracker will have a lifespan of 6 years, especially with an additional solar cell on the tracker. They want to carry out the first test on a hundred sheep next season.
- We have a goal that the tracker should be so small that it can be attached to the ear like a regular ear tag.
It’s a big goal, but initially they stick to a collar.
Now the tracker has a completely normal battery that can be easily replaced. In addition, they will not have a subscription that many other companies have.
- There is no reason for people to depend on us. So if the company goes under, the tracker will still work, says Gustad.
- Our goal is not to become multi-millionaires, but to solve a problem and learn a lot through this project.
Good help from NMBU
How can this go when both are at school every day for their master’s? The biggest challenge for the project is life and studies, the boys say. Then it’s nice to have good help from the university.
- We have received very good help from NMBU to get it up and running. We are very grateful for that. Our lecturers have been absolutely superb.
Now the project becomes part of everyday life. Instead of just spending long nights on the project, it will now be implemented in the study.
- Then we also get the knowledge from the subjects, while we get good help from the lecturers.
Hinderaker was advised to turn the project into his master’s thesis, which he quickly did.
- We have received lots of good tips, including how this tracker can be used for much more than just animals.
Just do it!
We asked the guys from Hyrde what their best advice is for those who themselves have an idea they want to get started. The answers were clear.
- Start with Ali Express. Get some cheap parts and make a prototype. It’s no use just sitting on the sofa, says Hinderaker.
- Don’t keep the idea to yourself. Talk to lecturers and students. People are usually very positive and eager to help, says Gustad.
It is also important to accept that what you start with is most likely wrong, the boys believe. The best thing they did was to contact professors and other engineers. It is probably the network they have created that is the best so far from the project. vIt even took a whole semester before they made the prototype themselves. After many late nights and much talk about the idea, it took them a short time to get the prototype made when they first got started. Finally, they wanted to ask one thing from Tuntreet’s readers:
- Get in touch if you have any sheep you would like to track.
