As a UC Davis engineering student commuting to the Bay Area everyday for an internship using public transit, Wyatt Dike noticed that the handles and other surfaces on public transit were pretty disgusting, full of pathogens and microbes that are a danger to public health. The problem fueled the entrepreneurial spirit in him to figure out how to solve the problem and he launched his startup.
The solution he developed while commuting and later back at school in the Fall were anti-microbial handles that transit agencies can install. But there’s a twist. The handles incorporate advertising, introducing an intriguing funding models for his new startup, VertX Advertising.
Wyatt walked away the winner of the most recent StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch event (see video of Wyatt’s presentation here). I sat down with Wyatt to hear more about the origins of VertX, find out what he’s learned along the way, as well as plans in the works for new iterations on his product, and thoughts on the Sacramento startup community. Watch the video or listen to the podcast below.
Audio Podcast
