Q&A with Austin Walen, co-creator of Sweet Feet
The Sweet Feet team celebrating their Madden Challenge win
Austin Walen is a finance student at the University of Denver. He is a co-creator of Sweet Feet, the startup that won the Fall 2021 Madden Challenge, a quarterly competition hosted by Entrepreneurship@DU.
Sweet Feet is a custom insole made from sugar cane. Designed specifically for each wearer, the process uses augmented reality sensors on a cell phone to scan each individual foot, as well as additive manufacturing to optimize performance, comfort and environmental benefits. Sweet Feet was co-created by Walen, Nathan Cox, Harrison Tarr, Tevin Smith and R.J. Mestas.
We sat down with Walen to learn about the journey of Sweet Feet’s creation, as well as his own experiences within and beyond the world of business.
Q: Could you tell us about yourself?
A: I am a finance major here at DU. I am a transfer student, and I am a junior. I grew up in Littleton, Colorado, so my family is only 15 minutes from here. I moved away in 2012, but I just moved back this July. I joined the Navy and was living in California. In 2017, I got out of the Navy and took a job with Northrop Grumman, a defense contractor. I was part of a program that took me to Japan. After that, I wound up in Florida for a little while, then went back to Japan for a couple of years. I decided I was done traveling all the time. Being away from friends and family 24/7 was starting to drag on me, so I made the choice to come back home.
A lot of my family and friends still live here. It just so happened that friends I have been close with over the years either attended DU or networked with DU alumni within their careers. It seemed like everything was falling into place for me to go to DU.
Q: What is Sweet Feet all about?
A: Our product is an orthotic insole that we 3D print with material made from refined sugar cane. They are 100% biodegradable. The purpose of an orthotic insole can range from providing support to people with plantar fasciitis or back pain, to athletes who need arch support. It can even help people with diabetes get blood flowing to their lower extremities. With Sweet Feet, the insole is customized by the customer to meet their needs.
We came up with the idea in a fun way—this is my favorite part about this whole thing. Have you seen the movie “Flubber” with Robin Williams? When we were first assigned this project to create a startup, I had this immediate reaction that reminded me of the movie. Tevin is very tall and plays basketball at DU; Nathan is a short guy. I thought we could make a video, with a snippet of Nathan dunking on Tevin! So, putting something in your shoe like “Flubber” was kind of the inspiration behind it.
There is a company called Allbirds that makes their outsoles with the same material we were proposing to do our insoles with. The idea came from my association with Flubber and Nathan’s Allbirds, and it evolved into something legitimate.
Q: Does your team plan to pursue Sweet Feet?
A: I was confident from the start that we had a strong, feasible and profitable idea. I thought we would make the top five Madden Challenge teams, but I was not 100% sure we would win. I did not really give a lot of thought as to where we would go from here—you know, it started as just this school project that turned into something wildly legitimate. We have the connections and resources to really get this going if we wanted to pursue it.
I have not talked to my group members much about it. I think some of them might be up for it. Starting a business is a full-time venture. We are at this weird juncture—I did not think we would be seriously considering making this decision. We will have to see what the commitment levels are from the other group members.
Q: If you do pursue Sweet Feet, where would it go from here?
A: I think one of the reasons we scored so high at the Madden Challenge was because of how much research we did on the insole market. We learned a lot about the different applications of various types of insoles, how many companies are in the market and the overall value and growth of the market in the last five to 10 years. So, I think Sweet Feet would focus on just insoles for three to five years. Insoles need to be replaced every six months, and there are such a variety of needs for insoles. I think the company would start out by homing in on this market.
Q: What advice do you have for future Madden Challenge competitors?
A: First, I would say you need to know your target audience. Believe in your product and know who you are selling to. You are going to pitch your idea to people who will lend you money, and the number one priority of these investors is knowing how you are going to make their money back—and beyond that, double or triple their investment. So, try not to get lost in the idea alone. There are lots of ideas that tug on the heartstrings. Even if it is a good idea, if the costs associated with it make it unfeasible, you probably will not get the money you need to get the business started.