Career Track MBA students Brad Cross and Nathen Scoville won $5,000 at the Idaho Entrepreneurship Challenge (IEC) in March for their invention, MobiliToe. Eight out of 10 people in the United States suffer from foot pain at some point in their life. MobiliToe is a tool which helps reduce injury and foot pain.
Cross, through professional experience as a personal trainer, discovered that stretching and strengthening the greater toe is key to preventing painful foot conditions. Finding no product on the market or free alternatives that could help with proper stretching of the great toe, Cross set out to make one. Working with his classmate Nathen Scoville, a registered nurse who has seen foot related problems in many patients, they created MobiliToe.
MobiliToe is a simple, easy to use product that will improve the flexibility of the greater toe and help prevent the development of bunions (hallux valgus) and arthritis of the greater toe (hallux rigidus). Continued use of MobiliToe leads to greater balance and performance.
MobiliToe is already incorporated and Cross and Scoville have just completed the 3rd round of prototype testing.
“During our third round of prototype testing, we focused on people with foot problems and 90 percent of those people said they would buy this product. It is so encouraging,” said Scoville.
We have talked to quite a few kinesiology students which was very exciting as we got a lot of positive feedback from them” said Cross. “They are future athletic trainers, physical therapists and strength coaches — the ones who will actually use our product.”
Their winnings from the IEC will be put to good use for a market test at the end of this year and a product launch in 2020.