Our Story

The Story of Sophomore Entrepreneurship: Sweet Drivers

The “About” section gives you a clear definition of our product, while explaining that the idea started from a mother and her daughter (Allissa), a student driver like you or like your teenager. “However, we want to tell you the rest of our story and explain how two sophomores in college were able to develop a product in addition to our other coursework.”

Before forming the partnership, Allissa reached out to Professor Loftus, a business professor at Sweet Briar College (SBC). One of the advantages of attending a small liberal arts school is the possibility to work closely with professors through a directed study. In September 2011, Allissa recruited Anna for her creativity and trustworthiness as a friend. They began by exploring the market with the guidance of Professor Loftus and realized that most student driver magnets were black and yellow signs that said “Student Driver” in large. They realized that the market was critically in need for an effective student driver magnet with an appealing design and that this magnet would need to be easily available to high schools, driver education companies, and other stores so parents and teenagers can purchase them and experience less road rage when their child is learning to drive.

For weeks Anna and Allissa drew various designs, but none of them struck them as THE ONE. Just as it seemed like they were hitting a brick wall, Anna came to their next meeting with the perfect design! It was effective, clear, but also original and “cool” according to the freshmen at SBC. They framed the first hand drawn designs (one targeting towards females and another targeting towards males) and Anna hung them up in her dorm.

However, Anna and Allissa completely acknowledged that they could not have made it this far with their product without the help of many others. First they met an entrepreneur at a Business Conference at Sweet Briar. She helped them specifically with their selling strategy, so that it may be available to more teenagers. Second, they received help from Tom Marcais, the Academic Technology Trainer & Consultant at SBC, who is also a proprietor and sells vintage paper ads online. He spent an hour with them explaining the costs and logistics involved in designing a website or blog and gave them other advice regarding their marketing strategy.

From a Graphic Design perspective, they received the help of Michael W. from Chicago, who is a friend of Allissa’s family, a talented graphic designer and also entrepreneur. He gave them suggestions on the design and was the first one to put the design in an official software program. They also reached out to Professor Brunelle, Allissa’s Spanish teacher, who has worked as a graphic designer since 1985. He helped Anna and Allissa with choice of colors, creating contrast and explained to them the process of creating a design in a software program.

These Sweet Briar entrepreneurs also contacted the Amherst High School Drivers Ed teachers: Coach Thomas and Coach Bryan, whom they met in December 2011. They received the coaches’ positive feedback and their belief that there is a demand for these magnets.

After they ordered their first magnets, Anna and Allissa sold them to freshmen students on campus and used their feedback to make changes from their first design to the design that they are now making available to the general population. “We appreciate everyone’s feedback and support throughout this process. It has been a great experience and continues to be an amazing learning opportunity.”

Spring 2012, Anna and Allissa were enrolled in a Marketing Practicum with Professor Loftus. In addition, they were taking a one-credit directed study with Professor Brunelle, who taught them Graphic Design Theory, and Tom Marcais, who taught them the ins-and-outs of various graphic designing programs.

COMING UP: the original drawings of our design by Anna.