Student Spotlight: Entrepreneurship and Academia

By Brian Carper

Playground of the Creative Mind

How about fresh-baked cupcakes with vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles? If that’s your craving, UW Bothell junior, Tylor Jones, is your man. He and his team of fellow entrepreneurs (then freshmen, Kelsey Dill, Lisa Pesin, and Martin Yanagihara) developed a product called “Cupcake in a Can,” an all-in-one cupcake baking product, which they submitted to UW Bothell’s annual Hell Night entrepreneurship competition in 2009. Jones’ brilliant idea and the team’s excellent pitching skills secured first place in a competition normally reserved for upperclassmen.

Fast forward two years, and Jones has hardly stopped for a breath. His innate sense of creativity and innovation, which he says “just comes naturally,” continues to lead him on new adventures.

Jones is now studying pre-physical therapy, one of UW Bothell’s new pre-health programs. Following his undergraduate studies, Jone is hoping to attend a reputable graduate school in California to study physical therapy. When asked about his choice to study PT rather than entrepreneurship, Jones said that he’ll always pursue new entrepreneurial ventures, because he believes that entrepreneurship is something that cannot be taught, but PT is something he has
always wanted to do.

In addition to his full-time academic endeavors, Jones is owner and operator of JonesTMagic Co, he works as a personal trainer and serves as videographer for one of his new start-up ventures. He still hopes to sell his patented Cupcake in a Can design to Pillsbury or Betty Crocker. He continues to invent and create new products, like his new SmartBag, a multipurpose backpack with massage and heat capabilities built in. Jones is pursuing a patent for the SmartBag design and is working with REI to get the product on the retailer’s shelves. He can’t spare too many details due to its pre-patented nature, but I’ve heard enough…“put me on the waiting list for a SmartBag, please. And throw in a Cupcake in a Can while you’re at it.”

If you would like to learn more about Tylor, email tman_jones2002@yahoo.com.