Pitt student one of five top entrepreneurs in the country

Micah Toll said he loved taking things apart as a kid, but he was never quite as good at putting… Micah Toll said he loved taking things apart as a kid, but he was never quite as good at putting them back together. Years later, and with a lot more education, Toll has the chance to be named the top college entrepreneur in the country because of his invention.

Toll, a Pitt senior majoring in engineering, is one of five finalists in the country for College Entrepreneur of the Year, a competition sponsored by Entrepreneur Magazine.

His design and construction of a campus-friendly, two-wheeled personal electric vehicle, resembling a motorcycle, secured him the place in the competition.

Last year, Toll started Pulse Motors (not affiliated with the Pulse Motors that manufactures the 2010 Liion BE), a company that he runs along with two other Pitt engineering students, Max Pless and Thorin Tobiassen.

The three designed two-wheeled electric vehicles that Toll said are perfect for students commuting around the city and campus. The vehicles — which look similar to conventional bicycles with motors attached — are quick, agile, don’t get stuck in traffic and are fully street-legal with no license or insurance required.

The two-wheeled vehicle can be ridden like a bicycle because of its fully functional pedals, or the rider can twist the throttle and ride it with the electric acceleration.So far, Toll has only developed his protoype, but he plans to make the electric vehicle available to the public by the end of this year. He will determine the price later.

Toll said he created the company to provide a new form of transportation on campus.

“Owning a car in a city is impractical, and public transportation is only so good and you have to rely on someone else’s schedule,” Toll said.

He said the idea for Pulse Motors evolved over the last couple of years. He wanted to combine his love of cars, which he has been working on with his dad since he was 10 years old, and his education in sustainability.

Although Toll had always planned to work with electric vehicles after graduating from Pitt, he started to get a different idea when he realized he didn’t have to wait that long.

“Over the last couple of years at Pitt and being a part of entrepreneur ventures, I realized, ‘Why wait until I graduate?’ and, ‘Why work for someone else when I can do it myself?’” Toll said. “We can do it together when the time is right, so why wait?”

Pless, a junior mechanical engineer, said he was brought into the company because Toll and Tobiassen knew of his background with bicycles. A lot of the initial research was done strapping components to bicycles. Pless’ current role is to make sure the basic mechanics of the vehicles are working, and this means he works closely with Toll and Tobiassen in the design and development phases of the electric vehicles.

Right now, Toll’s main goal is to just continue building the company and providing an alternative form of transportation for the community, the country and the world.

Toll entered the contest after he received an email from the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at Pitt. He found out about one month ago that he, along with only nine others, was selected out of thousands of applicants as a semifinalist. He then created a video describing his work — which he made by himself, sitting on a tree stump, with his iPhone — and he was chosen by the judges as a top-five semifinalist based on the video.

The contest now comes down to public vote, and people can cast their votes for any of the five finalists online. The winner will receive the title of College Entrepreneur of the Year, $5,000 in funding for business start-up ad development and a feature article in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Of all the prizes, Toll said the most valuable is the article in the magazine, which would give him national exposure.

But his work with Pulse Motors is not the only entrepreneurial experience Toll has had. He also has another company, Disaster Rebuilding Solutions, which he started in 2007 at the end of high school.

Disaster Rebuilding Solutions is a research and development company for Toll’s invention of portable construction beams that are meant to help rebuild homes after natural disasters. They have also been used in refugee camps.

A lot of research and development has gone into that company, but Toll said that with school being so time-consuming, he has had to hold off on production.

Toll has been into inventing since childhood, and he said he has always loved working with his hands.

“Ever since I was a kid, I always liked to take things apart. But it took a long time before I learned how to put them back together,” Toll said.

It was in the middle of high school when Toll finally found success with his inventions.

“I love the idea to be able to think of something that didn’t exist in the world yesterday that you could make today,” Toll said.

Pless is pleased by Toll’s success with the company and in the contest.

“I think it is quite an honor to be working with him on a project like this. We have come a long way from just an idea to a reality, much of which would not be possible without his skills and knowledge in entrepreneurship,” Pless said.

Toll said that Pitt has been vital to his success as an entrepreneur, for three reasons in particular.

The Randall Family Big Idea Competition is a contest at Pitt that Toll has competed in for the last three years. He’s competed with three different companies, and he has won every year.

The competition has been important to Toll especially for the networking opportunities it provides: The event brings in all the big shots in Pittsburgh business.

Michael Lehman, the director of marketing and student entrepreneurship for the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence and the head of the Randall Family Big Idea Competition, said that the contest has also helped Toll craft his pitches and presentations for his businesses. It also helped him look at how to get market feedback locally and customer feedback on what challenges and usability his product might face.

“He is definitely a testament to the innovation culture that we have here in the city of Pittsburgh, at the University. And just a testament to all the student entrepreneurs that we have,” Lehman said.

With his sustainability engineering focus in school, Toll has both learned more about the topic and developed an appreciation for it.

The Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation has also helped Toll succeed — the center’s staff advised him throughout the creation of Pulse Motors and its vehicles. Toll and his two business partners took a class through the center a year and a half ago, and it was in that class that they realized they could start their own company.

Eric Beckman, the director of Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, said Toll is truly driven to make his business a success.

“Micah has always amazed me with his combination of passion, technical smarts and business savvy — and he’s what, 20? Twenty-one? I’m an entrepreneur myself and so I know how hard it is to get a new enterprise off the ground,” Beckman said.

“I think it’s wonderful for the region and the University that Micah has been

recognized in this way — Western PA needs more Micahs.”