USC Marshall School of Business alumnus Alec Petros ’24 and USC Viterbi biomedical engineering student Kian Abrishami created BraveBand, a beaded bracelet with a “smart pod” attached at the bottom. The bands are fashionable, ethically-sourced bracelets that keep people easily connected and trackable — discretely.

“Your phone is in your purse or back pocket. You can’t easily take out your phone and text your friends,” Abrishami said. “This is a discrete method.”

If one friend is separated from the group, they can tap a button at the bottom of the bracelet, which will vibrate their friends’ bracelets, alerting them to check the Brave app on their phone. The app identifies the friend’s exact location and provides directions on how to find them.

“Knowing someone is lost is a bigger problem than actually finding them,” said Petros, who minored in entrepreneurship at the USC Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

While developing BraveBand, the duo interviewed hundreds of college students, as well as dozens of university Title IX offices, including USC’s. This user-design process was informed by courses they took at USC Marshall and through consultations with faculty across USC, including Greif faculty Glenn Fox, Dan Wadwani, Jennifer Walske, David Belasco, and Elissa Grossman.

“I visited the Greif Center almost daily,” Abrishami said. “All the faculty were really receptive to meeting with me and gave me great feedback.”

The duo was also able to build long-term relationships and gain mentorship from individuals who they introduced themselves to over unsolicited emails.

“USC changed our lives,” Petros said. “Marshall changed our lives. Everyone around us is here to support us.” Petros expressed gratitude for the “caliber” of the faculty support, “they can make a phone call and change my life — and they have.” The Brave duo received a strategic investment from angel investors as well as a professor. The founders bootstrapped other expenses to get them to this point.

The founders then set out to promote BraveBand and create buzz through a billboard in New York’s Time Square and a commercial. The team iterated and refined their pitch through various startup programs such as the Greif Blackstone Launchpad and the USC Marshall Greif Incubator in the summer of 2023. The founders also applied to and participated in pitch competitions like the New Venture Seed Competition and the Shark Tank pitch which was hosted by Greif Center on USC campus this past spring.

“We’ve left no leaf unturned in the USC entrepreneurship community. We’ve joined every club — Lava Labs, Troy Labs. You meet and connect with students who are like-minded,” Abrishami said. “There’s nothing like it.”

Looking forward, Brave has launched a pre-sale and hopes to release its first set of bracelets to the public in September. The creation of their venture has been a long journey, one they could not conceptualize going on without the support of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at USC Marshall and across campus.