Luke Meyer’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged in middle school. “I taught myself to engrave glass by hand with a rotary tool. I would engrave pint glasses with logos of various Wisconsin sports teams and sell them to neighbors and family friends.”

Meyer proceeded to grow this spirit as a junior attending Neenah High School when he took IncubatorEDU, a course that offered an authentic entrepreneurship experience as students developed their own product or service startup.

Through this course, Meyer and his partner developed CordPro, a product to prevent smartphone charging cables from breaking. After success at multiple competitions, Meyer decided to continue to advance, prototype and develop CordPro over the last few years. He is currently awaiting patent approval by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and is looking to secure a licensing deal with a promotional marketing materials manufacturer.

Meyer brought his entrepreneurial mindset and expertise along with him to MSOE. The industrial engineering sophomore is a member of the Entrepreneurship and Investment Club as well as participates in the Art and Design Club. He also works with two MSOE Innovent Center projects where he has taken lead of the business development. “I’m working to integrate human centered design in our development process. My teams will be pitching out product ideas for grant funding in week five.”

Originally interested in mechanical engineering, Meyer decided to switch gears and transition to industrial engineering. He was drawn to MSOE because of the wide opportunities for growth, networking, entrepreneurship and exploration in Milwaukee.

“My favorite part about MSOE is the high potential students have in their careers when they make use of the great resources MSOE provides,” said Meyer. For current students looking to dive into the entrepreneurial scene, Meyer advises they “learn about the lean startup methodology and take action.”

Currently Meyer serves as a designer and web developer for local Neenah organizations doing business as Meyer by Design. Over summer he will be working in the Continuous Improvement and Quality Department for Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton. “Pierce is a great growth opportunity as it adds to my overall manufacturing acumen with a larger company.”

After graduation, Meyer hopes to receive his master’s degree in design from Stanford d.school and land his dream job at IDEO, a global design and innovation company.

Meyer stays busy in his free time by exploring art and design and having a variety of projects he works on, including block and screen printing, sustainable design, developing his personal brand, Grohmann Museum animated paintings and more. For fun he creates logos and collaborates with local artists and businesses he believes in.

“I’ve found it’s best for me to have an overflowing plate of projects to work on because I can jump around to what I’m most inspired to work on.”

Meyer recently entered several pieces into the Art and Design Club’s exhibition showing at the Grohmann Museum. He has focused some of his work on suicide awareness and adoption awareness (see artwork below). “These are two very important subjects to me, and I plan on donating a large portion of my art profits to organizations supporting these awareness subjects.”