Top 20 team in the 2019 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge at the University of Utah. https://lassonde.utah.edu/hsuec

1. Vita Portable Water Filter
H2ONE
Pure Light, Clean Water, Endless Adventure

2. Problem
Water is essential to life. The average person can survive three weeks without food, but only three days without
water. Despite this fact, nearly one-quarter of the world’s population – nearly 2.1 billion people – lack convenient
access to clean drinking water. Many of these people live in poor and remote areas of the world without access to
a water well, let alone a water treatment plant. However, the problem isn’t limited to third world countries. The
United States alone has over 230,000 miles of backcountry trails lacking convenient access to managed drinking
water services. Although water running along rivers and through mountain streams may look pristine, it often
contains bacteria that can cause giardia, cryptosporidium, norovirus or other serious diseases if not properly
cleaned before drinking.
Portable water filters are essential for situations where access to clean drinking water is an issue. There are a
variety of filters currently on the market, but each one has a serious flaw. Portable filters available for sale today
are expensive, cumbersome to operate, too large or heavy to carry long distances, or take too long to filter even
just one bottle of water.

3. Solution
The H2ONE Vita overcomes each of the flaws listed above including price, ease of use, size, and filter time.
Competing filters rely on an internal battery to operate, adding to their cost, size, and weight. By eliminating the
internal battery and instead utilizing battery pass-through technology via a USB port to connect to a cell phone,
I’ve designed the Vita to be 130% smaller and 90% lighter than Steripen, the leading portable water filter in
today’s market. The Vita can easily fit in the palm of your hand or be carried in a pocket next to your cell phone
for easy access.
The Vita utilizes a highly efficient medical grade germicidal ultraviolet lamp that sterilizes water at a much faster
rate than competing filters. For example, the Vita can filter six 16 oz. bottles of water in the time it takes a
Steripen to filter just one 16 oz. bottle of water.
By eliminating the internal battery, reducing the overall form factor, outsourcing the manufacturing, and utilizing
the most efficient shipping methods I’ll be able to minimize costs and offer the Vita at a retail price of $24.99,
compared to other filters which sell for about $60 to over $100.

4. Market
I’ve identified various markets with a demand for portable water filters and made financial projections to help
determine the primary target market most likely to help my young company grow and succeed. In doing so, I’ve
determined that I will initially focus my marketing efforts toward the American outdoor recreation industry
specifically those participating in trail sports, including overnight backpacking and rock-climbing. 145 million
Americans annually participate in outdoor recreation and spend $887 billion doing so, making it one of the largest
economic sectors in America. Over 15.5 million of these people regularly participate in trail sports and spend more
than $20 billion per year just on their gear. Through my marketing efforts, my goal is to reach about 6.5% of the
trail sports market in year one, or about 1,000,000 people.
Most of my competitors focus on traditional mass marketing tactics, such as television and magazines ads and
direct mail. I will use a fresh and more effective marketing approach in order to directly target the trail sports
market through social media marketing, brand collaborations, and direct marketing at events this market attends,
including the Outdoor Retailer Show, Red Bull Signature Series, and REI Sierra Climbfest.

5. Prototype