The Legend of Spor

One high-tech, disruptive idea. Zero engineering degrees. How two finance majors, Jason Browne and David Hunt, took their solar-power invention from concept to reality.

Jason Browne had a vision.

He was alone, on the tail end of a cross-country road trip, camping in Yellowstone National Park. The fluid landscape — with its geysers and fumaroles — is the kind of place you’d expect to see something numinous. And Jason Browne ‘14, all brooding eyes and Dharma Bums mien, is the kind of guy you’d expect to stare into a hot spring and see something transcendent.

But Browne didn’t stare into the abyss in Yellowstone. He was just collecting his thoughts. Because the thing is, he had this big idea. The kind of idea that could, perhaps, start a revolution.

Browne’s vision came when he drove to Boulder, Colo., stopped at a special kind of spa and submerged his body in a sensory deprivation chamber filled with warm water and Epsom salt. They call it “floating.”

That’s when it happened — the moment his brain stopped working.

Browne saw himself as a bright beam of light on a rotating planet Earth. All of the continents were dimly lit. With each rotation, he saw his beam of light traveling across the United States as he made his way back home. One day he lit up Indianapolis. Then Pittsburgh. Then, Philadelphia.

At each new city, his light merged with other lights. Some got brighter.

The experience changed him. He’d never been so calm. So energized. So ready to build something.

It was July 2013. His vision became Spor, the portable, solar-powered battery charger that built Spor Chargers — a company that thrives on the evolutionary power of light.

Browne returned to Philadelphia on a mission.

Spor Chargers officially began months earlier, when Browne sat down for what would prove to be a monumental lunch with David Virgil Hunt ’14, who would become his co-founder and spiritual blood brother.

“I have this idea for a portable solar charger for mobile devices,” Browne said. “I think it could be really disruptive.”

Hunt, who speaks in pentameter and dresses each day as though he’ll be photographed, saw potential. They ran in similar circles. Hunt saw through Browne’s quiet nature and tree-hugging sensibility. In fact, he hugged the same tree — namely a desire to end nonrenewable energy. In Browne, Hunt saw a visionary mind and kindred spirit. He wanted in.

In sub-Saharan Africa, only 24 percent of the population has access to electricity. This is where Browne’s prophecy and Hunt’s poetry are headed: straight into the Third World.

“We’re yin and yang. We both have a piece of each other in ourselves.”

“People sleep on his depth of consciousness,” Hunt says of his co-founder. “His persona isn’t as outward. But he is so kindhearted. Everything he does is meant to contribute value.”

In Hunt, Browne saw a potential voice for his idea and a clever financial strategist to keep his lofty ideas grounded.

“I think this could be really big,” Browne said.

“I like it,” Hunt said. “But what do you want from me?”

“I don’t really know yet. But when I need you, I’ll let you know.”

The idea was simple, but the execution would be complex. Back then, it was just a solar panel glued to a battery with a single USB port. Soon, the idea evolved to include gooseneck cables and larger solar panels with customized, 3-D printable shells that could be sourced from just about any material.

Hunt helped write the first business plan for Spor Chargers. Then, in October 2013, with Browne back from the abyss and ready to roll, the duo stood on stage at World Café Live and hit a home run pitching their company in the Baiada Institute’s prestigious Incubator Competition. They say people invest in other people, not ideas — and the one-two punch of the quixotic Browne and lyrical Hunt was simply magnetic.

“Jay is white and I’m black,” Hunt says with a laugh. “We’re yin and yang. We both have a piece of each other in ourselves. The Spor is simple, but the pieces are complex. It’s organic, but also technological. That’s us.”

“The common thread is truth,” Browne says. “We believe that we can really make the world a better place. We are making the energy industry equivalent of the PC. “

Browne and Hunt won $10,000 in the competition and space to call home in the Baiada Incubator. In a matter of months, they also won Philadelphia’s third annual Lean Startup Machine challenge. They tapped a group of engineers at Philadelphia’s NextFab Studios to help build a working prototype to turn Browne’s vision into a viable, scalable, adaptable and simple product that would be easy to assemble by the layman.

Ever since, Spor has evolved from a single cell to an entire ecosystem. The current incarnation of the Spor can be charged via wall outlet, solar power, USB port and even with indoor light. The device has two USB ports that power two devices at the same time, as well as the ability to “daisy-chain” multiple units to increase energy capacity or transfer energy from one unit to another. With this innovation, multiple units can be connected to larger solar panels to increase the capacity of the system — the sum greater than any one part — creating a small-scale solar grid that can be assembled by anyone, anywhere.

And it’s the anywhere that keeps the duo up at night. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 24 percent of the population has access to electricity. This is where Browne’s prophecy and Hunt’s poetry are headed: straight into the Third World.

By Spring 2014, after a year of building prototypes at NextFab, it was time to take Spor to the masses.

…

On May 28, 2014, Spor Chargers launched an ambitious Kickstarter campaign to raise $100,000 in 30 days.

For startups like Spor, Kickstarter represents a viable way to raise capital and brand awareness as an alternative means to bootstrap a business. Kickstarter allows companies to retain autonomy while engaging in an open and honest conversation with their “backers,” who donate rather than invest. It’s the monetization of the social media era, and it allows companies like Spor to scale on their own terms while prototyping their product to an incentivized group of “prototype” shareholders.

For a pledge of $35, early backers received a Spor charger. For $50, they got a Spor with a 3-D printed shell. These pledge “gifts” not only encouraged support; They forced Browne and Hunt to keep it honest. While they weren’t beholden to real shareholders, they were bound to make good on their promise — which meant that if the project reached its goal, they’d need to ship product.

First, they created a value proposition video (Kickstarter’s bread and butter) with the help of a production company run by recent alums of Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. In the video, which went viral in days, the dynamic duo stay true to character: Browne talks tech and Hunt adds color commentary.

“Inside each Spor is a 5,200mAh lithium ion battery,” Browne says, completely deadpan, sporting his customary V-neck.

“Now it’s like, ‘are you on the boat? Or are you just going to sit on the shore and watch us sail off to success?’ Because, now we’re moving.”

“That’s huge!” Hunt, wearing his signature blazer, counters. “That’s like three-and-a-half full iPhone charges!”

They raised $13,000 in 24 hours. The next day, they raised $8,000. Then $2,000. Then $1,100. Browne had his doubts. But Hunt kept him going.

“Every morning I was up and aligning my own energy with the fact that we were going to make it,” Hunt says. “When you put your intentions out there into the universe, it happens. The rest of the world just has to realize it.”

Thanks to the video, as well as press support from the likes of TechCrunch, Reign23, Techdirt and Technical.ly Philly, the campaign was an overwhelming success.

By June 30, they had exceeded their goal, receiving $112,408 in funding from 1,439 backers.

The campaign received 130 comments and over 500 private messages — which Browne responded to personally — from potential investors, backers and venture capitalists. Most importantly, the campaign gave Spor solid traction across the globe — a currency that cannot be undervalued when it comes to raising future funds.

“We have met with investors,” Browne says. “And a lot of times, they might say, ‘We want to see traction.’ And I’d say back, ‘Hey, we want to see traction, too. But we don’t have the money to validate this traction.’ Well, Kickstarter validates our traction.”

Or as Hunt puts it: “Now it’s like, ‘are you on the boat? Or are you just going to sit on the shore and watch us sail off to success?’ Because, now we’re moving.”

The pair recently returned from a trip to China, where they secured production for all Spor components. They are also working on a full-scale digital marketing campaign. Then there is sourcing, distribution, branding and outreach to consider. Not to mention investors.

These are all moving parts, and they evolve every day. The solar panels will get bigger. The USB cables will become more efficient. But regardless of hardware, the goal is for Spor Chargers to source the best components and put them together in the easiest possible way.

“The thing I love about a Spor is that it does change,” says Hunt. “It reproduces. Gives life to other things. Finally, at some culmination point, it becomes what it’s supposed to be.”

On a random day toward the tail end of Spor’s Kickstarter campaign, Browne dragged Hunt to a floating spa in Northern Liberties. He just had to share his experience, and after a year of such intense transformation, it was definitely time.

Once prepped, the two co-founders parted for their respective sensory deprivation pods, submerged their bodies in water, and spent 90 minutes in the void.

When Browne emerged, he found Hunt waiting at the front desk. He’d already booked himself three more sessions.

“How was it?” Browne asked.

“It was good,” Hunt said. “But I can see how it’s going to be great.”

Editor’s note: Spor just received more funding from an angel investor who also happens to be a LeBow alum: More Good News for Spor

Photography by Ben Weldon