Dyer Uses Entrepreneur Skills to Lead

Jonathan 'JD' Dyer, a mechanical engineering major and cornerback on the Tartans football team, is an entrepreneur through and through. He says, "In my study of entrepreneurship, I've learned that it's the people that hustle that win." It's that lesson that has served him well both in the business world and on the football field.

As a junior cornerback JD played in every game for the 8-3 UAA Champs, coming on especially strong during the team's seven-game winning streak to end the season. From October 24, in the game against St. Vincent through the November 22 ECAC Legacy Bowl win against Bridgewater St., JD had nine tackles and also forced a fumble.

Always an entrepreneur, when JD was sprinting down field on a punt return last season, he got an idea for compression shorts that would tighten even more when an athlete with cold legs started sprinting at high speeds. He continued to build a concept for that idea as he was named a Carnegie Mellon University Innovation Scholar. The Innovation Scholars program "fosters innovation and entrepreneurship and seeks to increase the number of successful start-up companies initiated by or involving Carnegie Mellon University undergraduate students." JD is one of nine undergraduate students in the 2015 cohort of scholars.

JD has since moved on to a new venture, and he'll also spend the summer interning with the VIT Initiative, a Pittsburgh startup that is currently in the Pittsburgh Accelerator AlphaLab Gear. He'll be helping them create their beta prototype and scale manufacturing, and he'll also have the opportunity to continue working on his newest idea, a wearable device called "Repman" aimed at allowing personal trainers to scale their business.

Truly a maker, JD's favorite quote is "The legendary hero is usually the founder of something, in order to found something new one has to leave the old and go on a quest of the seed idea that will have the potential to bring out that new thing." Of the quote, he says, "I believe this whole-heartedly; whether I was being a founding father of my fraternity or helping to start the new student-athlete health group [Plaidvocates] on campus, I've always found it more enjoyable and fulfilling to build something new than to continue something that already existed."

It takes someone with courage to start his own business, and that same trait makes JD an excellent leader for the CMU Football team in 2016. The team will lean on JD's experience in the upcoming season. He says, "Because of the way we finished last season, no one will underestimate us; if anything we'll be starred on everyone's schedule. I was in a similar situation going into my senior year of high school and I know how tough it can be to play with a target on your back."

When thinking about the lessons he's learned at CMU, JD says, "When I am able to look back on my experience, the hustle and tenacity that I gained as a student-athlete at CMU will be what has made me successful and I am extremely thankful to be a part of it." It's those traits - hustle and tenacity - that JD has refined through his entrepreneurial endeavors that will help Tartan Football continue their winning ways into 2016 and will lead JD down a successful path as a startup founder.