Sean Thorne is off to a flying start. It was just last summer that the University of Oregon junior came up with the idea for Hallspot – a social media service geared exclusively to college students.

Less than a year later, Thorne's brainstorm has become a reality. Hallspot raised $150,000 from a private angel investor and picked up another $6,300 in cash and prizes when Thorne's presentation won the top spot for early-stage companies at the Willamette Angel Conference in May.

Thorne’s group of advisors includes Nathan Lillegard, program director for the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship.

"When I first reached out to Nathan, Hallspot was only a team of four," said Thorne, an economics major who is minoring in business. "I sat down with him and things just clicked. I felt like he genuinely wanted to help me."

The rapidly expanding company's staff – now 15 employees – works in office space in downtown Eugene and has plans to move into a new suite in the Broadway Commerce Building.

Around 4,800 UO students preregistered for the service, which is scheduled to launch in Eugene this September and will roll out to Oregon State University in the fall. Next up will be the Pac-12 universities, with schools throughout the United States to follow.

- from the UO's Lundquist College of Business