Powering Up a Startup

Three NC State College of Engineering students entered the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program with an idea to make fleet vehicles more efficient and sustainable. Micah Ulrich (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘19, M.S. Mechanical Engineering ’21), Cody Biedermann (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘19) and Clay Dowdy (B.S. Chemical Engineering ‘19, M.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘23) spent their time in this course developing Flux Hybrids, which would grow from an idea to a successful business in a few short years.

Getting Started

From an early age, Ulrich remembers wanting to be an “inventor.” This dream pushed him towards pursuing a degree in engineering. He picked NC State and the entrepreneurship program because it gave him the freedom to work on his own projects and see an impact. 

In his junior year, Ulrich and his co-founders heard through the grapevine about the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP) and decided to pursue this path instead of the traditional engineering senior design course. 

EEP provides a transformational entrepreneurship education experience for students through its fully immersive, multidisciplinary, real-world learning environment. Ulrich and his team are a shining example of the great innovation developed in this program. 

One of the biggest advantages of participating in EEP for the team was getting dedicated time to work on their idea. As high-achieving students who were very busy, it gave them time to delve deeper into their idea. When Ulrich and his team went through the EEP, Marshall Brain was the director. “He was one of the best teachers I ever had. He was so passionate about entrepreneurship and what goes into the process from an engineer’s side, and how to build,” said Ulrich

Developing Flux Hybrids

The team knew the problem they wanted to solve before they began working in EEP. During this year-long course, Ulrich and his partners developed their business, Flux Hybrids.

Flux Hybrids is a bolt-on feature that allows any fleet vehicle to operate on multiple fuel sources, such as gasoline and electricity. This device enables companies to reduce their emissions and increase efficiency.

Accelerating to the Next Steps

After graduating from EEP in 2019, Ulrich and his partners applied three times to the Andrews Launch Accelerator (ALA) before being accepted. In those two years, the team spent their time working on graduate degrees and making a viable product. Taking this time allowed them to better understand and mitigate the technical risks associated with the product. 

In 2021, the Flux Hybrids team was accepted into the cohort. The Andrews Launch Accelerator is a 12-week summer program with funding made possible by a one-million-dollar donation from Lyn and Chip Andrews. Ulrich spent most of his time in the cohort, while his cofounders focused on solving the product’s engineering bugs. He spent time learning the business parts, including sales, fundraising, marketing, operations, hiring and more. 

The program provided resources to help budding entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of starting a business and avoid pitfalls that could have been detrimental. It also connected the team with mentors who still offer support to this day, including a few who are members of the board. 

“At its foundation, the Andrews Launch Accelerator took a chance on some new grads who need help to polish up. They sat us down, explaining the key entrepreneurship terms and providing a clear structure. It helped polish off all the rough edges that you just do not know about until you start a company,” said Ulrich.

Taking the Next Step

After participating in ALA, the team completed more incubators and received funding to further develop their business. In these, they participated in the CED GRO incubator. They also won the NC IDEA microgrant in the spring and the seed grant in the fall of (year). The team utilized multiple aspects of VentureWell, including phase 1 and phase 2 grants, as well as the Aspire program. 

All of these programs were instrumental in helping Ulrich and his team develop the skills to effectively communicate their business plan and pitch to investors. In the first year, they raised $155,000 in nondilutive funding. Since then, they have raised $1.5 million. 

In 2024, Flux Hybrids joined the Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN), which is an NC State angel investing platform that engages and leverages the power of the NC State alumni network. This was the team’s largest investor up until the beginning of 2025.

This year, they have received investments from large power companies to further their business development.

Finding Their Path Forward

Taking the leap into entrepreneurship can be intimidating, but with support from the programs offered at NC State, Ulrich and his team broke through the veil. “The programs showed that [entrepreneurship] is an option. It opened the door and let us peek behind the curtain a bit to see that a student at NC State is capable of doing this,” said Ulrich. 

The entrepreneurship community also played a large role in the team’s success. Being surrounded by entrepreneurial thinkers who are also driven to solve problems and achieve success is a rare and challenging experience to replicate. 

Ulrich commented that the programs and entrepreneurship community help remove some of the implicit imposter syndrome and barriers to entry. “It removes the feeling of ‘I can’t do this.’

Looking to the Future for Flux Hybrids

There are many exciting developments and opportunities ahead for the Flux Hybrids team. They are ramping up for their first full production run. The team has almost doubled their initial order goal for 2026 with just under two million orders so far. 

“We are going to take Flux [Hybrids] as far as it can go — and that is pretty far,” said Ulrich.