A group of four University of Washington students found themselves baffled when faced with the main objective of their two-quarter long entrepreneurship class –launching a startup company. However, one of the group members, Amber Uttecht told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper that they paid close attention to recent news reporting an alarming rise in brutal attacks on and around their campus, listened to their friends needs and desires, and gave great thought to what fellow UW students might be looking to buy.

Now, less than six months after the enterprising team’s brilliant idea took shape, their “W Defense Kits” are hitting shelves in bookstores and other retail outlets around the UW campus in Seattle. The kit contains police-grade pepper spray as well as a whistle that can be heard nearly one mile away, both of which can greatly increase a student’s safety and peace of mind in and around campus.

To make this innovative and timely self-defense kit more attractive to its target market, the design team adorned it with the UW’s purple “W” logo on it. When faced with the decision of what products to include in the kit, the team polled their fellow students. The results showed that 30% of those polled wanted pepper spray, which can be legally carried on the UW campus. In addition, local law enforcement authorities advised them that a loud-sounding whistle is by far the best self-defense tool available because of its ability to be heard nearly one mile from the scene of attack. The team ultimately came to the conclusion that it was in everyone’s best interest to market the two products together in one defense kit.