By TAYLOR CHRONERT, Four Points News
What’s a better way to celebrate summer than with a dip in the pool? However pools can be time consuming to manage due to the amount time spent per week cleaning them.
That’s what led Tyler Hubbard and his brother Carter, to start their business called the PoolBoy, which is a technology business focused on making pool care easier and more efficient with their product Smart Floater.
The brothers. who grew up in Steiner Ranch, developed this product when they worked as pool technicians during their summer jobs.
“We noticed the inefficiency within the chlorination system and lack of innovation within the pool game as a whole,” Tyler said, “So we decided to create a product that is essentially the Ring/Nest for your pool.”
The idea about the Smart Floater product was put to use last year, so they’ve currently been working and perfecting the product through trial and error.
“It’s one of the last parts of your home that doesn’t have any real smart home device features so we wanted to (occupy) that space,” Carter said.
Both Tyler and Carter are Vandegrift alumni; Tyler graduated in 2022 with Carter graduating two years later in 2024. They both went to Stephen F. Austin State University. Carter is currently a junior studying general business while Tyler graduated in May with an entrepreneurship degree.
“Working on this project during school was difficult being that Carter plays baseball here at SFA and I was on my last semester of classes,” Tyler said. “We were able to work extensively over the weekend and late at night on this project.”
In April, Carter and Tyler competed in the Lumberjack Entrepreneurship Competition at Stephen F. Austin. The competition is a “Shark Tank” style pitch competition. SFA students can enter the competition and pitch any tip of product or enter an existing idea that’s a side hustle, product, or service Tyler and Carter choose to compete in the competition with PoolBoy’s Smart Floater.
The competition started on April 23rd. There were 150 students competing, and out of those 150 students, Tyler and Carter were one of the five people competing in the finals. They won first place in the competition and received a $10,000 grand prize as well as feedback from the judges on how to improve their product.
“We were super grateful to be able to be put on a platform to better represent ourselves as well as the project we’ve been working so hard at,” Tyler said. “What we got most from this journey is that the judges, who were experienced entrepreneurs, believed in this product enough to award us first place, and give us a jump start to our company’s funding.”
The biggest challenge they are currently facing with the start of PoolBoy and creating the Smart Floater is finding the right team to help with completing the device.
“Whether it’s engineers, investors, mentors, or anything that will help complete our product and company,” Tyler said. “We’re currently navigating the best options for us as a company.”
Tyler and Carter say they feel that transition from being brothers to business partners hasn’t changed their relationship a single bit.
“This isn’t the first company we’ve gone into together so we are very comfortable with each other and obviously we want the best for each other,” Tyler said.