Some companies begin with a pitch deck, a market analysis and a plan to scale. Reeds® began in a laundry room.

Elizabeth Poston, founder of EcoWave Essentials, maker of Reeds®, was looking for a practical way for her family to reduce its plastic consumption. Laundry detergent jugs seemed like an obvious place to start. She initially planned to replace conventional liquid detergent with detergent sheets, but her research raised new questions about the ingredients used to bind many sheets together.

Unable to find the alternative she wanted, Poston began developing one herself: a laundry detergent tablet designed without microplastic in its formula and without plastic packaging.

“Reeds actually started as a complete accident,” Poston said. “We were wanting to reduce plastic consumption within our home, and we decided to start with the big laundry detergent jugs.”

That personal decision grew into a product-development challenge, then into an entrepreneurial journey. With support from TechGrowth Ohio (TGO), Poston has begun to see what started as a solution for one household as a scalable business with the potential to create jobs and economic opportunity in Athens, Ohio.

A Sustainable Product Idea Rooted in Family and Education

Poston’s motivation is inseparable from her life as a mother and fifth-grade teacher. Her concern about plastic extends beyond packaging to the ways small plastic particles can move through water systems and affect aquatic life. She wanted a better option for her son, her students and future generations.

“I really care about kids—my children, both as a teacher and my own—and wildlife, aquatic wildlife especially,” she explained.

As she learned more, the problem became harder to ignore. Her search for a household product became a commitment to develop a different kind of laundry option. Reeds® is the result: a tablet created to reduce reliance on conventional plastic detergent packaging while addressing Poston’s concerns about microplastics in some alternative products.

The origin story is relatable. Many entrepreneurs recognize a problem because they have lived it. What distinguishes founders is the decision to keep going—to research, test, learn and build when a ready-made solution does not exist.

Poston was doing all of that without a traditional business background.

Becoming an Entrepreneur While Developing the Product

Product development was only one part of Poston’s challenge. At the same time, she was learning the language, expectations, and decisions of entrepreneurship.

Her professional background had prepared her to educate, investigate, and persist. It had not necessarily prepared her to navigate commercialization, investor conversations, business growth, or the many unfamiliar choices that confront a first-time founder.

Then TechGrowth Ohio found her.

Poston had been documenting the Reeds® product-development journey on social media. A member of the TGO team saw her work and invited her to meet.

“I first learned about TGO when they actually found me,” she said. “I’d been sharing the journey of developing this product … on social media pretty heavily. One of the employees with TechGrowth actually found me and asked if I would be willing to come talk with them.”

The outreach became what Poston calls “a great relationship”—one built primarily on mentorship.

One of the most significant ways that TGO has really inspired me was actually when I overheard some of my mentors sharing my story and hearing them speak about me as an entrepreneur and the idea, the formula, the progress, that encouragement from people that I admire so much who are experts in their field, talking about this journey that I found myself on. That has probably been one of the most inspiring, is having these experts say, “Hey, you’re on to something and we’re going to help you.”

TechGrowth Ohio Mentorship That Meets a Founder in the Moment

TechGrowth Ohio helps early-stage technology companies with high growth potential identify and overcome barriers to commercialization. Administered by Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, TGO supports entrepreneurs across a 19-county region in Southeast Ohio through tailored expertise, access to capital and connections to specialized resources.

For Poston, the most valuable support has not been a generic curriculum or occasional advice. It has been access to experienced mentors who respond when an actual question or decision arises.

“My background is in education. I’m a fifth-grade teacher,” she said. “Jumping into the world of entrepreneurship with very little experience, having the mentors that I now have on my side guiding me along the way—people that I can send an email or a message to quickly or call at any time for help—has been gold.”

That distinction matters. Early-stage founders rarely encounter challenges in a neat sequence. Product formulation, market positioning, funding strategy, operations and relationship-building overlap. A founder may need perspective today—not at the next scheduled seminar six weeks from now.

TGO’s tailored approach gives founders access to guidance that responds to their venture, their stage and their next critical milestone. Poston expects that TGO’s expertise will support funding and scaling as Reeds® develops, but she believes mentorship will remain the constant.

“That mentorship will be number one the whole way,” she said.

The Turning Point: When Expert Belief Builds Founder Confidence

Experienced advisors provide technical knowledge and connections, but their impact can be just as important in a less measurable area: helping a first-time entrepreneur recognize the legitimacy and potential of what she is building.

One of Poston’s most significant moments with TGO was not a formal presentation or deliverable. It happened when she overheard her mentors describing her work—the idea, the formula, and the progress she had made.

She heard people she admired refer to her as an entrepreneur.

“Having these experts say, ‘Hey, you’re on to something, and we’re going to help you,’ has been one of the most inspiring things,” Poston said.

Their belief did more than offer encouragement. It gave her a new frame for the venture. Reeds® was no longer simply an experiment prompted by a family’s desire to reduce plastic. It could be a real company with a meaningful market opportunity—and Poston could lead it.

That confidence is not empty optimism. For an early-stage founder, informed validation can make the difference between keeping an idea small and doing the difficult work required to test its larger potential. TGO’s mentors coupled encouragement with the experience, relationships, and forward-looking guidance needed to help Poston consider what comes next.

From a Household Solution to a Scalable Southeast Ohio Startup

Poston’s ambition for Reeds® has expanded with the relationship.

“When I started Reeds, this was very small-scale—just an idea that I had as a mom for my family,” she said. “In this relationship with TGO, I now have a very large vision for this company: to grow, to scale, to bring warehouses to Athens, Ohio, [and] to create jobs in our community.”

The shift captures the compounding value of startup mentorship. TGO did not replace Poston’s original purpose; it helped her see how that purpose could support a stronger business and a broader local impact.

Through TGO, Poston has gained mentors, relationships and introductions to investors. Those connections have helped her think beyond the immediate task of perfecting a product and toward the systems, capital and partnerships required to build a sustainable company.

“Working with TGO and the mentors, relationships and investors they’ve introduced me to has been pivotal in really growing the scale of what I hope for Reeds to be one day,” she said.

Her vision now includes operations in Athens and employment for people in the community. That goal aligns closely with TGO’s larger mission: helping promising ideas become sustainable businesses that attract investment, generate wealth and create jobs in Southeast Ohio.

What the Reeds® Story Shows Other Early-Stage Founders

Poston’s journey offers an important lesson for inventors and independent founders: you do not need to arrive with every answer—or even with a polished identity as an entrepreneur.

You do need a meaningful problem, the curiosity to investigate it, and the willingness to act on what you learn. From there, the right support can help turn isolated progress into an intentional path toward commercialization.

For Poston, that support has included:

• Responsive mentorship from people with entrepreneurial and business expertise
• Validation grounded in an understanding of the product and its potential
• Relationships that expand her knowledge and capabilities
• Introductions to investors and future funding opportunities
• Guidance that helps connect immediate decisions to long-term scale

This is the work behind many successful startup stories. The visible product may be a detergent tablet, medical device, software platform, or advanced material. Behind it is a founder making hundreds of decisions while trying to determine which milestone matters next. Effective venture-development support helps the founder focus on those decisions, build missing capabilities, and become better prepared for capital and growth.

A Bigger Vision for Reeds®—and for Athens, Ohio

Reeds® began with a deceptively simple question: Could one family use less plastic?

The answer led Poston into research, formulation, and entrepreneurship. TechGrowth Ohio helped introduce another question: How big could this become?

Today, the vision extends from a family’s laundry routine to a scalable company, potential warehouse operations, and new jobs in Athens. The journey is still unfolding, but its direction has changed. Poston is no longer approaching the work only as a mother solving a problem or a teacher learning a new field. She is building as a founder—with experienced people in her corner and a clearer picture of the impact the company could make.

For other Southeast Ohio entrepreneurs, her story is a reminder that a venture does not have to begin big to hold significant potential. Sometimes the first breakthrough is the product. Sometimes it is finding the people who help the founder see—and build—the company hiding inside the idea.

Ready to Explore What Your Idea Could Become?

TechGrowth Ohio provides customized services, access to capital, and connections for technology entrepreneurs and early-stage companies with high-growth potential. Whether you are refining an innovative concept, developing a product, preparing for funding, or planning how to scale, TGO can help identify the barriers between where you are and what comes next.

Start a conversation with TechGrowth Ohio at www.techgrowthohio.com.