Cal Poly Startup, Led by a Former Mustang Football Player, Developing Device to Detect Brain Injuries

Cal Poly Startup, Led by a Former Mustang Football Player, Developing Device to Detect Brain Injuries

Connor Heffler writes on a white board during the Summer Accelerator program at the HotHouse in San Luis Obispo. (Photo/Jahan Ramezani)

As a college football player, Connor Heffler didn’t want to think about concussions.

“You want to just play without fear,” said Heffler, a former Mustangs linebacker. “I kind of told myself to not believe in concussions.”

But when his senior project team began investigating various problems in the health space, it led them to common problems related to head injuries.

“We talked to everyone, from athletes to optometrists, and came back to the idea of concussions,” he said. “We kept hearing, ‘concussions, concussions, concussions.’”

With that in mind, the team decided to build a detection headset that could diagnose a concussion in minutes. Their startup, named ODIN Diagnostics, recently moved to the Incubator program at the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, where the team will receive mentorship and support.

“When there is suspicion of a concussion, an athlete can be escorted off the field and put the headset on,” Heffler explained. “Then, in five minutes or less, the device will use proprietary eye-tracking technology to detect the likelihood that they have a concussion.”

The name of their startup came from Norse mythology. Odin’s eyes symbolize his pursuit of wisdom and ability to foresee dangers, which aligns with ODIN Diagnostics’ mission: providing insights to preserve the health and well-being of athletes.

After the senior project was over, the team graduated, with the others going off to get jobs, but Heffler remained passionate about solving the problem at hand.

“I want to keep doing this full time, so I recruited many engineers who were interested in the project and thought would be good,” Heffler said. “It’s tough to start a business, especially from scratch.”

We talked to everyone, from athletes to optometrists, and came back to the idea of concussions. We kept hearing, ‘concussions, concussions, concussions.

Connor Heffler

The team then became involved with Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. that, according to its website, helps students and community members acquire the tools, develop the skills and cultivate the mindset of an entrepreneur so that they may create economic and social value throughout the world.”

Last spring, the ODIN team received $15,000, the top prize of the CIE’s 2024 Innovation Quest, an annual competition that allows students to gain funding for their ideas, and later the team participated in the CIE’s Summer Accelerator program, which offers more support and resources.

Heffler continues working to commercialize the startup’s first product with the help of the Incubator program, which it entered in September 2024. This 2-year program provides tools, training, and infrastructure to help startups facilitate smarter and faster growth.

Now

The current team also includes Joshua Gottschalk (Biomedical Engineering ‘25), Marina Zellers (Master’s in Biomedical Engineering’24), and Seth Saxena (Electrical Engineering ‘25).

“It’s probably one of the best experiences I had at Cal Poly because you get to meet people and work with people that you don’t have the chance to in your economics classes,” Heffler said. “It’s great; you think outside the box and see how an engineering student would think, which differs greatly from OCOB students.”

Gottschalk feels the same way.

“Working with such a diverse group of specializations has allowed our team to consider and collaborate in ways that would not be possible,” he said. “Each team member has unique skills to bring to the table.”

Sports and Family

For Heffler, who comes from a family of six, sports was a part of growing up.

His brother Andrew was a defensive end at Pomona Pitzer, and his father, Patrick, was a running back at the University of San Diego. His younger brother, Justin, will play baseball at Saint Mary’s College of California for the 2025 season. His mother, Julie, was a captain of her high school cheerleading team, and his sister, Katelyn, set a school record in long jump as a track and field athlete in high school.

“I was raised to be competitive in everything and be the best I possibly can in anything I do,” Heffler said. “My parents pushed me to excel from a young age in school, sports, relationships, faith, and everything in between.”

Dad and Entrepreneurship

Since Heffler’s dad is a small business owner, sports is not the only thing he has a love for.

“My dad has always been my role model,” Heffler said. “I think his love for entrepreneurship has rubbed off on me. I always wanted to grow up to be like my dad because I greatly admired him. I believe this set me on the path to starting a business and growing a passion for entrepreneurship—it’s in my blood.”

Patrick Heffler, who owns a construction company, owns a contracting group that helps provide customized contracting solutions for their customers.

How Football Impacted Him

For Connor Heffler, football and economics have impacted one another by helping him succeed in both areas.

“Football is a grind,” he said. “You’re waking up at 5 am. The sun’s not even out, and then you’re out hitting heads on the field and putting your body on the line. It’s hard, and doing that consistently daily makes you tough. Now that I’m in the working world after graduating, everything’s feels easier. Getting out of bed, showing up early in the morning, and going to work feels easier now. Being the first one in the office and the last one to leave is a mentality that was instilled in me from playing football. I think it makes a lot of things feel easier now.”

One professor who helped expose him to the sports business industry was Economics Associate Professor Joseph Kuehn who has performed extensive research on the NBA.

“My roommate and I took Professor Kuehn’s econometrics class, and as big sports fans, we thought his work with the NBA was super cool.”

Heffler’s drive and ambition stood out to Kuehn.

“He always sat in the front of class, asked questions, and was always engaged with the material,” Kuehn said. “He was one of the more conscientious students I’ve had. He is naturally curious and has the drive to see out an idea to fruition.”

Side Hustle

On the side, with his busy schedule, Heffler founded McCloud Ventures, a real estate speculation company.

“I started learning real estate on my own,” Heffler said. “I picked up three or four books about real estate investing. I read them and was super passionate about it. My dad’s also passionate about real estate, so I have someone to talk to. Then I went out and tried it out for a bit. There was definitely a learning curve at first, but I think my analytical side really enjoyed examining hundreds of properties in other states and number-crunching.”

Heffler has put his passion for real estate on hold as he is working full-time as the CEO of ODIN Diagnostics. He hopes to be able to explore real estate opportunities more in the future.

Drive

Managing everything while in school, from being a Division 1 football player to being a business owner, was not easy, but he did it all.

“A lot of late nights and early mornings,” Heffler said. “It was hard, I’m not going to lie. It’s tough to manage a lot of things, a lot of it comes down to time management. It’s something I try to be super serious about while also getting enough sleep to recover for football, but it’s something that I have a bunch of calendars for, and I have to make to-do lists. I need to stay organized and give myself time, which is hard.”

His drive and focus caught the attention of Gottschalk.

The first day of the Summer Accelerator Heffler wrote five words at the top of a whiteboard: “Be phenomenal, or be forgotten”

“When your leader, business expert, and experienced Division 1 athlete tells a team of young engineers with such confidence and determination that something will happen, there is simply no question about it,” Gottschalk said. “That very same first day, Heffler stood up at the whiteboard and wrote these five words at the top, where they still stand today. This phrase, as varying of an interpretation as it may have, has never left me.”

Future

“I am fully committed to getting ODIN Diagnostics off the ground over the next years” Heffler said. “It is something I am passionate about and will not stop until we have developed a more meaningful solution to solve problems in the concussion space. We’re doing a lot of refining right now, but we have some exciting product development milestones, fundraising milestones, and partnerships that will allow us to bring this to fruition. I look forward to the future.”