CYstarters Spotlight: A 16-part series highlighting student entrepreneurs pursuing their business ventures as part of the CYstarters 2026 summer cohort. Through this program, students have the unique opportunity to prioritize the development of their own startup or business idea. Each individual receives $6,500 and access to resources such as mentorship, networking opportunities, and educational sessions on entrepreneurship and business startup. Learn more and meet our 17 entrepreneurs at Demo Day on Thursday, July 30. Register today!
Before a big game, athletes have their rituals. Some drink energy drinks. Others use smelling salts or topical products to get themselves ready to perform.
Iowa State University industrial design students Sophia Thomas and Ben Trost wanted to find a different way.
Their solution is Go Mode, a wearable aromatherapy neckband that uses scents such as menthol, peppermint, and eucalyptus to help athletes get into their preferred mental state before competition.
For Sophia, an Iowa State soccer player, the idea was personal. After an injury that temporarily took soccer and movement away from her, she realized how much she missed the sport and how many other athletes face similar experiences.
“That was a huge spark in my eye because I never wanted to feel like that again, and there’s millions of athletes that are dealing with the same thing,” Sophia said.
Sophia is from Muscatine, Iowa, and was recruited to Iowa State to play soccer during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the recruitment process, she discovered Iowa State’s industrial design program and quickly fell in love with the school, its facilities, and the soccer program—even though she had grown up a Hawkeye.
Ben is from Waterloo, Iowa, and attended Columbus Catholic, where his parents and sisters also attended before all studying at Iowa State, making the university a familiar place for him.
Growing up, Ben considered careers in paleontology or marine biology and originally came to Iowa State interested in designing cars or studying aerospace engineering before eventually finding his way to industrial design.
The two became partners on projects within the industrial design program, where they were encouraged to develop ideas and explore new products. One of their projects would eventually become Go Mode.
For one class project, they were given an atomizer and tasked with creating a design that would benefit a user.
“When I’m designing, I love to design for an athlete because I’m passionate about it, and I know that I am the user,” Sophia said.
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Ben and Sophia wanted to create a product that would give athletes an alternative to some of the harsher or overstimulating pre-performance products they currently use. As they continued development, they also researched how scent can be used as a mental tool, helping users associate specific scents with desired feelings or states of mind.
Sophia and Ben turned to other athletes to see if they saw a need for the product. Using her network, Sophia interviewed more than 33 athletes at Iowa State.
“If there was something out there for them, they would use it. That definitely sparked it when I found out like every single athlete wants this,” she said.
The pair continued conducting customer discovery interviews, expanding their conversations beyond athletes and finding additional opportunities for Go Mode to be used.
“We found a lot of different areas where people can utilize it within their lives to train their brain to feel a certain way during moments they not be comfortable with right now,” Ben said.
While Sophia has focused heavily on customer discovery, marketing, and connecting with athletes, Ben has taken on much of the technical side of the business. He is reaching out to manufacturers to improve the production process and find a way to produce Go Mode professionally at a small scale.
The positive feedback gave them the confidence to put their ideas in front of more people and participate in pitch competitions hosted by the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship throughout the school year.
“We won third place, and we were both pretty confident,” he said. “I really pushed us to go and put ourselves out there through that, and we received great feedback from that.”
Their success eventually led them to CYstarters, where they have continued developing Go Mode and learning how to turn their idea into a business.
“There’s a lot of little things I didn’t really know about,” Sophia said. “The LLC, talking to mentors, starting your website, the early sketches, and keeping everything organized. Definitely the hardest part is building it yourself.”
For Sophia, CYstarters has also provided flexibility as she balances a busy schedule. With soccer practices, games, and frequent travel, finding a traditional internship that fits with her schedule was difficult.
Having each other as partners has allowed them to support each other throughout the process.
“Ben has been an insane amount of help with that, and pushing me to get my name out there,” Sophia said. “He’s really good at speaking in front of groups and has been my biggest supporter in that sense.”
Beyond the business growth, Sophia and Ben said CYstarters helped them continue to learn and grow as entrepreneurs and connect with the other members of Cohort 11.
“The networking, the classes in the morning are so helpful, I continue to learn and grow from this experience,” Sophia said. “We have a big variety of different types of businesses and majors, so the way everyone thinks is really cool.”
At the beginning of the summer, alumni from previous cohorts told the group they would grow close and that CYstarters would be one of the best summers of their lives. At first, Sophia and Ben weren’t convinced.
“We were all like, ‘No way,’” Ben said. “But I can see it’s going down the road at this point. I made some really good friends already, so that’s great.”
The goal is to have 15 iterations of Go Mode ready for sale by Demo Day. Their larger goal is to have as much of the business finalized as possible by the end of the summer, with production being the biggest remaining step.
“Between our connections that we have with people, and the feedback that she’s gotten, we feel fairly confident once we get our ads up and running and our marketing going, we think it’ll do pretty well for itself,” Ben said.
This fall, Ben and Sophia will continue working on Go Mode while returning to school. Ben will begin working on senior projects, while Sophia will transfer to the University of South Florida to continue her soccer career. Balancing school, athletics, and a growing business will require planning and communication, but Ben said he is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’ll be interesting, but I think we will be able to do it. I look forward to the challenge,” he said. “Communication will be key.”
As they look ahead, both founders encourage other aspiring entrepreneurs to take the opportunity to pursue their ideas.
“If you are trying to become an entrepreneur yourself, absolutely go for it,” Ben said. “Even if you fail, you still tried it. As they say here, fail fast, fail forward, and just keep going.”
Follow along on Instagram @gomode.fit and on their website.
Check out our video interview with Sophia Thomas and Ben Trost below!
