HPU Alumni Launch Business with Support from Professional Athletes, Veteran Nonprofit
Three High Point University alumni have launched a new business called Chillshark, which turns any tub into a cold plunge or ice bath to offer a cold-water immersion product with therapeutic benefits for athletes, healthy aging and treatment of conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 6, 2025 – Three High Point University alumni are in the big leagues.
Keegan O’Connor joined his friends, Daniel Haynes and Brandon Sloan, to launch Chillshark. By turning any tub into a cold plunge or ice bath, Chillshark offers a cold-water immersion product with therapeutic benefits for athletes, healthy aging and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries, anxiety and depression.
More than 25 professional sports teams and several major universities have committed to using Chillshark in a pilot program, and numerous professional athletes are gearing up for the product launch this year. Chillshark was featured at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7-10.
The idea for Chillshark stemmed from concussions that O’Connor sustained while playing lacrosse and his search for an easy way in which apartment dwellers like himself could cold plunge consistently. When he was unable to find anything available on the market, he reflected on what he had learned in HPU business pitch competitions and pulled together a team of professionals with different skills to find a solution. O’Connor had met Sloan, a Class of 2016 Accounting major with minors in Finance and Mathematics, while O’Connor was networking for finance jobs. Sloan became his best friend and Chillshark’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. Eric Hegedus, a former professor in HPU’s Department of Physical Therapy became Head of Clinical Research for Chillshark.
“One of the things I learned by doing the pitch competition was how important it was to find people with other skill sets that complement your own,” said O’Connor, Chillshark’s CEO and a 2018 Business Administration major with a Sales minor. “For example, Daniel [Haynes] was great at technology, I understood sales, Brandon had a finance and strategy background, so we have since rounded the team out with engineering and manufacturing knowledge holders.”
When they met in accounting class, Haynes already was working on a software company he had started building when he was 16 years old. Both Haynes and O’Connor were members of HPU’s Entrepreneurship Club and were mentored by Kathryn Elliott, professor of the practice of entrepreneurship and Director of the Belk Entrepreneurship Center. They often studied in the center, which is located outside Elliott’s office on the second floor of Cottrell Hall, and she provided advice about their evolving business plans.
“I think the pitch competition really connected a lot of like-minded people,” said Haynes, a 2019 Business Administration major with a minor in Marketing who is now Chillshark’s Chief Technology Officer. “The good thing with how HPU’s entrepreneurship program does things is there are people with all types of skill sets. We’ve had people in marketing, finance or software specialties but all with a similar entrepreneurial mindset. That was the biggest thing with us in how we were able to get started so quickly.”
Chillshark raised $1 million in just over two months. Major investors include Anthony Rendon, a former World Series champion and current third baseman for the Los Angeles Angels, Pat Spencer, who plays for the Golden State Warriors, and his brother Cam Spencer, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies and led the University of Connecticut Huskies to a national championship last year.
O’Connor, Haynes, and Sloan have been working to raise more than $2 million since last November to pay for tooling, molds and materials to produce Chillshark while continuing to set up a supply chain to support a rapidly scaling business. The company is also funding research on the efficacy of cold-water immersion therapy in collaboration with the comprehensive military health research programs at Grey Team, a nonprofit founded in 2016 by veterans to help reduce PTSD-related veteran suicides.
“We’re working with the Grey Team to build out and document the protocols together, then we will be taking it to different branches of the military,” O’Connor said. “What I truly believe is cold-water immersion will be one of the key potential treatments that could solve the problem for a lot of different people with PTSD. It’s not going to be a cure-all, but it will make a difference in people’s lives and that’s why I think it’s important to do this research.”
In looking back on his drive to start Chillshark, O’Connor said, “The confidence for starting a business was because I did it at a young age and it was fun. Seeing what you can do when you put multiple people together, how much farther you can go and how much more effective you can be is what gave me even more confidence to go big, and to go for a big company that can make a big difference.”
If you want to support them on their product launch, visit Chillshark Presale.