Wayne State student re-invents the crossbow, launches a company

A recent Wayne State University graduate is launching a new business based on his invention, a new-and-improved version of the crossbow.

Adam Skornia graduated from Wayne in December with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering, but he never played video games until he went to college. Those hours spent in front of a screen playing first-person shooter games inspired him to invent a patent-pending design for a new crossbow.

After a couple of years fiddling with the design, the idea started to become real.

“I started thinking this could happen — this could be built.” Skornia says.

The crossbow design allows the bowstrings to run internally, prohibiting fingers from coming across the path of the strings. The design is safer, more efficient, and compact. It is just shy of 3 pounds, about half the weight of the typical crossbows.

Skornia launched Skore LLC to commercialize his invention. He has a prototype after working with Wayne State’s Blackstone LaunchPad program. The company recently won $5,000 in seed capital from Wayne State’s Blackstone LaunchPad Warrior Fund Competition. That money will be put toward getting the Skore crossbow to the market.

“I want to start off in Michigan,” Skornia says. “This is a Michigan-based company and I am big on Michigan-made products.”

Source: Adam Skornia, founder of Skore LLC
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.