Venture Showcase Goes Virtual as Start-Ups Vie for Share of $10,000

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It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Back in January, just over a dozen start-up ventures looking for a jump-start on their business journey began the four-month Impact Accelerator program at reSET in Hartford.

The original plan for a series of in-person summits, meetings with experts on various business specialties and other on-site workshops had to be shelved in mid-March, as coronavirus made virtual connections the only way to proceed.

Five months later, on Tuesday, June 2, this precedent-setting group will conclude their Accelerator with a virtual pitch event. A first for them, and for reSET.  The event, held on-site in previous years, will reflect the perseverance of small business against all odds – certainly a degree of difficulty beyond what was anticipated at the outset.

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Venture Showcase on ZOOM! will feature the top startups from reSET’s Impact Accelerator, a group of talented, impact-minded entrepreneurs, as they pitch their business ideas to the public and compete for a share of $10,000 of award money to continue growing their business in Hartford.

“At reSET, we’ve always known the power of bringing a passionate group of social entrepreneurs together,” said Shane Chase, reSET Program Director, who led the cohort through the transition. “When we entered quarantine we were worried about how we could maintain the level of support and momentum generated in the program, but our cohort rose to the challenge. Even virtually, everyone came together to help one another and pivot their ventures without missing a beat.”

The businesses were able to keep their morale up and have persevered to the final pitch competition to share their business growth with the greater community, reSET officials explained. The highly regarded Impact Accelerator is a 4-month program designed to provide entrepreneurs with access to the knowledge, networks, and resources they need to grow their businesses and their impact. The program focuses on connecting start-up businesses to early stage customers and industry-specific experts and mentors, and on providing coaching pertaining to important start-up milestones.

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“The [Venture Showcase] should prove to be an exciting event for the small business community” said Nichole Hawkins, founder of early childhood education startup Legacy Lineage and 2020 Impact Accelerator entrepreneur. “The 2020 cohort was awesome and the reSET organization saw us through to the finish line, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic!”

Past winners of the Venture Showcase include the founders of Raise Green, crowd-sourcing technology that allows anyone to invest in green technology; Loki, an interactive live-streaming app that captures experiences from multiple points of view; and Phood, whose solution uses technology to divert food waste from landfills.

The Impact Accelerator was a winner of the U.S. Small Business Administration Growth Accelerator Competition, and was the only Connecticut accelerator to receive the award in 2015. The reSET accelerator program was established in 2013.

This year’s Venture Showcase judges include Jay Williams, President of the Hartford Foundation, Moraima Gutierrez, Assistant District Director for Economic Development /Media Relations Specialist at CTSBA, and Dorothy Adams, Impact Investor and Board Chair of Capital For Change.

Mentoring is an important component of the accelerator. Winners will be selected based on expert feedback prior to the June 2 showcase, combined with peer feedback from their cohort members.  In addition to Legacy Lineage, this year’s Impact Accelerator includes innovative startups:

  • Preppers Meal Prep offers macro friendly meals with poultry, seafood, keto & vegan options to customers in Greater Hartford who want to live a healthy lifestyle and save time.

  • Her Move is a woman-owned boutique recruitment consultancy focused on hiring women at growing software companies in order to address the gender gap in leadership positions.

  •  Seedership is a social impact and storytelling digital platform that helps businesses identify and measure the good they do in their communities.

  • Funabilities is the world’s first search service for people of all abilities.  It connects people with accessibility needs to one another and to businesses that serve them. 

  • Spirit of Joy Organic Skin Care was born out of maternal love and a desire to provide a safe alternative to commercial lotions and moisturizers. 

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“We believe that it’s more important than ever before to support social enterprise. During a global pandemic, it’s glaringly obvious that we have no choice but to consider how our actions affect people and the planet,” said Sarah Bodley, Executive Director of reSET.

“I’m deeply concerned that as we emerge from this crisis, there will be a draw to go back to ‘business as usual’ when what we really need is to evolve business for the better.  Forward-thinking companies, including reSET alumni, have responded to this crisis with socially-driven solutions, meeting very real emergency needs, while keeping their lights on,” Bodley said.

The reSET mission is to inspire entrepreneurs to act through a socially beneficial perspective and use business to address challenges in their communities. By designing business to focus on both purpose and profit, innovation is unleashed and profit is a means to solving problems.  reSET’s mentor network and SBDC advisor provide affordable access to a wide range of expertise for startups. 

For Tuesday’s virtual event, tickets can be reserved via eventbrite: http://buff.ly/2xZQBUm