If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
It's a phrase many of us grew up hearing from our parents, teachers and coaches. And it's one that the team at Charlotte-based startup Ascend Goals lived by for the last year and a half as it worked to secure a $50,000 grant from NC IDEA.
Ascend is an edtech startup, founded in 2019 by Reg Gabriel and Christine Nicodemus, to help schools and mentoring organizations set goals for middle and high school students, track their progress and measure program outcomes. The company was announced last week as one of seven North Carolina startups chosen to receive $50,000 from the Fall 2020 NC IDEA Seed Grant program.
NC IDEA has awarded more than $6.8 million in seed grants since 2006. The funds are given to early-stage startups with a proven concept, and are intended to help the companies scale faster and reduce the risk often associated with growing startups.
The other fall recipients are Raleigh-based Blue Recruit, Dendi and Six Wing Studios; and Durham-based Davos Corp., Wrangle and Vizma Life Sciences.
Missi Rossi, Ascend director of client success, said they plan to use the grant money to ramp up sales and marketing initiatives as well as new product development.
Rossi said this was the third time Ascend had submitted an application to be considered for the grant. Each application round, she said, was a learning experience that helped push the team toward their eventual success in securing the $50,000 grant.
"A lot of lessons we've learned as entrepreneurs involve the same skills our team is trying to develop in teens: goal-setting, grit, perseverance and growth mindset," she said. "Every day we had to put those to work, and our experience with applying for the NC IDEA Seed Grant reflects that."
Rossi added, "We're grateful to the North Carolina entrepreneurial community for cultivating a supportive environment that encourages viewing perceived setback as challenges and opportunities for growth."
Ascend has also built a partnership with Fort Mill-based Aperture Education to create a combined social-emotional learning assessment and goals platform, she said. Ten schools and "out-of-school-time" programs across the country are currently piloting the program.
"This program is already proving vital to assessing the social-emotional status of teens during this difficult time in our history," Rossi said.
