Endeavor Midwest is getting ready to launch its second Scale Up cohort of the year.
The regional accelerator launched in 2019. Since then, 24 regional companies, such as Louisville's GoWild and Lexington's Flywire, have completed the program.
"The goal of Scale Up is to accelerate the growth of high-potential entrepreneur-led businesses and further Endeavor’s mission of scaling up, going big and giving back," said Jake Budler, manager of entrepreneur selection and growth at Endeavor.
Scale Up takes no equity and costs $3,000 per company. Endeavor is taking applications for the upcoming cohort of the early-stage accelerator until Friday, Aug. 5. Click here to apply.
In the meantime, Budler answered a few more questions about the program for KY Inno.
What is Scale Up?
Scale Up is a non-dilutive growth accelerator that supports high-potential, fast-growth entrepreneurs by giving access to the resources, successful founders and mentors in Endeavor’s regional network to scale to the next level. In 2022, Endeavor will have two cohorts — the first was from March to June and the second will be August to December — and each cohort will have a maximum of four companies.
How does it fit into Endeavor’s overarching mission?
Driven by our belief that high-impact entrepreneurs transform economies, Endeavor is on a mission to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging and underserved markets around the world. Scale Up creates a community of early stage entrepreneurs across Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio and allows these founders to connect into our strong entrepreneur-first network.
Who is eligible to participate?
Scale Up is open to founders in Kentucky, Indiana or Ohio. Ideal Scale Up companies have many of the following indicators:
- First-time founders or founders without a strong personal network seeking to tap into a regional entrepreneurial network
- A team with 5-20 employees, including the founders
- Companies that have raised over $500K in early capital and/or are raising $1M+ in institutional capital
- Companies that are close to or over $1M in annual revenue
- Annual growth rates of 50-100%+
- Entrepreneurs with a massive vision and bold goals
What will companies learn/do during the program?
Through Endeavor’s five-month Scale Up program, entrepreneurs receive direct mentorship from current Endeavor Entrepreneurs, board members and mentors. Entrepreneurs receive an in-depth Financial Review from EY and have access to the 7 Drivers of Growth assessment through EY Velocity. The program also includes tailored workshops, including a Behind the Scenes VC Pitch. Finally, Scale Up Entrepreneurs pitch at the Scale Up Acceleration Panel to receive tactical, meaningful feedback from a group of top regional mentors.
Tell us about a Scale Up success story.
The founding team from Zero Carb LYFE participated in the first cohort of Scale Up 2022. Based in Evansville, Indiana, the company makes no-carb pizza crusts and other food products. Through Scale Up, ZeroCarb was connected with Sixty8 Capital from Indianapolis, who ultimately went on the invest in ZeroCarb’s oversubscribed seed round.
John Pena, chief growth officer at ZeroCarb LYFE, said, “I believe the connections Endeavor made for us will turn out to be extremely valuable for our business this year. The Scale Up program and Endeavor, in general, is just starting to open the door for our company to go global.”
