From an online gift registry for divorcees to an electronic medical data automation process for life insurance underwriting, six early-stage companies presented their ideas to a group of potential investors, mentors and community members Thursday evening at The Blueprint Green Bay Pitch Night. It was held at the Urban Hub co-working space in Green Bay.
The six companies comprised the first cohort of The Blueprint Green Bay, an entrepreneurship accelerator program started in Milwaukee by the Young Enterprising Society (YES), co-founded by brothers Que El-Amin and Khalif El-Amin. The 12-week Green Bay cohort kicked off in August and was focused on idea validation.
Past participants in The Blueprint Milwaukee have included Chad Johnson of Tip a ScRxipt, which recently raised $500,000 in seed funding, and Daniel Cruz of washbnb, which was selected for the Techstars Atlanta accelerator program this summer, which came with $120,000.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is funding The Blueprint Green Bay with a $150,000 grant to New North Inc., an economic development agency in northeastern Wisconsin. YES, New North and the Greater Green Bay Chamber are running the program.
As part of their participation in The Blueprint Green Bay, the six companies are eligible for grant funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. The amount of grant funding each company will receive has not yet been determined, according to the Greater Green Bay Chamber.
The companies in the first cohort of The Blueprint Green Bay were:
- AppEase: Founded by Nicole Tilot, AppEase is developing technology to automatically transfer medical data between providers and insurance companies in order to reduce costs and increase the speed of insurance underwriting. Tilot, a financial adviser at Thrivent Financial, came up with the idea after experiencing related pain points in her profession.
- Divorcist: Founded by Elizabeth Paulson and Eliza Cussen, Divorcist would be an online gift registry for newly single people. Its mission is to make divorce and separation a dignified stage of life.
- Intrigued Braiding Academy: Founded by Takieta Pritchard, Intrigued Braiding Academy would host courses to teach children and parents how to care for textured hair, including techniques such as parting and braiding.
- Unext: Led by Tyrone Powell, this platform connects students and employers. It's partnered with businesses including architecture firm Performa Inc. in De Pere, Port Washington insurance agency Ansay & Associates LLC and Green Bay software company Headway LLC.
- 4th N Long: Led by Avery Rhenwrick, 4th N Long is an online clothing store that donates 20% of its proceeds to help pay for sports-related costs for children and teenagers from low-income households.
- Kaleb's Comedy Center: This Green Bay comedy club was started by Kaleb Robertson and is still in development. According to Robertson, there are no comedy clubs in the Green Bay area and only four in the state of Wisconsin.
The next cohort of The Blueprint Green Bay will be in March 2022 and will focus on market validation — including identifying a target market, taking a product or service to market, and building a customer base. Applications will be available on Jan. 3.
