New StarterStudio cohort kicks off in downtown Orlando

A new cohort has kicked off at StarterStudio, the downtown Orlando business accelerator that’s financially supported by Orange County, the city of Orlando, the Downtown Development Board and most recently, Duke Energy. 

Now located in the Kress building, StarterStudio moved to 130 S. Orange Ave. from 101 S. Garland Ave. in 2022.   

The nonprofit’s CEO Dawn Haynes said the cohort includes four men and four women, each bringing a business idea to the table. The organization has accelerator programming for three stages of the life of a business: idea stage, pre-seed stage and build stage. The program that kicked off Oct. 24 is for the idea stage when entrepreneurs vet their concepts. The idea stage program has been running since 2016 and hosts new cohorts four or five times a year, depending on the number of applicants.

The program is billed as a six-week early-stage tech accelerator to help the entrepreneurial-minded get started. Senior-level coaches help participants validate their solutions, collect substantial feedback from potential customers and their market, understand the entrepreneurial journey and its challenges, and learn how to communicate effectively about their business ideas.  

Nurse Practitioner Veronica Sampayo is among the eight, and she joined the cohort through her participation in another entrepreneurial support program, Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend is the Techstars initiative that said it has invested $98.4 billion in pre-seed companies since its founding in Boulder, Colorado, in 2006. 

The weekend business development competition was hosted at UCF Downtown Oct. 20-22, during which teams came up with business concepts with support from mentors and by the end of the weekend, pitched their idea to a panel of judges.  

Sampayo’s team worked on an idea for an app called Nurse Perks that aggregates local self-care offers and discounts for nurses. 

“Our team had a software engineer, chemical engineer, entrepreneur and a PhD student in computer science — and me, a nurse. We got third place and that won us a scholarship for this StarterStudio program,” she said. 

Sometimes, Haynes can spot a successful program graduate before the program even ends. 

“Veronica is passionate and driven about her business idea, and has expertise and experience in her subject matter, industry and market,” Haynes said. “Additionally, she’s willing to undertake the hard work necessary as a startup founder and is open to coaching. These are attributes we look for in our starters as they are important factors that contribute to the greatest chance of success.” 

Sampayo said she likes how methodical the program is, as it teaches lean startup methods, helps participants gauge if their strengths and personalities fit with entrepreneurial demands and paths to communicating with and understanding a customer base.  

According to Sampayo, just two sessions in, the value is apparent: “They don’t skip steps. It’s all very organized and thought through. I think it’s a good thing for the local government to fund because there’s nothing else like it around here. I researched accelerators for a while and was glad to find StarterStudio in Orlando rather than having to go to another city or state.” 

The others in the cohort are Simran Chugani, Roger Cardoso, Roberto Baptiste, Alejandro Duran, Sindhuja Reddy Thummala, Austin Moore and Reese Kelsey. Because the business ideas are in such early stages, most of the companies don't have names yet nor have many of the future founders chosen titles. 

Haynes said StarterStudio has been looking to beef up funding so its programs can continue to flourish, given that small businesses are potent economic drivers. Beyond government funds, Starter Studio has been supported by SouthState Bank and some local entrepreneurs who are on the organization’s board. 

“We just recently got a $25,000 grant from Duke Energy, too,” she said. 

StarterStudio 

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