A pair of Valley women have formed a company called Recreate Now with the specific purpose of helping women over 40 start a business or nonprofit organization.
Recreate Now is currently running its first accelerator, called the Recreate Action Tank, to help first-time female entrepreneurs learn the ropes of launching a new venture.
“There isn't something out there, really, for this target group,” Recreate Now co-founder Melissa Lamson said. “It's interesting that the accelerators don't sort of angle themselves towards women … the courses you can take, none of them are really that helpful to actually taking action to do something. And so we thought, why not start this?”
Lamson and co-founder Kimberly Mylls got the idea last summer and formed Recreate Now LLC in August 2020. They’ve since gathered resources and partners for its first accelerator cohort, which is set to graduate early in the new year.
The Action Tank accelerator is a six-month program, currently conducted both virtually and in-person. Women in the program can expect sessions on establishing a value proposition for a new business or nonprofit, identifying ideal customers, protecting intellectual property and building connections with mentors.
Lamson said they’ve designed the program to be comfortable and welcoming, where women can ask the “stupid questions” — that aren’t so stupid — about starting a new venture.
Graduate pitch contest
The first cohort, which has 10 participants, will graduate in mid-January and mark the accomplishment with a pitch contest. The winner will get $2,500.
Lamson and Mylls have gathered several mentors in the Valley to help bring these ventures to life, including WebPT co-founder Heidi Jannenga, My Little Mascara Club founder Christie Kerner and Stealthmode Partners co-founder Francine Hardaway as well as other members of the Arizona chapter of Golden Seeds, a group that invests in female founders.
Though Recreate is still a relatively new venture itself, Lamson said they’re already in the process of setting up other Action Tanks in new cities, including in San Francisco, Denver and Boston.
The name Recreate can be pronounced two different ways. Lamson said the name is pronounced "re-create," but the other pronunciation, as in "recreation," is another important part of the name.
“Women over 40, we spend so much time doing things for everyone else, and we're working really hard at our jobs and in our families and that we don't always prioritize having fun and doing those things that bring us joy,” she said.
Having fun and inducing creative thinking, Lamson said, can spark innovation for these founders, but it also helps bond them together so they can support each other on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Recreate is currently seeking applications for the 2022 Action Tank cohort, click here for more information.
