It has been a busy few months for Promineo Tech founder and CEO Nick Suwyn.
Last week, the Peoria-based education-as-a-service company was crowned the winner of AZ Inno Madness 2023, an annual bracket-style challenge to generate awareness of the Valley’s startup ecosystem.
Promineo Tech edged out Phoenix-based automated document processing company qBotica by a mere nine votes, following a competitive week in the finals in which both companies received a combined total of 7,619 votes.
And in mid-March, Promineo Tech pitched itself to industry leaders, investors and a live audience as a finalist at the South by Southwest EDU 2023 Launch Startup Competition in Austin, Texas.
Suwyn founded Promineo Tech in 2018 as a school designed to make education in software development and other related technologies accessible and affordable. In 2020, Promineo Tech pivoted to become a “turnkey” coding boot camp service provider for colleges, meaning it provides a suite of services that include marketing, enrollment, curriculum and instruction.
Promineo Tech now partners with more than 40 community colleges and universities to provide affordable coding boot camps. It has more 38 employees and grew revenue by 300% last year, Suwyn previously told the Business Journal. The company is among 17 finalists selected to present at Venture Madness, the investment-focused startup conference April 12-13 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown.
I caught up with Suwyn in advance of Venture Madness to ask him a few quick questions.
“We're very excited, me and the team. I think there's multiple good things that came out of it," Suwyn said of the AZ Inno Madness win. "The two things that I appreciate the most is the awareness that it has generated. We've had a busy few months, so it kind of keeps the momentum going and it was an excellent team-building opportunity."
Promineo Tech was among seven finalists selected to pitch at the SXSW EDU 2023 Launch Startup Competition. What did you take away from that experience?
The event was great. We met a lot of amazing startups that are doing some really cool things to change the world through education ... The relationships that came out of it have already proven valuable. I'm really glad we went there.
Promineo Tech has come a long way since you launched it in your living room in 2018 to teach people software development skills. What do you think is key to growing a successful company?
I think the main keys for growing a successful company are going to be different for each company and each sector. I think, for us, it's keeping the student experience and success top of mind and staying true to our mission. That's been huge for success.
For me, personally, I feel like the biggest contribution I've given to Promineo Tech has been finding the right people — from leadership to individual contributors. Those two things have been pretty monumental to our success.
How are you preparing for Venture Madness this week?
I'm very excited for Venture Madness. I’ve been practicing my pitch. We were able to work with a team of volunteer mentors and they've been able to provide us some very valuable feedback. South by Southwest, in a way, was practice for Venture Madness as well. Then, just letting people know that Promineo Tech will be there. We’re hoping to have people come out and visit us and learn more about what we're doing.
Will it be time for a breather after Venture Madness? What's next for you and the company?
We’ll get breathers when we can. But we've got some things we're working on that will be launched here soon.
