This year is a momentous one for Alchemist Accelerator.
It's celebrating its 10th anniversary. And it has a new head to replace founder Ravi Belani.
Belani, who's served as the Stanford-based accelerator's managing director since its launch, announced Tuesday he's stepped down as of that day. Rachel Chalmers, who previously led the company's innovation arm, AlchemistX, has taken his place.
"This is a momentous season for us," Belani said at the company's 31st Demo Day event. "For me, personally, the fall really marks new beginnings, not the spring."
Speaking of such beginnings, Belani used his keynote speech at the virtual event to inspire current and prospective founders. He recalled for his audience the time David Rogier, the CEO of MasterClass, came to speak to the entrepreneurship class Belani teaches at Stanford University.
A student in the class asked Rogier how one should make the economic choice between a lucrative job offer and an opportunity to start a company. Rogier's response was that people shouldn't ever launch companies "purely for economic, rational reasons," Belani recalled.
The lesson Rogier passed along was that "the only way to know if you should start a company, rationally, is if your motivation to start it is that — even if it failed completely economically — you would still pursue it, because you care so deeply about the mission," Belani said.
The pursuit of meaning should motivate founders more than the pursuit of money, Belani said. For his part, the desire to foster a community of founders is what spurred him to start Alchemist Accelerator.
"For me, where the meaning was, was in community," Belani said.
Although he's stepping down from running Alchemist, which focuses on startups that serve enterprises, Belani will continue to be involved in the accelerator, he said. He also plans to continue teaching his entrepreneurship class.
Meanwhile, he hosted one last Demo Day. Alchemist's fall group featured 19 companies, including six from the Bay Area, nine others from around the country and five more that are based outside the United States.
Here are the six Bay Area startups that pitched at Alchemist's Demo Day:
Circuit Launch Inc. (dba mechlabs)
- Headquarters: Oakland
- Founders: Alex Dantas, Dan O'Mara
- Product or service: Offers online classes on building robots.
Loyee Technologies Corp.
- Headquarters: Mountain View
- Founders: Amadea Pely, Jessica Pely, Michael Pont
- Product or service: Provides analyses of Salesforce data to corporate sales teams via Slack.
Outwork Automation Inc.
- Headquarters: Berkeley
- Founders: Cameron Britt, Chandler Supple
- Product or service: Uses data from machines to create automation software for small- to medium-sized manufacturers.
Peace of Mind Inc.
- Headquarters: San Rafael
- Founders: Aras Toker, Serhat Bilge
- Product or service: Provides mental well-being programs for corporate employees.
Seccuri Inc.
- Headquarters: Palo Alto
- Founders: Olga Botero, Juanita Duque, Annel Amelia Leon
- Product or service: Offers a job board and online training for cybersecurity professionals.
AiSport Pro
- Headquarters: Cupertino
- Founders: Dariia Hordiiuk, Viktor Krepak, Anna Stepura
- Product or service: Provides software to personal trainers and fitness centers to reduce the incidence of injury from a workout.
