Eleven ventures are hoping for rapid growth and impact as they embark SEED SPOT's D.C.-based Impact Accelerator program. SEED SPOT organizes accelerator programs, launch camps and meetups focused on ventures with business potential and the ability to make social impact.
At the Impact Accelerator's kickoff party last week, the startups made their elevator pitches to the crowd at the Booz Allen Hamilton Innovation Center in D.C. The cohort is a diverse set of founders working on both businesses and nonprofits focused on education, animal care, sanitation and other things.
"All of these ventures were selected due to their ability to achieve high impact. They also have potential for significant and great scale," said Dana Ward, SEED SPOT's D.C. Program Manager. "We've already seen that these entrepreneurs have demonstrated the grit and determination needed to achieve the most important things in our society that need to be improved on."
The cohort and a crowd of about 250 people heard words of advice from Scott Case, the founding CTO of Priceline and currently the co-founder and CEO of Upside Travel. Case told the founders that the most successful startup communities are the ones that focus on the "quality and depth of the relationships between the people in the community."
"That was it. It wasn't anything magical. It wasn't about how much capital was flowing around in the place. It wasn't ... about the big companies being involved. It wasn't about the the government doing something or some grant maker," Case said. "It was about the relationships between people."
Throughout the 11-week curriculum, the founders will work with specially selected mentors to improve their products and capabilities and grow their sales. The program will culminate with a "Demo Day" in April where the entrepreneurs will make their improved pitches and compete for prizes.
Here are the 11 ventures of the cohort:
This nonprofit aims to lower the barrier to entry for students of lower socioeconomic status to get congressional internships. The group helps students secure an internship on the Hill and fully sponsors the financial burden, including food, transportation, housing and other costs.
“Imagine a world where our nation’s leaders lived and looked just like us,” founder Audrey Henson said. “Our mission is to make Congress more diverse, inclusive and more effective.”
PLUGGED is a startup founded by Victor Ehienulo and Madiagne Sarr to make on-campus recruitment a more diversity-focused experience. Their product is an app designed to streamline communication among the university career service workers, recruiters and students. The goal is to “democratize access to opportunities for diverse talent,” Ehienulo said.
The founders are working with their first client, Howard University’s School of Business, and say they already have 100 corporate partners involved.
Founded by Jamie Bowerman, Bowerbags makes modular bags designed to prevent back injuries common with professionals who have to carry a lot of gear. Bowerman said the bags are geared toward the military and first responders, noting that veterans commonly experience lower back pain.
“The good news is this has nothing to do with being stronger or faster,” Bowerman said. “It's actually about the ergonomics of how we carry things.”
Worldview is a project centered around building waterless toilets for people in areas without sewage facilities. Lack of access to a clean toilet is a hygiene issue that can mean exposure to deadly diseases. Co-founder Kaveto Tjatjara, hailing from Namibia, said this can solve a big problem for billions of people globally. Worldview is currently running a pilot with 200 people in Namibia, Tjatjara said, installing waterless toilets directly in their homes.
The Ability Challenge is an initiative started by Sarah Sandelius to help educators better meet the needs of students with disabilities.
The good news is that most of those students are spending all or part of their time in school in a general ed classroom. The bad news is that 85 percent of general ed teachers feel unprepared to teach students with disabilities, Sandelius said.
Sendelius said that the Ability Challenge helps bring about collaboration among teachers, parents and students to tailor instruction. She said the model “uses, training, technology and wrap-around supports to implement changes that are really going to stick.”
Traipse is an app designed to promote historic downtown districts and local businesses. The company works with tourism boards and business improvement groups to tailor walking tours and scavenger hunts to get visitors more engaged. The app also has a feature called “My Local Token,” a virtual currency system that aims to incentivize local shopping.
“It's a whole ecosystem for local commerce that allows any business or organization to incentivize engagement towards the local economy,” founder and CEO Darren Smith said.
Pet Connect is an app that aims to bridge the disconnect between pet owners and businesses. Founder Hector Ocasio said he conceived of the idea after a near-death experience for his dog. While Ocasio was traveling with his wife and dog, the dog became violently ill and Ocasio struggled to find a pet hospital, eventually finding one with the help of a friend.
“I quickly discovered that the pet industry didn't have a marketplace of pet friendly resources available for pet parents, and furthermore pet businesses are struggling to connect with the modern-day pet parent due to a lack of innovation,” Ocasio said.
The app lets pet owners shop around for products and services and allows pet businesses to list and market themselves.
Guidefi is a platform that matches millennials – with a focus on educators – to vetted financial advisors. The advisors include financial planners, credit and debt specialists, estate attorneys, small business attorneys, insurance agents, tax accountants, real estate agents and wealth managers.
“The financial advice industry is broken. It’s filled with confusing acronyms that no one understands and the result is teachers have a really hard time getting access to good financial advice,” Charlene Fadirepo said. “Remember these are the same professionals that are teaching our kids about money.”
Just Results is a company that aims to help maximize the impact of international development projects run by governments and donors. The company currently offers technology and consulting services. Co-founder Alex Macdonald said the long-term goal is to have a suite of “e-government services for developing country governments that can help businesses have more efficient government-to-business services and interactions.”
Givhero is a company focused on increasing engagement in employee health and wellness programs. The program works by having employers incentivize healthy behaviors among its workers by donating to charities of their choice.
“Employee wellbeing programs are failing. Employees are unengaged, there's low participation rates, and the main reason people drop out is because of lack of motivation,” said co-founder Timothy Guinan.
Guinan said the program has increased participation rates by 25 percent at American University, and that Givhero is looking to grow its sales pipeline.
MotherNation is a social platform that creates support networks for mothers. The company puts together circles of up to eight mothers based on shared experience, proximity and age so that the mothers can provide community support to each other.
“Being a mom is hard, and it's often very isolating,” said co-founder and CEO Adrienne Prentice. “We then train these circles in the skills necessary, so they can provide community care to each other in real life.”
The company aims for an inclusive experience by encouraging “anyone who identifies as a mother” to join. MotherNation also advocates for paid parental leave in the U.S.
