New Ventures Accelerator: “What I did during my summer vacation.”

I have had a blast this summer directing the first cohort of the New Ventures Accelerator. Next week marks the conclusion of this ‘first of its kind’ investment backed program in the North Carolina Triad. Company founders earn their way toward $50K investments, and opportunities to develop and present their innovative ideas to investors.

We worked hard for the past 12 weeks exploring both Innovation and Lean Startup methods. We explored human-centered design and innovation including design research, brand strategy, experience design, design strategy, design thinking, and service design.

I am very proud of these exceptional companies, they represent some of the best teams I have had the good fortune to collaborate with during my career.

Our Demo Day is September 9th and will be held in the main hall of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter BioTech Place. You can register for a ticket here.

Jessica Brown has written a really nice story about the New Ventures Accelerator as well as the Creative Startups online acceleration program taking place here at Flywheel Coworking in the Innovation Quarter:

“A strong innovation ecosystem requires a vibrant start-up community. In a city dedicated to “arts and innovation” and founded on entrepreneurs like the early Moravian settlers, R.J. Reynolds and the Hanes brothers, it is only fitting to carry on the city’s entrepreneurial legacy through a start-up community focused on these complementary segments of Winston-Salem.

This summer marked the start of two new start-up accelerators rooted in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter: New Ventures Challenge Accelerator hosted by Flywheel and the Creative Startups Accelerator, hosted by the Center for Creative Economy. Both accelerators focus on spurring innovation and business creation in the Southeast region of the United States by selecting promising young companies to complete multi-week programming focused on growing their business.”

Originally published at New Ventures NC.