Endeavor has announced the eight companies that will participate in its second Scale Up program across Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. In partnership with EY, Scale Up supports high-potential entrepreneurs in the region to identify business needs and goals, pursue scaling to the next level, and gain direct support and mentorship from top regional entrepreneurs and organizations. Scale Up 2020 will launch on April 23, 2020 and conclude in November, 2020.
Scale Up Program
Through Endeavor’s 8-month Scale Up program, entrepreneurs receive direct mentorship from current Endeavor Entrepreneurs and other successful entrepreneurs. As part of the program, entrepreneurs will undergo a strategic, growth-focused assessment through EY’s proprietary 7 Drivers of Growth workshop to identify ways to accelerate growth and achieve market leadership, attend a start up clinic from nationally-reputed West Ventures, and complete a mock Endeavor Selection Panel to receive tactical, meaningful feedback from top mentors.
“Through Scale Up, early-stage entrepreneurs in our region get access to incredible resources from EY, West Ventures, and Endeavor Entrepreneurs – becoming part of Endeavor’s strong regional network,” explained Jackson Andrews, Endeavor’s Louisville Managing Director. “We are so excited to launch the second cohort of Scale Up with amazing entrepreneurs from all three states.”
Leading regional organizations, including InnovateMap (Indianapolis), Thompson Hine LLC (Cincinnati), On Plane Consulting (Louisville), CincyTech (Cincinnati), and GrowthX (Nashville, San Francisco) will also provide tailored mentoring to Scale Up entrepreneurs.
The companies selected to participate in the program are:
Company: EZ Chow
Entrepreneurs: Mo Sloan (CEO) and Sallie Clark (COO)
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Industry: Restaurant Tech
EZ Chow creates custom ordering applications that integrate seamlessly into a restaurant’s point of sale system, and brand look and feel. The software has provided integrated solutions for restaurant partners regionally, nationally and beyond.
With around 300 restaurant locations either actively using the technology or in development, users have reported a 26% increase in online takeout and delivery sales since utilizing their custom apps. Learn more about EZ Chow at ez-chow.com.
Company: GoWild
Entrepreneurs: Brad Luttrell (CEO) and Zack Grimes (President)
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Industry: Outdoor Tech
Brad Luttrell and three co-founders launched the outdoor social media and e-commerce platform, GoWild, in 2017. In addition to hunting and fishing, the app connects members around archery, firearms, nature photography, gardening, biking and about 40 other activities. Members can engage, interact and learn while sharing tips, gear recommendations and recipes.
It’s been a wild ride for GoWild thus far. The app partnered with Polaris, Garmin, Vortex and many other brands last year to create a unique way for outdoor enthusiasts to share their story. The company grew its member base by 380% in 2019, and aims to do so again in 2020. Learn more about GoWild at timetogowild.com.
Company: Flywire
Entrepreneurs: Jacob Isaac-Lowry (CEO) and Sarah Alessi (Chief Research Officer & COO)
Location: Lexington, Kentucky
Industry: Seafood Tech
Co-founders Jacob Isaac-Lowry and Sarah Alessi started Flywire Cameras in 2014 to reverse traditional thinking about on-board cameras on fishing vessels. With video recording of fishing techniques and catches as a valuable data-collection tool, Flywire’s platform helps to maximize fishing efficiency and profit, in addition to providing data on traceability and legal compliance. Learn more about Flywire at flywirecameras.com.
Company: Level Up
Entrepreneurs: Natalia Bishop (Chief of Happiness) and Hannah Estes (Director of Marketing)
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Industry: Education Tech
Co-founders Natalia Bishop and Hannah Estes started Level Up with a mission to connect, educate and inspire women in their communities through pop-up style classes and private events. Currently headquartered in Louisville, Bishop plans to help women level up in communities around the country. Learn more about Level Up at levelupwithus.com.
Company: Home Team
Entrepreneurs: Rod Walton (CEO), David Marsili (COO), and Chris Oparanozie (Regional Manager)
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Industry: Labor Tech
Co-founders Rodney Walton, David Marsili and Chris Oparanozie launched The Home Team in 2016, allowing customers to use the platform to find people who will provide moving and household services including unloading trucks, lifting heavy yard clippings and more. Customers can even find people to pack up their kitchens or move into dorms.
The Home Team was an instant hit, helping more than 5,000 customers in just a few years. The company is also doing their part to help the community by providing 1,000 jobs and counting for college students. Learn more about The Home Team at hirehometeam.com.
Company: Selfless.ly
Entrepreneurs: Joshua Driver (CEO) and Zach Rodenbarger (COO)
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Industry: CSR Tech
After his success with his own non-profit company, Joshua Driver started Selfless.ly with Zach Rodenbarger to make philanthropy engagement easy for companies looking to give back. The turnkey software solution is an affordable, all-in-one platform for companies to create a personal philanthropy strategy, and offer these benefits to their employees. Social benefits are so hot right now, and employers need a solution. After launching just a few months ago, Selfless.ly is a certified LGBT Business Enterprise and Indiana’s first domestic benefit corporation and Certified B Corp. Learn more about Selfless.ly at selflessly.io.
Company: AuthentiCx
Entrepreneurs: Amy Brown
Location: Carmel, Indiana
Industry: Healthtech
AuthentiCX helps businesses use technology to analyze data from customer-to-business interactions. Founder Amy Brown and her company organizes data and gathers insights to help businesses serve their markets better. AuthentiCX has received top clients in pharmaceuticals and healthcare and was recently honored with the Top-Rated Emerging Culture award by Powderkeg. Learn more about AuthentiCX at authcx.com.
Company: Continuud Care
Entrepreneurs: Richard Walsh (Co-Founder) and Nathan Walsh (Co-Founder)
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Industry: Healthtech
Through digital outreach, Richard and Nathan Walsh started Continuud Care to leverage artificial intelligence to help HIV Service Organizations connect and engage with high-risk community members. The integrated ecosystem was designed from the ground up to enable organizations to work more efficiently toward the goal of eradicating 90% of new HIV infections from communities by 2030. Learn more about Continuud Care at continuud.com.
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While Endeavor’s Scale Up Program is offered in other Endeavor affiliate offices around the world, each affiliate designs the content based on the needs of their local entrepreneurial ecosystems.
In 2019, 12 entrepreneurs from six companies completed the first-ever regional Scale Up program: Autymate (Louisville), Costello (Indianapolis), FreshFry (Louisville), Space Tango (Lexington), TRIM.co (Louisville), and Untitled Firm (Louisville). The program concluded with a Scale Up Celebration at Old Forester Distillery, which brought together the entrepreneurial ecosystem to celebrate the cohort. The end goal of Scale Up is to accelerate the growth of high-potential entrepreneur-led businesses and further Endeavor’s mission of scaling up, going big, and giving back.
About Endeavor
Established in 1997, Endeavor is leading the global high-impact entrepreneurship movement to drive economic growth and job creation by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. To date, Endeavor has screened more than 60,000 individuals and selected nearly 2,000 founders leading over 1,200 scale-up companies. With support from Endeavor’s worldwide mentor network, Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created over 3 million jobs, generate more than $20 billion in revenue each year, and inspire future generations to innovate and take risks, building strong entrepreneurship ecosystems in growth markets. Headquartered in New York City, Endeavor currently operates in 35+ growth markets throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America.