Insights

The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) announces Demo Day for its second tech cohort to complete the GRO Incubator.  Demo Day will be held in person, June 30th at WeWork in Raleigh.

GRO is a twelve-week incubator program aimed at supporting high-growth, high-impact companies looking to grow their venture through valuable programming and coaching.  GRO Demo Day is the opportunity for these companies to share their story and vision for an exciting new venture. “Demo Day allows these companies to pitch to the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Jay Bigelow said. “They have spent 12 weeks working towards launch and are looking for customers, partners and investors,” he added. “It takes a village to build a great company, and GRO demo days are a chance for the entrepreneurial village to see these new additions.”

GRO incorporates the foundations of iContact Founder Ryan Allis’s Ecademy – Entrepreneurship Course throughout weekly classes delivered by talented speakers along with other foundational learning elements. Participants of GRO will also receive 1:1 coaching from industry leaders and entrepreneurs and complete assignments that will help them launch their venture. GRO is an evolved version of the organization’s past educational programming, including Fastrac^TM and Fastrac Tech Venture^TM.

Meet our GRO Companies

The startups participating in the current cohort are IQ Everest, Flux Hybrids, eParamus, Data Crunch Labs, and Top 10 Easy. 

IQ Everest is an unbiased, censorship-free online class marketplace for adults to take live, online group classes or one-on-one consultations about a variety of topics. Skipping the trial-and-error phase by connecting with those who’ve already solved the hurdles being faced today.

Flux Hybrids bridges the gap between the limited electrified vehicle options and the operations requirements of businesses.  We do this by offering conversions of existing vehicles to hybrid-electric.  This conversion adds capability, so the new vehicle can still do everything required of it, just at a lower cost with less maintenance and a smaller carbon footprint.

eParamus, The eParamus IMPACT platform provides both the architecture and tools to design effective learning and verify learning outcomes.  As consultants and technology providers, we partner with our customers to elevate learning and development operations.  Our program creates best-in-class instructional design and critical evaluation skills, to enable measurement of learning results, and reporting of business outcomes for all corporate learning programs.

DataCrunch Lab solution consists of a digital analytics platform that monitors remote systems, performs automated assessments of their operational condition, and optimizes interventions and logistics related to their maintenance.

Top10Easy offers a search engine generating a ranked list limited to 10 businesses or services in a specific location. Making more efficient commercial transactions by matching smart consumers with great merchants in the area.

“We are fortunate to have successful Founders who once received support from CED, returning to give back,” said Kelly Rowell, CED’s President, and CEO. This cohort was underwritten by The Produce Box’s founder and CEO Courtney Tellefsen, who has partnered with CED to access support for over a decade. When she made the gift, Tellefsen said, “As an entrepreneur myself, CED has supported me over the years, providing guidance and advice during critical periods of my company’s growth. I have reached a milestone now that affords me the flexibility to give back and support early-stage entrepreneurs. I feel that CED is the right resource to invest in and get access to resources to help them GRO.”

You can learn more about her gift, here. https://local.40th.cednc.test/blog/the-produce-box-transitions-from-getting-support-to-giving-support-at-ced

GRO Demo Day will be on June 30th from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Due to covid safety precautions, space will be limited.

For more information about the program, visit https://local.40th.cednc.test/get/gro/. Media should contact Brennan Barber at bbarber@cednc.org for more details. 

About CED (Council for Entrepreneurial Development)

The Council for Entrepreneurial Development was formed in 1984 by a group of business leaders wanting to empower the successful creation and growth of entrepreneurial companies in the North Carolina region. CED acts as the connective center for all of this to happen. Through high-touch support, education, access to capital, and crucial connections, CED brings entrepreneurs together with the optimal resources needed to turn a new company into a success story.