Startups Ignite Demo Day in DC: Pitches From Our Summer Cohort Graduates
Startups Ignite is all about helping startups. Over the years, we have built a unique ecosystem where mentors, entrepreneurs, investors, supporters, corporate partners and more come together to help startups build their business model and sharpen their pitches to get their dreams off the ground.
Our Accelerate24 program is how we provide intensive support to handpicked startups through innovation experiments, connections, tailored strategies and help from mentors. Startups shape their ideas into profitable business models and connect with potential investors. The 3-month program offers all the resources a startup needs to kick-start their business in the most opportune environment. Twice a year, we organize DEMO DAY – a graduation ceremony for our startup cohort – to celebrate the hard work and creative pitches of our graduating startups.
Earlier this week, we had another DEMO day where five diverse and innovative startups presented their well-crafted pitches to a great audience. It was such an amazing feeling! Thank you all the startups, mentors, entrepreneurs, sponsors and founders for making our celebration so perfect and productive. We look forward to your continued support and participation.
Here’s a quick review of what went down throughout the DEMO DAY on October 16th, 2018 at WeWork, Apollo:
BlackBook – The Starbucks App For Bars!
BlackBook is a mobile application – envisioned and founded by William Goulding – to facilitate faster communication between hospitality venues such as bars, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. and their customers. The app reduces wait time and increases resource efficiencies through convenient order placement, stress-free management, and faster order dispatch.
“We are currently reducing customer wait times from 15 minutes to 100 seconds and increasing bartender productivity by 300%. We aim to increase bar sales by 10-20%. We target bars, restaurants, sports and concert venues.” says William Goulding.
The app not just offers faster delivery but it also leads to greater profitability for venues and improved user experience for the customers.
Interested in learning more? Visit BlackBook website.
Skoolar – The Platform That Builds Future For Students!
Skoolar is a one-of-a-kind platform that helps students share and showcase their skills. The simple-to-use Skoolar Dashboard allows students to keep track of their classes, showcase their talent through coursework (in video, document or image format), connect with peers through engaging discussions and build an education and career centric network. The Skoolar platform provides all the benefits of a professional networking website minus all the noise and frustration that comes with popular social media.
"Participating in the Startups Ignite Accelerator program has been of tremendous value to Skoolar. All of the mentors have given a lot of their time and significant expertise providing constructive feedback and advice on our business, our product, and our messaging. Together with our cohort peers, they’ve shown a real interest in helping Skoolar succeed, and our offering for college students, employers and investors is better for having been a part of this program." said Matt Probus, CEO and Co-Founder at Skoolar.
Dig into the website to know more about Skoolar.
Gravatate – A Better Way To Communicate!
Gravatate is a creative business communication app that enables real-time interactions between distant teams. It provides a robust business messaging and team communication that drives productivity through instant messaging between teams in business, non-profit and higher education.
"Best thing that ever happened to our start-up Gravatate. Actionable and powerful mentoring output that helped us with our messaging-- but perhaps more importantly, we actually transitioned from pilot mode to paid customers during the 3 month period we were in the accelerator!" said Javier Castro, Founder and CEO at Gravatate, Inc.
Gravatate, with its unique set of features, allows collaboration between teams, individuals and remote workers. It allows you to follow conversation across the screen and devices. We loved working with the upbeat Gravatate team who is on a mission to make human-to-human communication faster and better.
Connect with Gravatate team through their website.
CreativeDates – The App To Find The Perfect Date Spot!
CreativeDates is the dream come true for lovebirds and friends. The app lets you plan a perfect date by finding the perfect destination for you by comparing a lot of different metrics. It evaluates the relationship status, the first date vs. frequency of date, preferred date ideas and more to choose the right place for the couples.
"Working with Startups Ignite was an amazing and eye-opening experience. I am absolutely sure we are way farther than my co-founder and I would’ve been on our own with just an idea. In this accelerator the mentors really care and they are meticulous as it pertains to breaking down your individual needs in order for your startup to be a success." said Shonte, the Co-Founder of CreativeDates upon completion of 3-month accelerator program.
From drive-in movies to live music, helicopter tours, couple cooking classes, and hot air balloon rides – CreativeDates curates the most exotic and adorable date ideas for all.
“On a deeper level, I grew up around people plagued with depression and I believe that alleviating the stress and time factor from planning dates or outings, will achieve my goal of bringing more happiness to many relationships and friendships.” says Shonte’, the Co-Founder of Creative Dates App, “With Creative Dates App, we are trying to simplify the process of designing a date or social gathering.”
Planning a date? Find the perfect destination on the website. ;)
OffWeGo – Student Travel Simplified!
The OffWeGo is a unique platform that is focused on the traveling needs of students. It allows students who study abroad enjoy the freedom of booking their travel through the app and save dollars. On top of that, OffWeGo has built an exclusive community of globetrotters or students who travel often. The platform allows members to connect with other fellow members, the members can then see if a fellow member is traveling to the same place at the same time so that members can travel together or collaborate on group adventure.
OffWeGo also works with partners to provide discounts, transportation, and accommodation services while traveling. “Looking back on the challenges I faced when trying to travel while studying abroad, I wished that there was an easy platform that I could have used to get less expensive travel and one that was specifically focused on group travel. This is when the idea of OffWeGo struck me.” says John Eddins, the CEO of OffWeGo, “By building a platform for likeminded students to plan, socialize, and book their trips all in one place, my team and I believe that we can help make the transition of studying abroad as smooth and enjoyable as possible.”
Sounds interesting? Go watch a live demo on their website.
We’re so happy to be a part of all these creative startups and we look forward to welcoming and fostering more startups to help them build and realize their dreams.