Entrepreneurs made their pitch on Friday at Demo Day at LEVER — a business incubator in North Adams, Massachusetts that aims to support local economic development.
This year’s LEVER Demo Day packed MASS MoCA with entrepreneurs, established business leaders, politicians and possible investors.
There was no fanfare, per se: No on-the-spot deals or buyouts – aside from the ones possibly made over drinks at Bright Ideas Brewing afterwards. LEVER Executive Director Jeffery Thomas says it’s a chance for startups to practice their pitch, and receive critiques and praise from the community.
“Very simply to launch new companies – companies that in particular are going to draw revenues from other places here, and that’s going to create wealth and that’s going to create jobs,” Thomas says.
Businesses ranged from the password-keeping security app Valt to FamKeepa, a gift card purchasing platform for immigrants who want to avoid fees associated with sending money home to family. It was started by Nick Toronga from Zimbabwe.
“Sending money back has not only become part of our culture but it’s a great way that allows us to reconnect back together and express love for our families back home,” Toronga says.
Also in attendance were B&B Mircomanufacturing, electronic medical record system BeWell, and Scott Trafton of Bennington, Vermont’s PoolShark H20, an app that replaces paper logs for efficiency and accountability for health inspector visits.
“80 percent of commercial pools do not meet health code requirements. Last summer, this was highlighted for everybody on the world stage during the Rio Olympics when everyone watched the diving pool turn this lovely shade of neon green due to incorrect chemical balance,” Trafton says.
There are a few factors that help businesses like these develop. State Senator Adam Hinds, a Pittsfield Democrat, says the state has a handful of incentives and programs to help innovators grow, but…
“First and foremost, it’s letting you all succeed, and often times getting out the way,” Hinds says.
LEVER says an incubator space that allows for a collaborative work environment helps startups. Cloud 85 in North Adams is an example of that kind of space where one company that is, say, computer savvy might help another business that is a strong self-brander.
Marty’s Local, started by Nick Martinelli, uses another startup, FoodLove, to connect farm produce buyers to distributers.
“Hundreds of high-quality farmers and food producers in our region and that it ought to be as easy or easier to purchase food from these producers as it is to get food from elsewhere in the country or elsewhere in the world,” Martinelli says.
LEVER says encouraging entrepreneurship in college helps cultivate highly-skilled innovators.
In 2012, Imran Khoja won the first business plan competition launched by LEVER at Williams College, his alma mater. It inspired Khoja to go on to Stanford University, work for businesses like music player Spotify and start three other companies, including Just Appraised, which gives governments data on property values.
“Making sure this is done accurately and fairly is the mandate the office within local governments that we work with,” Khoja says.
Outgoing North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright says he’d be interested in Khoja’s services.
“When I took office in 2010, I was convinced that we needed to open government in a way that was accepting and supportive of ideas, and initiatives that would help this community grow. A government that in a sense that would kind-of know its place; a government that would assist, but not control; a government that would provide support, and access to grants and potential capital, resources; and a government that would permit and not compete,” Alcombright says.
Alcombright says North Adams has come a long way, but the region still needs to do more to incentivize young business leaders to create and live in northern Berkshire County.
