ABQid Identifying, Developing Startups

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4 Companies Join ActivateNM Spring 2019 Cohort

Alongside our partners at WESST, we’re excited to announce four new companies who’ve been selected to join ActivateNM as part of the Spring 2019 cohort. ActivateNM is our hybrid startup accelerator-incubator program for early-stage New Mexico based businesses with high-growth potential, which we launched in October 2018. 

The new batch of startups who are joining ActivateNM address problems in a variety of industries, but they share a common feature in that they all offer a software or software-enabled product. Companies selected include,

  • Conversion Plan. Conversion Plan offers a sales tool that increases sales organizations’ conversion rates by analyzing specific and historic opportunity data stored in the organization’s CRM and outputting a conversion plan consisting of action items and deadlines to ensure the deal is won in the forecasted timeframe.
  • Donor Jar. Donor Jar enables political campaigns to connect to donors with aligned values and easily process donations through a website plugin that makes taking donations via debit/credit card simple and also collects important FEC reporting data.
  • Nimble Compensation. Nimble Compensation helps automotive dealerships significantly reduce errors and time spent during the commission calculation process by automating and streamlining the operation.
  • Well Known Corporation. WellKnown Corporation is on a mission to build the world’s best community for creative students to share, learn and grow and offers a knowledge-sharing platform for college students to create and and access helpful content related to the collegiate experience.

ActivateNM kicks off tomorrow, April 3 2019. Over 8 weeks, cohort companies will be guided through immersive workshops with business professionals from around the Albuquerque and New Mexico entrepreneurial ecosystem. Topics we’ll cover include lean startup, customer development, team and organizational development, market definition and segmentation, marketing & sales, corporate and legal issues, fundraising and finance, and pitch coaching & presentation. Cohort companies will also be supported by an extensive network of professional mentors who will provide the diverse support needed to build a successful startup. And remember to mark your calendars for ActivateNM Demo Day on May 24, 2019, 4-5:30pm at WESST Enterprise Center. Follow us on Facebook to stay up-to-date.

Lastly, we’d like to give an update on the companies who joined us for the first ever ActivateNM Cohort in October 2018. While two have graduated and are now part of the broader ActivateNM community, three companies are still participating in the ActivateNM incubator and working on their key growth milestones. Here’s what’s new:

  • CustomCult. Custom Cult graduated the program in March 2019 and is busy refining his customized snowboard production process. They’ve launched a slick new website, which customers can now use to purchase a customized snowboard. Head on over to www.customcult.com and check it out!
  • FruitStand Technology. During the ActivateNM cohort, FruitStand Technology defined their target market through extensive customer discovery, hired a Project Manager, took on new projects with early adopters and most exciting, is to formally launch their managed marketplace in April 2019. Check out https://fruitstand.tech/ to learn how they can help keep your website fresh for years to come!
  • Hangerang. After a lot of hard work refining their product and figuring out who their target customer is during the ActivateNM cohort, Hangerang is busy preparing to launch their platform in mid-April. Hangerang enables local businesses and individuals to share, promote and engage in real-life social experiences with their friends, family, and broader community. Head on over to https://hangerang.us/ to be the first to know when the platform launches!
  • Schedule My Rent. Schedule My Rent graduated the ActivateNM Cohort in March 2019 and is focusing on setting up meetings with investors and looking to scale rapidly over the next couple of months. The company continues to have a steady stream of revenue coming through their property management platform and during the cohort, they also launched a number of differentiated features, including the ability for landlords to receive their rent payments almost immediately, as well as for tenants to pay with cash through MoneyGram! Visit www.schedulemyrent.com to learn more about their property management platform.
  • Think Ubiquitous. Think Ubiquitous continues to build new data analysis tools using their Tellus Data Platform. After a significant amount of work defining and understanding their market, they recently began working on a new product, which will enable tech businesses and prospective employees to more easily and transparently navigate the technical interview experience. To find out more about this disruptive product and how you can be involved in helping with early test cases, visit www.think-ubiquitous.com.

If you’re a member of the Albuquerque or New Mexico startup or entrepreneurial community and are interested in getting involved in ActivateNM as a future cohort company, workshop facilitator, or team mentor, contact us at info@abqid.com, Subject: ActivateNM.

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Ski Lift Pitch 2019 Competitors & Judges Announced

2019 Ski Lift Pitch Competitors & Judges Announced

Since its first year in 2014, ABQid’s Ski Lift Pitch competition has brought national attention to New Mexico. The event now puts the state on the map as a place where snow-loving investors and startups convene to identify new business opportunities and build new professional relationships.

ABQid’s Ski Lift Pitch Contest began 5 years ago when ABQid board member, Katie Rice, envisioned a one-of-its-kind startup pitch competition. The idea: startup teams pitch their companies to prestigious investors while they ride the chair lift together to the top of the mountain. After multiple rounds of pitching in this format, three startup finalists are selected to pitch on stage for a chance to win $10,000 non-dilutive capital.

Former contest winners include Taos Mountain Energy Bars, UBQid, EquiSeq, and Twistle, but really, all competitors are winners because they get the opportunity to forge intentional relationships with multiple investors from around the country. This brings value to investors and startups long after the end of the event. Last year, for example, one runner-up went on to receive a $300,000 investment from an investor they met at the Ski Lift Pitch competition. That startup continues to grow, right here in New Mexico.

Tickets to this years event can be purchased at www.skiliftpitch.com.

2019 Competitors

Ski Lift Pitch returns to New Mexico in February 2019, again with the generous support of Taos Ski Valley and many sponsors, investors, and individuals who give their time and resources to make this event a success.

Ski Lift Pitch 2019 is particularly exciting due to the number of New Mexico-based companies that will compete. This year, 50% of finalist companies are from New Mexico, as well as six investor judges. Outside of the Ski Lift Pitch season, we at ABQid works hard to build successful startups in our state, and we also strive to highlight New Mexico as a place where investors look for promising investment opportunities. As such, we couldn’t be more excited to see the New Mexico startup ecosystem thriving and gaining the attention of both in- and out-of-state investors.

Here are the competitors:

  • Boobi Butter: Boobi Butter makes breast health easy, fun, and empowering, encouraging women to perform regular breast-massages and self-checks with our nourishing topical breast care products.
  • Covisus: Covisus develops technology to forge secure, transparent supply chains, helping companies ensure the integrity of their products.
  • Armada Lock: Armada Lock is developing Drone Fleet Management, a SaaS service management platform for commercial drones.
  • Go-Station: Go-Station provides the most advanced rapid electric vehicle charging network in the world.
  • iTherapy Docs: iTherapy Docs provides an agency management platform (SaaS) for Medicaid/Personal Care Services (PCS)
  • K&K Skin Products: K&K Skin Products uses nature’s power plus cutting edge science to achieve healthy skin.  
  • Magnify Your Voice: Magnify provides a civic action network tool to boost civic engagement.
  • Medicheck Mx: Medicheck MX is building an Electronic Health Record Ecosystem for Latin America.
  • NTxBio: NTxBio uses nature’s blueprints to identify and build molecules of market interest.
  • Rest Assured: Rest Assured is creating a fusion of clinical sleep medicine and retail sleep products.
  • Trusted Herd: Trusted Herd’s staffing industry reputation site is the largest, most reputable & only such site in the United States.
  • VisionQuest Biomedical: VisionQuest revolutionizes retinal diagnostics with the EyeStar™ artificial intelligence (AI) reading system, a market-ready, cost-effective solution to screen for Diabetic Retinopathy and other vision threatening eye diseases.

2019 Investor Judges

 

Many Thanks to Our 2019 Sponsors

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ABQid is Joining CNM Ingenuity

We’re excited to announce that both our nonprofit, ABQid, Inc., and our ABQid, LP venture investing fund will be merged into CNM Ingenuity, the non-profit subsidiary of Central New Mexico Community College which operates numerous entrepreneurial support an development programs across the state.

We’ll be continuing our work on initiatives like Hyperspace Challenge with AFRL New Mexico and ActivateNM with WESST, as well as our Ski Lift and Balloon pitch events. Joining up with CNMI’s extensive programs, capabilities and infrastructure will allow the ABQid, LP Fund to expand investing opportunities and multiply the value we deliver to startups. The end result? Better support and resources for NM startups with high growth potential, which is what we’ve always been about.

CNM Ingenuity was created in 2014 through the New Mexico Research Park Act. CNMI is already providing programs and support for entrepreneurs and pursues cooperative ventures that foster economic development and job creation. Ingenuity also advances new approaches to education that provide accelerated educational and training opportunities in key workforce areas.

You can read more about the announcement here.

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Register Now for ActivateNM Demo Day December 7

Register here! Join ABQid and WESST at the 2018 ActivateNM Demo Day December 7 from 3-5pm at WESST Enterprise Center! Leaders from the entrepreneurial community will cast vision for the new year, and five startups will pitch their companies after incorporating learnings from an eight-week Lean Startup program during which guest facilitators shared first-hand stories of lessons learned as well as important practices when building high-growth companies.

Awesome food and beverage will be on hand for the celebration, and you’ll be inspired for your startup journey.

Here’s a sneak peak at the five software and software-enabled companies pitching:

  • CustomCult. Custom Cult provides software and hardware to enable mass customization of snowboards and skis.
  • FruitStand Technology. With subscription-based web design and marketing services, FruitStand’s highly vetted technical professionals keep “main street” company websites sites fresh, and their customers happy.
  • Hangerang. Hangerang helps users quickly find, create, and share in-the-moment local happenings – growing IRL connections and boosting local economies.
  • Schedule My Rent. Schedule My Rent allows busy property owners and landlords to save time by screening tenants, automatically collecting rent, and more.
  • Think Ubiquitous. Think Ubiquitous’ platform offers scientists visualization and analysis tools that make their important research immediately accessible and usable.

Download the flyer and share with a friend!

Also, we can’t say thank you enough to the amazing Guest Facilitators and Mentors who covered critical topics for high-growth startups and shared first-hand experiences that each startup was able to apply directly to problems they’re facing:

Register here!

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Announcing five companies participating in ActivateNM!

Alongside our partners at WESST, we’re excited to announce five companies accepted to ActivateNM, a new hybrid startup accelerator program for early-stage New Mexico based businesses with high-growth potential.

After passing through a competitive application process, the startups chosen address problems in a variety of industries but share the common thread of having a software or software-enabled product. They are:

  • CustomCult. Custom Cult provides software and hardware to enable mass customization of snowboards and skis.
  • FruitStand Technology. FruitStand Technology is a highly curated marketplace for technical professionals across the globe, providing subscription based website, design and marketing services.
  • Hangerang. Hangerang enables users to quickly create, share, and participate in real life social experiences to combat loneliness and increase traffic for local businesses.
  • Schedule My Rent. Schedule My Rent helps landlords by dramatically reduce the time and effort of property management with simple and powerful online services.
  • Think Ubiquitous. Makers of the Tellus Data Platform which provides tools to streamline and monetize the skills and expertise of individuals and small groups.

Starting October 15 and ending in a public Demo Day December 7 at WESST, ABQid and WESST will host a Lean Startup based curriculum facilitated by experts in the local startup community. Guest Facilitators will include experienced executives from TechGrind, BoomTime, DescartesLabs, and BabyPage, as well as expert service providers such as Lerner Venture Law, Peacock Law, and Slide 12.

In addition to the facilitated weekly sessions, companies are mentored by Lean Startup experts who will attach to individual teams for the duration of the eight weeks, helping them apply principles to the big customer acquisition milestones they need to achieve to prove their model.

Participating companies will also have access to coworking space, shared infrastructure, and staff consulting in the award-winning WESST Enterprise Center in the heart of Albuquerque’s Innovation District.

The Lean Startup method, which is a proven method for developing and managing startups, has been adopted the world over. Since 2014, ABQid has trained over 500 New Mexicans in the method and invested in 31 local companies who embody Lean practices in their early formation. For over thirty years, WESST has provided foundational business and financial consulting that all businesses need to grow.

Finally, while there is an 8-week curriculum outlay customized for each company in the cohort, the program itself lasts for as long as it takes for startups to achieve the milestone(s) they set out to hit. Typically, companies will be expected to move through the program in 3-6 months.

The program is sponsored by the City of Albuquerque.

 

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