Four Creative Entrepreneurs Receive Awards from CCE’s Kinetic Bootcamp

Four idea-stage entrepreneurs earned awards during the Center for Creative Economy’s Kinetic Creative Bootcamp final presentation.

CCE accepted four creative entrepreneurs from Winston Salem, NC and Berlin, Germany to participate in Kinetic, a 4-week intensive entrepreneurial program guaranteed to turn creative ideas into growing businesses. Throughout the program, participants showed immense growth in validating their creative ideas, developing strong business models, identifying consumer bases, and building sustainable budgets.

The 4-week bootcamp culminated in a final presentation where founders gave a five minute pitch to CCE’s mentor and investor network. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CCE conducted its final Kinetic presentation in a hybrid format on December 5, welcoming limited in-person attendees at 500 W Fifth Street in Winston Salem and external attendees via Zoom.

DIY Advisor, a Winston Salem-based platform that connects first time homeowners with experts in home improvement, was granted a $3,000 technology consultation package from Sightsource to further develop their software. Founder Angela Strader won the pitch competition and received CCE’s Financial Award which included four hours of pro-bono financial consulting  from Bonnie Bowen Advisors. 

SURU Together, a Berlin-based company, presented their PSiCHArt co-creativity interface that conducts team building through art. PSiCHArt allows companies to host live-streamed events that foster real-time collaboration through arts programming. Founders Nicollo Pescatelli and Georgina Denis joined Kinetic virtually from Berlin due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SURU received The CCE Marketing award which includes 3 hours of pro bono consulting from Daryl Shaw’s Royalty Marketing. 

Shairpins, a Winston-Salem based jewelry and accessory company focused on women’s empowerment, received a $300 business coaching package from ActionCOACH. Sheridan Watkins, founder and crafter, also received the CCE Business Consulting Award which includes 3 hours of pro-bono consulting with Dawn Booker, a professional strategic communications and marketing consultant.

Experiential Outdoor Education, founded by Scott Sanders, provides enriching outdoor and educational experiences through hiking, paddling, and camping adventures. Sanders was awarded $1,500 in pro-bono legal services by Jeff Wolfe at Schell Bray.

Within Kinetic’s performance competition, mentors reviewed each company’s documents including a financial forecast, marketing one page collateral, and website landing pages. Our mentors provided helpful feedback and comments.  A special thanks to Jenni Earle Hopkins, founder of  Jennie Earle who provided an inspirational mentor session on the final day. 

Flywheel CoWork, a community coworking innovation space and CCE’s home base, presented membership awards to all four Kinetic participants. Flywheel also offers self-directed entrepreneurial courses that further develop business skills and expand start-up networks. DIY Advisor received a 6 month membership; Shairpins, a 3 month membership; Outdoor Experiential, a 2 month membership; and SURU a 1 month virtual membership that includes access to virtual educational programming.

Of the 2020 Kinetic cohort chosen for the program, 75% are female and 50% are people of color. 

CCE extends a special thanks to our sponsors for the Kinetic 2020 boot camps. These include NC IDEA, DataMax, Parsec Financial, Salem Academy and College.