By Lloyd Reshard
Transforming Ideas. Launching Startups. Teaching Best Practices. Developing an Inclusive Startup Ecosystem. Liberating Black and Brown Founders.
Startups on the Blocks is a Kukua Institute program to support inclusion within the startup and entrepreneur ecosystems here in Northwest Florida. Our weekly events have two goals: 1. Provide a weekly networking event for founders and future founders (6 – 7 PM CST), 2. Helping founders learn the best practices of building a startup (7 – 8 PM CST), additionally we provide 3. Connections to ecosystem resources, 4. Startup framework support for building a Minimum Viable Product, 5. Project management support, 6. Mentoring support, 7. Quarterly pitch competitions, 8. A pre-accelerator program, and 9. Support for veterans and their families.
Since August 2020 we have hosted 20 events with 600 participants. Our goal to is launch twenty startups.
We held our first pitch competition on December 17, 2020, where 10 finalists out 37 applicants competed for $2K. Congratulations to Basil Kuloba of Kaleidoscope – 1st Place, Crystal Smith of Blind Tech – 2nd Place, and both Dylan Molina of Enjoy and Kim Snowden of Guided Inner Growth tied for 3rd Place.
Looking for ways to make your business idea grow, over three billion dollars has been set aside for Black and Brown Founders. Now is the time more than ever to get your business idea off the ground. Join the Kukua Institute every Thursday for Startups on the Blocks at 6:00 PM central time, you can join us online at Hopin.com/explore type in Startups on the Blocks and you’ll find our next event. Follow us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StartupsontheBlocks and on Twitter/startupsontheblocks as well. Our programs are free and we are seeking both Founders and Future Founders to help them grow their startups. We are seeking mentors and partners who would like help for our Founders of Color, reach out to us by email at [email protected] or call Lloyd Reshard at 850-366-8856.
