From 240 applicants from across the country, the Spare to Share team is thrilled to announce that we are one of 15 startups that have been accepted into the 3rd cohort of the Points of Light Civic Accelerator! The accelerator invests in and supports seed stage civic ventures that inspire, equip and mobilize people to create positive change. Heck ya!
[ibimage==29899==Small==none==self==null] [ibimage==29900==Small==none==self==null]Spare to Share is the only Chicago startup that was accepted into this cohort; we are thrilled to represent The Chi nationally! We are also the only collaborative consumption (aka the sharing economy) startup in the mix. In case you want to ‘share’ that news…
This is a pretty unique program in that it includes both for-profit and not-for-profit ventures (of which we are the former) and is NOT based in Chicago, NY, or the left coast. It’s been humbling for us to be recognized on a national level.
The program kicked off in Atlanta last week. Just one week in, the exposure to advisors, mentors, funders and other amazing cohort members has been phenomenally helpful and has broadened our thinking and direction. The incubator is based in Atlanta, but holds sessions in ATL, NYC, and San Fran, so we’re still at the early stages of our nationwide tour! :-)
After a week of intense, hands-on sessions reviewing and reconsidering our customers, value proposition, revenue streams, why we even exist, etc., we had our first public pitch last Thursday night. It was a 4-minute pitch followed by Q&A in front of Atlanta business leaders, advisors and funders. Lots of fun! There is a larger pitch session in front of VC’s and business leaders at the end of the San Francisco week in November. The program wraps up with a major investor pitch in New York in January. Two of the 15 teams are awarded a $50,000 prize. That would buy a lot of sweet Spare to Share t-shirts!
If you’re not familiar with Spare to Share and are wondering how the heck we pulled off this coup, check out our site here, poke around, sign up, and start your own sharing group. It’s free for individual users (that means you). Have you always wanted a non-awkward way to ask your friend to borrow her slow cooker or his awesome poker chips? Or wanted to sell something in your apartment building without having to meet a random stranger from Craigslist? Are you one of these people who wants to catalog your movies, video game or books? We can help. And you’re welcome.
Love the idea and wanna jump on this woo-woo train? We are currently looking for volunteers, interns and general helpers who are passionate about collaborative consumption, civic/social ventures or tech startups. These roles have the potential to transition to paid part-time, and possibly full-blown employees in the future. See our careers page here.
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