Ideas that turn into companies often start after work hours.
With Pioneer Baltimore, ETC looked to provide space for entrepreneurs to develop those ideas. The program ran on Monday nights for nine weeks this fall.
“This program really helps identify members of our community who are just looking for an opportunity to try something, and I think by giving them a program like this and the opportunity to put this into their schedule and into their lives, it helps them make that decision whether this is just a cool idea or this could be a full-time job,” said ETC Assistant Director Jacqueline Albright.
Facilitated by recently-named University of Baltimore Director of Entrepreneurship Henry Mortimer, the program allowed the companies to create a “road map” for their businesses by introducing the COSTARTERS framework.
“The focus was on customer development. the underlying theme is really going back to identify who your customer is, talking with customer, and being able to really discern the experience to move in a direction that is feasible,” Albright said. “The COSTARTERS program really gives you the tools to being able to get up and do that.”
For those who start on their own, it also helps to meet others with similar dreams and challenges. The entrepreneurs also worked with mentors from the Baltimore startup community, and benefitted from interacting with each other. Albright said it provides “excitement and clarity around the businesses they’re trying to grow.” They also had a chance for some friendly competition, as a chart tracked how many customers they contacted throughout the program.
At Monday’s pitch night to close out the program, the ideas that came out of the program were on display. Here’s a look:
- AJ Golden is looking to create a network of sites that house charging stations for electric vehicles. It’s called ChargCycl.
Getting rolling at #PioneerBmore pitch night with Chargcycl. It’s a network of electric vehicle charging hosts 🚗⚡️ pic.twitter.com/0WqzTA2Wn8
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 4, 2017
- With Userhappy, Aline Lin is looking to provide usability testing for websites through multimedia.
Userhappy features multimedia of website users thinking out loud for usability testing #PioneerBmore pic.twitter.com/Qqt6TqcRO1
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 4, 2017
- Andrew Greene pitched CoInFidence, a social network to help young entrepreneurs get connected.
Andrew Greene is building a social media platform for entrepreneurs: Coinfidence #PioneerBmore pic.twitter.com/EdCT5szafL
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- Scott Feldman created imAWARE to provide 24/7 offerings that complement pyschological treatment of depression.
- With Lunar Pay, Stuart Tweedie wants to create a network that reduces remittance prices for immigrants sending money home to Africa.
Lunar Pay is seeking to reduce remittance prices for immigrants sending money to Nigeria pic.twitter.com/b082pd8oMD
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- Carlos Ramos created Greenbar to help pharmacies prescribe the right medicine.
- With Fablancers, Bianca Thompson is creating an online community for freelancers who create fashion and beauty–related content.
“By day I save lives and by night I save wardrobes.” #pioneerbmore pic.twitter.com/i08QFyHy9I
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- Dean Burney and Jameel Moses created Tourlighter to help bands figure out where to tour, and music fans encourage acts to come to their town. The startup got some extra recognition on the night with a box of ETC swag for speaking to the most customers during the program.
Tourlighter lets music fans weigh in on what towns bands should play. pic.twitter.com/vDuJSazxCf
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- With MythicFit, Zach Diehl is building an algorithm that provides crowdsourcing for decisions on who to promote to leadership roles.
Back at the #pioneerbmore pitches with an algorithm to crowdsource leadership pic.twitter.com/SqvkNWlrRt
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- Matthew Menter founded Glitter Pictures, a production house for films and episodic content focusing on the LGBT community.
Glitter Pictures focuses on LGBT audience with films and episodic content. #PioneerBmore pic.twitter.com/2N882gADss
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- Brittany Gerald is building MobiDox, a platform to help pharma companies process drug safety data.
Mobidox is a platform to help companies process drug safety data, says cofounder Brittany Gerald #PioneerBmore pic.twitter.com/7CEAEfDevx
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- With Dex, Alistair Penny is looking to provide a way to transfer business-related contact info without the card. The company is developing its business model around networking events and conferences.
Dex built the product that can exchange business cards via mobile phone, and now it’s building out the revenue model centered on events #PioneerBmore pic.twitter.com/Ylm1cavzMi
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
- Ope Thomas is making more strides with Roadi, a platform that helps locate parking.
- LegUp Collaborative is looking to help millennials connect to new jobs in Baltimore with an online hub.
LegUp Collaborative looking to provide “online opportunity hub” for millennials seeking jobs pic.twitter.com/cJmGYBXkh8
— Technical.ly Baltimore (@TechnicallyBMR) December 5, 2017
Before you go...
Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.
3 ways to support our work:- Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
- Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
- Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
Join our growing Slack community
Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!