FounderTrac closes out with demo day in Annapolis

At the Loews Annapolis Hotel on Tuesday night, ten founders took the stage.
They were gathered before a full audience of tech community members to pitch and close out FounderTrac, the Annapolis-based program which ran over 12 weeks to start the year. Throughout, the founders went through a curriculum to help build their business and were guided by “Executive Sherpas,” who offered mentorship.
The program, which was spearheaded by LAUNCH! Annapolis and the Maryland Tech Council, was bolstered this year by $125,000 from TEDCO via its program to support incubators. As the night unfolded, some funding for startups was thrown into the mix in the form of $25,000 for one of the startups via MCVC Partners.
Ultimately, the big check went to Milemarker. CEO Aimee Martin described the platform to help surgeons assess medical training, which was initially developed at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, and recent development of its sales pipeline at hospitals beyond the state.
Along with health, the pitches covered areas including consumer products, cybersecurity and education. To name a few: TransititiongU CEO Mustafa Wahid talked about helping students making the jump from high school to college. With AudioStaq, Gabriel Pendleton pitched a platform to monetize podcasts. Patrick Shay of Everywhere Communications pitched a satellite hotspot to enable mobile communication when other coverage is out of range. Frey has a line of laundry detergent aimed at men.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for! #DemoDay @FounderTrac @NACADAJosh pic.twitter.com/BJGqXz2H45

— TransitioningU (@TransitioningU) April 4, 2018

The end of this cohort’s pitches brought another announcement from Ryan Sears of LAUNCH! Annapolis.
“We’re going to do another cohort of FounderTrac, and we’re going to do it this year – in the fall,” he said.