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ROCKY MOUNT, North Carolina (March 21, 2016) – SpringBoardNC enjoyed another successful Shark Tank event on March 17 at the Imperial Center. More than 30 unique startups and microbusinesses participated in the small business-oriented event, displaying their unique offerings to the more than one hundred audience members in attendance.
The competition portion of the event, hosted by Pastor James Gailliard, Word Tabernacle Church, and judged by “shark” experts Sterrett Lloyd, Draka Elevator, Joan Siefert Rose, Council for Entrepreneurial Development, Mark Little, NCGrowth, and Michael Goodmon, Capitol Broadcasting Company was lively. After SpringBoardNC’s Jeff Tobias welcomed the audience, Mayor David Combs took the stage to discuss how important supporting small business is to the future of Rocky Mount. Finalists CJ Scarlet of Tiger Eye Sensors, Nashunda Renee Sessoms of Sereniti Bath Body and You, Mathilde Verdier and Ryan Bergier of Hypestarter, and Winde Jackson of Winde Jackson Cakes took turns presenting their pitch deck to the judges.
At the end of the presentations, the audience and judges voted to award portions of the $15,000 prize to each. Tiger Eye Sensors took home $1,0000, Hypestarter was awarded $2,750, Sereniti Bath Body and You was honored with $3,250 and Winde Jackson Cakes given $8,000 to expand her business.
“It’s great to see passionate people building, creating, and innovating – for the community to be involved and positive energy and progress in our area” said Phil Dixon, President, SpringBoardNC. “Pastor Gailliard, Mayor Combs and all of our judges were rock stars. It truly takes a village – our sponsors, the Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Rocky Mount all stepped up in big way to make this event possible local entrepreneurs”
SpringBoardNC is now focused on its brand-new co-working and business accelerator space in the Rocky Mount Mills. There, it will host free Joe Startup workshops, provide office infrastructure for new startups, and deliver six-month business accelerator programs for entrepreneurs that want to scale their new business. Applications are open at www.springboardnc.com and we’ll officially open in April.
