Meet the 2024 JumpStart Cohort

Meet Our 2024 JumpStart Cohort!

Ahead of our upcoming JumpStart Expo & Pitch Night, we are excited to introduce our next cohort of Generator entrepreneurs! 

These ten talented makers were specially selected to participate in 2024 JumpStart Business Bootcamp, a 12-week startup development program facilitated by business coach Emily Eley. This amazing crew has been meeting weekly since early March, setting goals, crafting prototypes, and fine tuning their business models. 

Don’t miss the JumpStart Expo & Pitch Night coming up on Wednesday, May 29 to hear each entrepreneur pitch their new business and share a bit about their journey. Click Here to RSVP!

Sponsored by M&T Bank and the Center For Women & Enterprise

Healthy Kingdom offers personalized coconuts to be used as souvenirs or as a healthy snack for experiential marketing at events. From weddings to corporate summer parties, coconuts are the perfect product to create a memorable event experience.

Cherry Pickingss offers fashion-forward up-cycled garments made from secondhand textiles. Our products are wearable art that make people feel beautiful while promoting sustainable fashion.

Ski Table is a portable table that attaches to the side of your vehicle to support skis/snowboards (preventing scratches) and organize small items and water bottles/cans.

Rob’s business hopes to offer bespoke full suspension mountain bike frames by utilizing metal 3d printing, cnc machining and traditional frame building techniques. The frames will be manufactured locally using recyclable materials.

Sleeping Phoenix Apothecary sells hand-blended, small-batch, botanical perfume using only natural ingredients diluted in organic cane alcohol. We proudly offer 100% ingredient transparency because we believe you have a right to know what you’re putting on your body.

Jake Jemas
JTJ Woodturning

JTJ Woodturning makes wooden kitchenware and home furnishings including Lamps, Bowls, Spoons, and Cutting Boards.

Compliment Coins are (literal) tokens of appreciation designed to help connect people with each other.  Always meaningful and sometimes ridiculous, they are a lasting and unexpected way to show someone you care.

I design banana-print and banana-shaped handbags. My handbag designs actively contribute to the fight against social and racial injustice by drawing inspiration from the vibrant cultural heritage of communities living in, and migrating from, regions where bananas flourish. My designs pay tribute to the diverse traditions, customs, and art forms that have shaped these communities. By incorporating elements of this rich cultural tapestry into my handbag designs, I not only create stunning handbag designs but also raise awareness to foster a sense of unity and appreciation for cultural diversity.

The EZ AIRFLOW is a multi-purpose tool that efficiently addresses pain points associated with manually inflating and deflating inflatable toys featuring the ubiquitous one-way air valve (inflatable toys include pool floats, ring floats, ride-on floats, beach balls, and more).

Wolf and Wood Thrush makes slow-crafted wooden furniture, housewares, and decorative pieces inspired by the past and using (mostly) historic/traditional hand tool methods that incorporate the values of sustainability, accessibility, and empowerment into the processes and products of quality woodworking.

Don’t forget to RSVP!

The JumpStart Expo & Pitch Night will feature a public showcase of our JumpStart participants’ products, and over the course of the event every entrepreneur will get up and pitch their company/product to the public and their peers! You’ll get to hear each business plan straight from the founders themselves – with plenty of time for questions and feedback.

This event is FREE and will take place on Wednesday, May 29th from 5-8pm.