The first cohort of entrepreneurs has completed the 2022 Launch Labs incubator programme by Enterprise Cayman, a non-profit workforce development initiative by Cayman Enterprise City in partnership with special economic zone companies.
Ten entrepreneurs completed the 12-week intensive programme, which included 24 seminars, mentorship and networking opportunities, as well as training sessions to ensure each project was prepared for pitching to, and taking on, initial investors.
“The demand for entrepreneurial support in Cayman is significant and the CEC project, which is now the largest innovation ecosystem in the region, together with a very robust and enthusiastic local network of subject matter experts, is in an excellent position to help start-ups progress to investment-ready status,” said Charlie Kirkconnell, Launch Labs programme advisor, who is CEO of CEC, and a director of Enterprise Cayman.
“Through this first iteration of Launch Labs, which is an extension of the Business Design Competition programme, we were able to provide a springboard for seven seed and pre-seed start-ups to further develop their projects and prepare them for the opportunity to pitch for funding at the recent Angel Investor Pitch Night, which took place 1 December 2022.”
The 2022 Launch Labs projects included:
- BizHub by Danner Taylor, Valery Davis and Kirk Douglas, digitises companies in the service industry. Their first product, BizBot, is a platform where customers can book services and mitigate the pain of having to manually search for companies.
- Open Canvas by Douglas Cameron, bridges the gap between physical and digital art through an online marketplace offering trendy NFT collectables and offering Cayman Islands traditional physical art with NFT certificates.
- Mary Jane’s Flo by Diana Christian, helps women have painless periods and enjoy pleasurable sex through a supporting community and a cannabidiol-infused product line.
- My Motion by Michael Garrett and Patt Evans, provides an alternative solution for helping people reduce back pain and future incapacities with the use of a sensor that integrates an algorithm and process (patent pending) created by the founder.
- Presto by Dhalia Dames, is an on-demand laundry service designed to meet the needs of busy professionals.
- Signal Research by Kevin Miller, solves the human error in trading financial markets by using a software that properly trades the markets and provides first bar entry and last bar exit for the financial markets.
- VISXA by Mohamed Aboshanab, is a platform that helps global citizens gain residency and citizenships worldwide using state-of-the-art technologies and helping them pay fewer taxes or no taxes at all.
Throughout the programme, entrepreneurs were mentored by Rodney Alison of Nurturely SEZC; Aaron de Coteau of Med On Spot Global Technologies SEZC; Vlad Logvinov of Privork Limited; Dave Stone, product and platform consultant; Ramona Tudorancea of JB Advisory Services SEZC; and Ryan Watson of Brave Software International SEZC.
Programming and curriculum were developed and produced by a group of advisors led by Alison, David Strucke, CEO and founder of Datastreamer SEZC; Polly Pickering, managing director at eShore Ltd; Kirkconnell; and Araceli García, special projects coordinator at CEC.
Participants took part in a series of seminars led by industry experts, which included:
- ‘Evaluating Start-up Ideas’ by Bart Mozyrko of GoDaddy
- ‘How to Pitch your Start-up’ by Jason Butcher of Parallel Payments Ltd.
- ‘Founder Expectations’ by Polly Pickering of eShore Ltd.
- ‘How to Plan a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Lean Product Design’ by Rudolph Johnson of Meta Scrum SEZC
- ‘How to Get Started on your Launch Plan’ by Caine Smith of AirVu Media
- ‘Traffic from Social’ by Amy Hayward of AirVu Media
- ‘Legal Basics’ by Buck Grizzel and Jon McLean of Stuarts Law
- ‘Intellectual Property Protection’ by Candace Westby of the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office (CIIPO)
- ‘Finding the Right Co-founder’ by Angelica Sirotin of Sirotin Ventures
- ‘Partnerships’ by Mark Minevich, digital artificial intelligence strategist
- ‘Building a Team’ by Kimberly Vallerie of GoDaddy
- ‘Pitch Decks’ by Michael Jenkins of First Ascent Ventures
- ‘Sources of Funding’ by Aaron de Coteau of Med On Spot Global Technologies SEZC
- ‘Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs)’ by Trevor McCabe of Carey Olsen
- ‘Storytelling & Presentation Skills’ by Mike Ferrier, retired advertising executive
- ‘Steps for a Successful US Entry’ by John Wensveen of Nova Southeastern University and Alan B. Levan, NSU Broward Center of Innovation
“There is such an incredible resource of entrepreneurial talent on the island,” said programme advisor and mentor Alison. “Professionals from all around the world that have moved their business to Cayman or retired here. It was fantastic to see so many of these professionals volunteer their time to support our local initiatives and grow our entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Miller, owner of Signal Research, who relocated from the United States to participate in the incubator programme, said, “taking part in the Launch Labs programme and being a part of the Cayman Enterprise City community exponentially accelerated the project I’m working on”.
The winners of the 2021 Business Design Competition, Danner Taylor, Valery Davis and Kirk Douglas of BizHub, took part in Launch Labs incubator to further develop their project.
“We’ve been able to take an initial idea and grow it into a substantial business venture which is now ready to take on funding,” said BizHub CEO Taylor.
“Having direct access to industry professionals and entrepreneurs who are willing to share their experiences has been invaluable.”
The Enterprise Cayman Launch Labs incubator programme is funded by CEC and is free for all participants. Applications for the 2023 initiative will be accepted in May 2023.
Enterprise Cayman is now accepting applicants for the 2023 Cayman Islands Business Design Competition. The deadline to apply is 31 Jan. 2023 and application details can be found online at www.enterprisecayman.ky.
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