Elevate Origins is a pre-accelerator program created to prepare aspiring entrepreneurs within higher-education institutions and the communities they serve to launch Indiana startups. This online training series will teach entrepreneurs how to evaluate their business ideas and ultimately develop an investor-ready business model, pitch deck, and executive summary.

The program is offered once per quarter, but exact time commitment per cohort can vary. Once cohorts are formed, all participants will be surveyed so the timing of the program trainings will allow the highest number of interested entrepreneurs the ability to participate. For example, one quarter the training may be consolidated into a couple hours every day for two weeks while another quarter we may offer the training once a week for three months.

The Elevate Origins program is designed and instructed by gener8tor, which is ranked as the top 11th startup accelerator out of more than 150 accelerator programs in the United States by the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project.

This program is at no cost to the entrepreneurs. Funding to operate Elevate Origins comes from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and U.S. Economic Development Agency.

Participants will learn the skills necessary to evaluate the feasibility of a business idea as well as create a draft of their business’ executive summary and pitch deck ready for investors. More specifically, some of the skills participants will learn will include how to evaluate and communicate their business’ value proposition, total addressable market, competition, business model, marketing and sales plan, the startup team, and financial needs to reach the next inflection point for the business.

After completing the Elevate Origins training, alumni have access to a suite of resources and opportunities such as ongoing office hours, introductions to mentors and investors upon hitting certain milestones, automatic interviews for the intensive, seven-week gBETA program, and the opportunity to receive investment from Elevate Ventures.

Elevate Origins is for any innovation-driven, Indiana-based, aspiring entrepreneur. Innovation-driven is defined as those:

1. addressing a national or global market

2. with long-term revenue potential that could exceed $500M annually

3. based on some sort of innovation (ex. tech, process, business model) and

4. with a potential competitive advantage.

If you only meet some of these requirements, we still encourage you to apply and will help evaluate if there’s untapped potential not yet realized with your business model. We have found that some entrepreneurs take a far too modest view of their business potential.

Visit the Elevate Ventures application page and select Elevate Origins in the topic dropdown. Cohorts will be formed and contacted at the start of each quarter (January, April, July, October).

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Have additional questions? Contact us by selecting “Elevate Nexus” in our contact form.