This may be the most crazy opportunity such a young business has had. We didn't know what we were in for, but we took home one of the prizes that will help us grow our business! Ignite Buffalo is a grant provided by Facebook, 43North, M&T Bank, Amazon Web Services, Woo Commerce + more.
Out of 477 applicants, we made the Top 50. That gave us the opportunity to pitch to some very important people in the business world as well as our community. Hours after pitching our culture + needs to the panel, we received a phone call that we made the Top 27! No words can describe that feeling. Twenty-seven Small Businesses left that theater on Wednesday night taking with us a Million $. Facebook Business streamed the event live, giving Buffalo a global platform to show that we are cleaning up this rust belt we love so much.
Making the Top 27 was based on the criteria of being different from your pack, creating new jobs, growing existing company culture and infrastructure, continuing education for the team, and giving back to the community in which we thrive.
In short, our lives are forever changed by this experience and the $25k gift we have been granted. We have many ideas, and are so incredibly lucky to have had this jump-start as such a young business!
Some of our friends like Barrel + Brine and Oxford Pennant took home $50k + $100k prizes- Bravo! Our buddies Spoke & Dagger and BreadHive also took home a $25k prize. We cannot wait to see what all of the other 26 businesses make of their grants.
In addition to our grant, we will receive a year of business mentoring, which is actually priceless.
Below is a quick recap of the evening's outcome (Channel & anchor Jeff gets his hair cut in the shop!), some links to news coverage, and a few pics from the night...
