Reach East

A sixteen-week accelerator for East Side founders, run by The Exchange @ Beverly Gray and The Foundry.

The Room

Reach East is a program of The Exchange @ Beverly Gray and The Foundry. I came on as program lead with one question. East Side founders had good businesses; could a program meet them where they were? Working full time, raising kids, running the business on nights and weekends, with no time for a lecture series.

What We Built

A sixteen-week curriculum in marketing fundamentals, brand, and digital presence. A schedule a working founder could keep. A real pitch at the end of every cohort. The program was first built by an outside firm; when the budget tightened, I brought it in-house and rebuilt it so two cohorts could run on what used to fund one.

What Happened

Four cohorts later, thirty-two businesses have graduated, and the fifth cohort pitches on November 24. Reach East has been covered by the Buffalo News and NPR.

What this was: a program of The Exchange @ Beverly Gray and The Foundry. My role: program lead, curriculum development, and delivery with the team.

Who it's for: economic development organizations, incubators, and foundations that want their founders to leave with something they built.