Twelve local entrepreneurial pitch winners advance to Dec. 2 NEW Launch Alliance competition
INSIGHT
Twelve entrepreneurial pitch winners who advanced from local pitch competitions will vie for additional prize money at a regional pitch competition hosted by New North Inc.
Seven local partnering organizations hosted four different events during Startup Week in Wisconsin, November 15-19.
“We were excited by the wide range of creative business ideas shown at these local pitch events,” says Barb LaMue, president and CEO of New North Inc. “It demonstrates the vibrancy of the entrepreneurial community across the New North region.”
The pitch events – Audible, Fast Pitch, LevelUp and Accelerate – were hosted by the Greater Green Bay Chamber, FVTC Venture Center, Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, Envision Greater Fond du Lac, Progress Lakeshore and Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. In all, 32 entrepreneurial pitches were made during the local qualifying events.
The NEW Launch Alliance HATCH Event will take place on Thursday, Dec. 2. Participants will have a chance to win prize money of $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place, as well as broader investor attention...
This Wisconsin company's tabletop mushroom kits make growing fungi fun
GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE PESHTIGO -- Field & Forest Products started by Joe Krawczyk and Mary Ellen Kozak in 1983 with shiitake mushrooms grown on logs. It started in Peshtigo for one good reason, Kozak's family farm provided woodland property they could afford.
Having wood manufacturers and mills as neighbors has been beneficial. There's never a shortage of sawdust for spawn, the material inoculated with mycelium that growers add to substrate — mostly straw and logs.
Krawczyk and Kozak have spent nearly 40 years searching, experimenting, failing, learning and succeeding as they built Field & Forest Products to supply mushroom growers with everything they need to supply stores and restaurants with oyster, shiitake and other fungi.
Today the company still tests and evaluates mushrooms on the Kozak farm but does most of its work in a manufacturing plan and laboratory in the Peshtigo industrial park where they cultivate, package and ship more than hundred strains of fungi spore from Alaska to Maine...
Finding work balance as the new owner of Hat-cetera led therapist Brittany Berkovitz to set up her own practice
GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE
When Brittany Berkovitz opened Hat-cetera in the On Broadway District earlier this year, her plan was to balance her full-time job as a therapist with the responsibilities of running a retail store.
It got to be too much, and she needed to make a change.
“The store is open four days a week and I was having to do so much rescheduling with my regular job that it got to a point where it would be easier to balance the two by going into private practice,” Berkovitz explained.
She had planned to go into private practice at some point in her career; this caused her to move up that timetable. To make the transition, she talked to other therapists who had opened private offices and found an ideal location in De Pere.
Berkovitz commented, “I opened The Anxiety Treatment Center at the end of October. An old colleague of mine had started a practice about a year ago and I got advice from her while getting ready to make the jump. She was renting in a building where there are other therapists and it worked out nice for my practice.”
Now she is ready to welcome clients and provide help that is sorely needed. There is a shortage of therapists to handle the anxiety and trauma that has increased dramatically since the start of the pandemic...
Designer drinkware: Appleton-based BenShot
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Appleton-based BenShot makes glasses for spirits and beers embedded with items including bullets, golf balls, guitar picks, propellers and fishing lures. One of its products, a pint glass tricked out with a tiny aircraft propeller, recently beat out some huge competitors to make it to the Top 8 round in the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Johnson Financial Group “Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin” contest...Safety focus: Pro-Tec provides often-unseen security
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For over 40 years, Pro-Tec Fire Services has existed to do what no one hopes they have to do — save lives.
The company, which recently relocated from Green Bay to Appleton, provides contracted aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) services to airports and other related venues.
“We’re one of the best kept secrets in Northeast Wisconsin,” says Bill Hershman, president of Pro-Tec. “We deal in the world of aircraft emergencies. It’s a good thing that people don’t know who we are or are seeing us on a regular basis.”
Some airport customers want Pro-Tec to be visible, as it makes them feel safe, Hershman says. Others prefer the big green or yellow fire trucks be less obvious to customers...
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Making an impact: ISA's vision helps build athletes
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De Pere native Jason Berken was a Division I college baseball standout and a pitcher for two Major League Baseball teams. But perhaps one of his most rewarding sports experiences has come as owner of Impact Sports Academy, which opened a multimillion-dollar facility off Interstate 41 in the town of Lawrence this past year.
“I’m a dreamer,” says Berken, who played for the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs before retiring in 2017. “I want to go big from day one.”
At 42,000 square feet, his training center for baseball and softball players ages 5 to 18 isn’t just a big building. It’s part of the mission of Berken and his staff to impact youth athletes through quality instruction and long-term development...
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Doing it write: Write On, Door County provides inspiration
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Door County has long been considered a paradise for visual artists like painters, potters and performers. But it wasn’t until the last decade or so that creative writers really found a place to call their own.
Sure, there were notable writers like Norbert Blei who called the peninsula home, but it wasn’t until recently that creative writers found a place devoted solely to their craft.
Write On, Door County launched in 2013, when an anonymous gift of property gave the nonprofit a venue in Juddville. And with a new 2,000-square-foot facility on a 39-acre campus, Write On is ready to welcome new audiences...
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Wisconsin Inno Fire Awards: Meet the 25 technology leaders heating up in 2021
BUSINESS JOURNAL/WISCONSIN INNO
Throughout 2021, momentum has been building within Wisconsin's technology and startup sector.
As spaces began to open up following last year's pandemic lockdowns, communities gathered again to collaborate and connect about their latest ventures. New funds were raised to help finance emerging entrepreneurs. Existing companies achieved milestones in hiring, development and go-to-market strategies...
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