Last week, the #CAAML cohort wrapped up Session 2 of the program. It was a virtual week for the companies, but the team was able to pull together a fantastic lineup of subject matter experts that spoke to and met with the group throughout the week. The Catalyst Accelerator team also attempted a new programming method to help foster cohort collaboration!
Monday morning, September 25th, started off with an informative session on the Marine Innovation Unit presented by Maj Lue-chung. Afterwards, Karri Palmetier, Government Contracts Adviser for Small Businesses at Palmetier Law, spoke to the group. She gave a briefing to the cohort about SBIR data rights and touched on some unique aspects of government contracting that are important for small businesses to be aware of.
Throughout week six, Mo Kanwischer worked with each company on their go-to-market strategies and taught them how to deliver a great pitch in preparation for Demo Day. “We are shifting our focus to start preparing for the Demo Day pitches. Each company is working on their script using the commercialization tools we developed in previous weeks such as positioning statements and value propositions. The #CAAML cohort is engaged in distilling their go-to-marketing strategies as a result of their customer discovery and are integrating their learning into their scripts for an interesting story. It’s incredible to see the refinements and pivots the cohort members are making to their strategies as they hear from more customers!” explained Mo.
Eight subject matter experts donated their time to speak with the cohort during the week. On Tuesday, Allison Strong, the Program Analyst at Naval Sea Systems (NAVSEA), met with the cohort to discuss how to do business with NAVSEA. Then, Thierry Lepoutre, Owner and President of Boostr Consulting, spoke with the companies about R&D Tax Credits and how small businesses can take advantage of them. Additionally, the group had the pleasure of hearing from Gregg Walsh, Regional Director of Business Development and Operations at Two Six Technologies and the Commercial Navigator for Duality Systems. Gregg presented a briefing on Two Six Technologies and held one-on-one meetings with the cohort companies to answer their questions. Gregg has been a Navigator for the Catalyst Accelerator many times over and the team is happy to have him back to share his wisdom and know-how with the cohort!
The week ended on a perfect note with cohort demos! These demos gave the companies the chance to demonstrate their technologies, ask questions of each other, and identify areas of potential partnership and opportunity. The team was thrilled with the feedback from the companies on this session and will be making it a permanent part of the Catalyst Accelerator curriculum moving forward! Clive Cook, CEO of Precursor SPC, expressed, “Each company demonstrated the immediate benefits and powerful impacts that AI/ML use can have across many aspects of the DoD. We need to get them in place now for the ‘fight tonight’.” Matthew Ennis, Chief Product and Strategy Officer of RS21, added, “My favorite aspect of the Catalyst Accelerator is the larger ‘team’ that the entire Catalyst Campus staff has created. The comradery between the cohort members is energizing. Hearing each of my fellow cohort members demo this past week provided a pathway for much future collaboration. My mental neurons greatly appreciate the stimulation. I was also able to invite members of our technical team and it has triggered additional internal discussions and we are now figuring out how we can engage in deeper dives in the near future.”
Thank you to each of the subject matter experts who donated their time to speak with the #CAAML cohort and answer their questions. The Catalyst Accelerator team is looking forward to reuniting with the group at the end of the month!
