October 10 – 14, 2022
During Week 6 of the Catalyst Accelerator, cohort companies were able to hear from numerous investors, experts on scaling a business, and others in working with the Government. Additionally, companies heard from one of their Commercial Navigators, Microsoft, Dr. Jaime Stearns from AFRL/RV, and worked on their group deliverable while finding time to start practicing their pitches for Demo Day.
Col (ret) Ross Morrell met with the companies on Monday and talked about pathways forward for international companies. “I was blown away with the capabilities and methodologies provided by the International Space Domain Awareness Accelerator cohort,” stated Mr. Morrell. “We must leverage their offerings to accelerate our ability to deliver mission outcomes for national security.” Later in the afternoon, the companies heard from Becca Decker of BlueStaq and Mark Stafford of Delta Solutions and Strategies on how to scale your business. Mark Stafford had this to say about his experience with the cohort companies, “It was great meeting with the SDA companies today at Catalyst Campus and learning about their capabilities and sharing their enthusiasm about the future.”
The highlight of the week for many companies was hearing from AFRL/RV’s Dr. Jamie Stearns. One cohort member offered these accolades, “Great overview, honest informed view of issues she is addressing.” One of the cohort company members helped the Accelerator team pull together an Investor panel that also ranked very highly among cohort members. The panel included representatives from AE Industrial Partners, Promus Ventures, Seraphim Space, and In-Q-Tel. “It doesn’t matter the economic situation, the best companies always get funded,” stated one panel member. Another emphasized the need to fundraise with the following quote, “Always be fundraising, so when it is time, you aren’t starting cold.” This panel was followed by a presentation from Heather Richman who spoke on the need for companies to be aware of where their investment funds are coming from. Plexal, a Catalyst Accelerator partner out of the UK, met with the companies this week as well sharing with them the best strategies for setting up a business in the UK.
The week wrapped up with the cohort companies recording their pitches for the Demo Day video to be released on October 31. The Accelerator team invites all readers to the live portion of Demo Day which will be on November 3, 4-7pm MT, at the Catalyst Campus. Interested parties can register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/399726120587
