For the City Times

STEVENS POINT –– BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation has announced that HATCH, a community-based startup pitch platform that aims to convert strong “napkin” ideas into business plans that launch new companies, will again take place in Stevens Point. It will be held on the evening of May 16 at a site to be determined. The application for idea submissions is open to the public at http://newaukee.com/event/hatch/.

HATCH is a rotating, high-energy idea pitch program designed to facilitate connections between prospective entrepreneurs and those within the community who support them such as industry experts, professional service firms, banks, non-profits, business leaders and investors. At the program, several individuals or teams of individuals have the opportunity to pitch their brightest business idea to a panel of judges while allowing substantive connections and networking to occur between attendees during the event.

“We have a rich entrepreneurial culture in our community,” said Todd Kuckkahn, Executive Director at the Portage County Business Council. “So strong, that three of the four community winners were from Stevens Point. And some of that credit goes to the Hatchstorm events that CREATE Portage County assisted entrepreneurs with their projects”

CREATE Portage County is again hosting a Hatchstorm for interested participants on Saturday, April 7th at 10:00 AM at their IDEA Center. Hatchstorms are ideation sessions that help entrepreneurs craft their business plans or pitches with the goals and guidelines of Hatch in mind. Attendees will learn about BrightStar Wisconsin and their Hatch judging criteria while connecting with local resources designed to turn your idea into a business. For additional information, contact CREATE at 715.254.0460 or [email protected].

In addition to the four central Wisconsin communities that hosted events last year, including Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids, the program will expand to two other regional clusters. BrightStar again will partner with NEWaukee to coordinate the HATCH events, including those that represent an expansion of the program. NEWaukee is a social architecture firm that specializes in community-based signature experiences centered on high-profile issues of importance for cities across the country.

“Due to the success of the pilot program in central Wisconsin, we are thrilled to expand HATCH across the state,” said Jeremy Fojut, chief idea officer at NEWaukee. “There are entrepreneurs, creators and creatives in all parts of the state and our goal in year two of HATCH is to help provide a platform for them to grow their ideas into companies. That takes the support of an entire community.”

Brightstar is accepting applications from entrepreneurs that are interested in presenting their business ideas at upcoming HATCH events. Find the submission form at:http://newaukee.com/event/hatch/. For more information about HATCH events across the state, please visit: www.hatchwi.com. For questions about HATCH in Stevens Point, contact Kayla Rombalski at 715-344-1940; [email protected].