Venture Asheville Elevate

Our Elevate program enables startup entrepreneurs to simultaneously navigate the practical, day-to-day challenges of building great companies and develop their skills as effective managers, leaders and CEOs. Offering mentorship modeled on the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, Elevate is a service provided by Venture Asheville as part of our strategy to systematically strengthen and support high-growth ventures in the Asheville area.

PROGRAM FEATURES

  • Team Mentoring Sessions with highly skilled founders, C-level executives and functional experts – matching 3 to 4 mentors with each entrepreneur in a highly dynamic environment
  • Office Hours with Specialized Mentors including experts in HR, patents, finance, and branding

UNBIASED ADVICE IN A CONFIDENTIAL SETTING

Core to the the Elevate program is a Statement of Principles governing the standards and ethical guidelines that all mentors and entrepreneurs adhere to as a condition of participation. This ensures that entrepreneurs receive unbiased advice in a confidential setting whether in mentoring sessions or peer-to-peer group meetings. Our mentors listen, coach, and advise without scouting for investment opportunities, new clients, or a job.

BUILDING GREAT VENTURES AND GREAT LEADERS

Entrepreneurs accepted into Elevate learn how to perfect their products and services; identify, enter and grow new markets; build business organizations; seek funding; and become effective managers, leaders and CEOs.

COST AND PARTICIPATION

Elevate is free to participating entrepreneurs for their entire first year in the program. Entrepreneurs can continue to benefit from the program in subsequent years. To remain in good standing, entrepreneurs must maintain a 90% participation rate in all activities.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Elevate is a service provided by Venture Asheville. Our team: Jeffrey Kaplan, Director of Venture Asheville, is Elevate’s Director (his bio). Desiree Monstrola is Elevate’s Operations Manager (her bio).

MEET THE VENTURES IN ELEVATE 

Ventures may stay in Elevate as long as they remain in good standing, keep up with their monthly mentor meetings, founders luncheons, and continually work on their experience portfolio. The average startup is in Elevate for 12-24 months. As we have a rollin admission model, the set number of participating companies does shift, though we tend to have 20-30 members at any time. Scroll through the currently active startups below.

ENTREPRENEURS

 

APPLICATIONS ARE ACCEPTED ON A ROLLING BASIS.

Elevate is available to entrepreneurs across all industries who meet the following criteria:

  1. Have a scalable business model
  2. At least 1 full-time founder on the business
  3. Live or work in Asheville-Buncombe County
  4. Product is already launched and in market (might not have revenue but you have something to sell)

Please complete the following Founder Application  

A team member will follow up with you once it is reviewed.

MENTORS

 

Mentors are selected for their combination of startup, corporate and national or global experience. To become a mentor, individuals must:

  • Pass a pre-screening evaluation
  • Interview with Elevate’s management
  • Complete a day-long mentor orientation grounded in the principles of MIT’s Venture Mentor Service

If interested in participationg, please complete the Mentor Application. A team member will follow up with you once it is reviewed. 

CONTACT US

 

To inquire about applying to Elevate or becoming a mentor, contact Jeffrey Kaplan, Director of Venture Asheville, via email.

OUR MENTORS are highly experienced volunteers with great depth and range of experience.  See some of them below.

Leslie Apple

Leslie Apple

Financial Advisor, Edward Jones

Chris Buehler

Chris Buehler

Wireless Technology, Manufacturing, & Operations Executive

 
Rebecca Crandall

Rebecca Crandall

Attorney, McGuire, Wood & Bissette, P.A.

 
Sam Franklin

Sam Franklin

Co-Founder, Outside Angle & Outside Angle Labs

Nancy Henry-Serra

Principal Consultant

Mark Goldstein

Mark Goldstein

CFO, CPA, Business Finance Coach

Blake Jennelle

Ursula Jorch

Ursula Jorch

Chief Alchemist, WorkAlchemy.com

Gay Lam

Gay Lam

Founder, Seltzer Goods

 
Mitch Orland

Mitch Orland

CEO, GreenFire Advisers

 
Drew Pollick

Drew Pollick

CEO, Craft HR Solutions

Louisa Shipnuck

Strategy & Sales

Barry Shoor

Business Consultant

Nathan Silsbee

Nathan Silsbee

Founder and President, Kaizen Group

Jonathan Snover, PhD

Executive Director Western Office, NC Biotechnology Center

John Sotomayor

John Sotomayor

Principal, Patent Attorney, Sotomayor IP Consulting

 

Emma Allen

Founder, Everyday Oil

John Barnard

John Barnard

Investment Manager, Caeruleum

 
Tom Boots

Tom Boots

Senior Consultant & Co-Founder, SunSpring Leadership

 
Robert Eichner

Robert Eichner

Founder, One Fur All

 
Chris Fink

Chris Fink

President, FinkWorks

Josh Hill

Executive Vice President, Aeroflow Healthcare

David Harkins

Eileen Hutchison

Eileen Hutchison

Marketing Coach and Strategist

 

Jeff Kristjansen

Program Director, Cloud Sales & Partner Program Design, IBM

 
Josh Lucas

Josh Lucas

Director of Marketing at Aeroflow Healthcare

Christopher Mailander

Christopher Mailander

Managing Director, Ironheart

 
John Miller

John Miller

Information Systems & Product Development

Tim Montgomery

Tim Montgomery

Director, Redwood Valuation Partners

 
Ric Pratte

Ric Pratte

Software Entrepreneur

Taylor Small

Taylor Small

John Stigmon

Strategic Development

Patrick Szewczyk

Angela Brandt

Angela Brandt

Sr. Product Manager, Verizon Enterprise Solutions

 

Ben Colvin

Founder & President, Devil's Foot Beverage, LLC

Antony Croston

Director of Product Development, Trelleborg

Tracy Eames

Teames & Company - Helping Your Teams Grow

John Forrester

John Forrester

Business Advisor & Strategist, Forrester & Associates

 

Ginger Frank

Founder & Owner, Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn

John Franzen

Sales Innovator

Paul Gaeta

Direct Sales Manager, Moog Music

Harold "Buzz" Garlock

Retired - Fifth Third Bank, Senior Vice President Education, Government and Institutions,

Jacob Haug

Jacob Haug

Founder, Level Software

Clark Harris

Clark Harris

Founder, LoLo

Suzanne Hermann

Media Relations Director, Darby Communications

Deonna Hodges

Emerging Products, Senior Mobile Engineer

Jon Jones

CEO & Co-Founder, Anthroware

Jay Mahler

Entrepreneur Coach

Robert Malt

Business & Financial Modeling

Jeff McKenna

Jeff McKenna

Senior Vice President, Speakeasy

 

Marty Moran

Strategy & Sales Growth

Paul Penny

GTM Positioning & Culture Building

Steve Poppe

Steve Poppe

Branding Expert, Managing Partner at What's the Idea?

Claude Sheer

Claude Sheer

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Vizsafe

 
Scott Shwarts

Scott Shwarts

Product Guy & Engineer

 

Jael Skeffington

Co-Founder & CEO, French Broad Chocolates

Jennifer Stanton

Jennifer Stanton

Retail Advisory Services

 
Mark Swedan

Mark Swedan

Investment Manager, Swedan Investment Manager

Elisa Van Arnam

Co-Founder & Co-Owner

Dawn Walker

Dawn Walker

Senior Sales Manager, HAVI Global Solutions