As $50K LaunchPad contest opens, last year's winner shares insight, tips
Courtesy / Gorham Savings Bank
Alicia Menard, left, and Jennell Carter of Casco Bay Creamery won $50,000 last year in Gorham Savings Bank's LaunchPad competition.
Who will succeed Casco Bay Creamery as the winner of Gorham Savings Bank's LaunchPad competition this year?
The Scarborough-based maker of butter and cream cheese won the well-known business pitch-a-thon in 2019, and co-founder Jennell Carter sees that victory as one for all those who participate.
"It is truly a game-changer for small businesses," she told Mainebiz. "I think a lot of the time businesses miss these opportunities just because they have their head down working on their business and miss the opportunity, so getting the word out is so helpful."
She and her fellow co-founder, Alicia Menard, in fact, first competed in 2015 when they were finalists but not winners.
"We applied several times thereafter, and last year we were fortunate enough to win," Carter told Mainebiz on Tuesday.
"As owner-operators, Alicia and I are not only trying to run our business but working day-to-day in our business," she said. "LaunchPad gives us an opportunity to sit down and say, 'What is the one thing we could really focus on to take our business to the next level? What is our plan and strategy to implement that?'"
When they won last year, they had to beat out finalists CourseStorm, GO Lab, Sidewalk Butler and Vintage Maine Kitchen.
Carter said they used the prize money to add staff and scale up production, along with reducing its environmental impact. Two part-timers added over the past year bring the employee total to six.
Applications for the 2020 edition are due by April 1 for the contest, which ends with a live event on June 2 in Portland.
$300K in prize money since 2013
Since Gorham Savings launched the competition in 2013, more than 550 participants representing more than 25 industries have applied, and with more than $300,000 in prize money awarded to winners.
This year's new preliminary judges are Becky McKinnell, founder of Portland-based iBec Creative, and Richard Petersen, president of MaineHealth and CEO of Maine Medical Center and a 2019 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year.
They will review applications and help select five businesses to compete in the live competition.
Kate McAleer, founder of Rockland-based chocolate company Bixby & Co., won LaunchPad in 2014 when she was also named to the Mainebiz Next list, and will serve as a new judge this year at the final event. It will take place at the University of Southern Maine's Hannaford Hall in Portland.
In addition to the grand prize winner, judges will select an Emerging Business Award winner to receive a $10,000 grant, along with $10,000 worth of business and marketing-related services.
That honor went last year to Portland-based fashion tech startup MyBodyModel.
Advice for would-be contestants
Recalling her own experience, Casco Bay Creamery's Carter said the hardest part was all the preparation and rehearsals, running through to the eve of the final event. She said she was so nervous she couldn't always remember her lines in front of family and friends.
"Whether you win or lose," she said, "you want to look knowledgeable and informative, and do well by your business."
She encourages others to apply despite the time involved, saying the experience is invaluable regardless of where someone finishes. That includes abiding by the word-count constraints in the written application.
"It makes you streamline your thinking and your process," she told Mainebiz.
More information about this year's LaunchPad competition and applications are available here.
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