Key Sentence:
- Eight years ago, Marisa Salomon went to Las Vegas with three friends to celebrate her graduation.
- When no one returns his money – he pays for hotels and flights – this scrutiny doesn’t just affect their friendship.
When Bubble Collaborates returned to the plane, he also inspired a business idea: a platform. That allows passengers to save, monitor other people’s financial progress, take responsibility, and pay for shared trips without leaving anyone in their hands. So he started a company called TravelTrunk to develop apps.
But because Solomon was a non-technologist with no tech-savvy contacts to contact, Solomon had a hard time developing a prototype. Unfortunately, that will hire a developer with more money down the road and never finish the project.
Finally, early on, Bubble Collaborates he heard about a 10-week accelerator for Black co-founder Immerse. Operated by Bubble, a nine-year-old company with a no-code platform for building apps. It joined in October last year and ended in December with a fully functional forum and experience presented to an audience of 150 investors and people in the industry. He is also one of the winners in the field. A few weeks ago, an influential person promoted the platform on social media, and the demand increased.
“I’m so busy that I don’t sleep,” he said.
Salomon is one of 25 founders, 70% of whom identify as women. Who have participated in Immerse, which is now opening its third batch. As the company behind Accelerator, its mission is to make entrepreneurship more inclusive and remove some of the technical barriers founders face.
There are some differences from other accelerators. On the one hand, only the best participants are invited to present themselves before a community of technicians. Investors, and judges on the day of the demonstration.
The program also selects winners for the best opportunity, best product, and fan favorite. In addition, you’ll receive a variety of rewards, including, in some cases, a $5,000 credit that can be used at higher tiers of the Bubble platform. There is also no time limit for using the loan. “Many founders who leave the program may not be ready for a certain level of development,” said Nicole Bestman, who leads the Immerse program. “When you’re ready, you still have that credit.”
Bestman himself participated in the original cohort. Like Salomon, his company Shipfair focuses on travel. It provides a platform for businesses in developing countries to deliver goods to encourage passengers to use their extra baggage to take those items with them.
Covid put many monkey keys into his plans, but he’s still working on growing the company.
According to Bestman, the involvement of the Bubble founders has always been a critical element of their mission. So it made sense to create an entrepreneurial accelerator focused on people of color. The first group is aimed at black founders, the second is for BIPOC entrepreneurs, and the third will refocus on black founders. The next group will include other identities, from LGBTQ to women.