University of Arkansas issued the following announcement on June 16.
From product launch to rapid scaling, the four inaugural companies in the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program have accelerated their entrepreneurial journeys, thanks to GORP’s in-depth training, team mentoring and community support.
“Our first cohort was an excellent example of the kind of backing the Northwest Arkansas community offers to its startups,” said Phil Shellhammer, GORP’s director.
“These four companies came in and hit the ground running, thanks to the incredible support of our mentors, workshop leaders and network connections GORP provided them.”
Pedro Somarriba, a local procurement manager and U.S. Army veteran, entered the program with his company Lacaida Ropes, which seeks to improve rock climbing safety with an innovative rope design. He said GORP helped him go from ideation to launch.
“We would be at least three months behind where we are now had we not been a part of this,” Somarriba said.
Applications for their second cohort open today and will remain open until July 10. The 12-week program will begin at the end of August.
A business incubator at the U of A focused on outdoor recreation startups, GORP provides a multi-level engagement platform to grow early-stage companies from idea to launch, offering workshops, mentorship, consulting, co-working space, network connections and product/service design.
The program also provides up to $15,000 in “non-dilutive seed funding” per company, funding that doesn’t require the owner to give up equity in the company.
The Greenhouse is located at the U of A Collaborative, the university’s education and research hub in Bentonville. GORP is the first of three planned business incubation programs launched by the U of A Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the Greenhouse; the Northwest Arkansas BioDesign Sprints program is slated to launch this summer, and a soon-to-be-announced digital incubation program is planned for early 2023.
Original source can be found here.
Source: University of Arkansas
