PLYMOUTH – Southeast Michigan has landed two of the 32
national winners of Comcast Business’ Innovations for Entrepreneurs contest.
Both received $10,000 and both are in the competition – through a public vote –
to receive an additional $20,000 in cash.
Regional winners are Fresh Co Home Inc. of Bloomfield and
Lawrence Hunt of Royal Oak. Public voting runs through May 10 for the next
round of the competition where six businesses will be selected as grand prize
winners and received an additional $20,000 in cash, as well as an all-expense
paid trip to Comcast Business headquarters in Philadelphia.
While in Philadelphia, winners will have the opportunity to
receive one-on-one consulting with nationally recognized business experts:
Patrick Fitzgerald, an Undergrad Entrepreneurship Lecturer at the Wharton
School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and DreamIt Ventures
Managing Director, Robert Irvine, a chef and entrepreneur, as well as Comcast senior
executives.
To vote for Fresh Co Home Inc. and Lawrence Hunt in the next
round of the competition click on http://business.comcast.com/i4e/vote.
Pablo Ortega, owner of Fresh Co. Homes, home renovation
company, is developing a cloud application that would provide better
communications between clients and contractors, like himself. He’s using the
first $10,000 to begin the patent process for his idea. He’d use the next
$20,000 to fully develop the software.
He described winning the regional Comcast Business
competition as “enormous, not only on personal level, but for the future of my business.
The Money is nice and will help me take it to next level. The most exciting
part has been the exposure for the company.”
You can find out more about his company at http://www.freshcohome.com
Jeff Schattner, owner of Lawrence Hunt (named after his
father’s first and middle names), has developed a line of performance sport
shirts that look like 100 percent cotton, but wear like premium golf shirts. He
raised $17,000 in a Kickstarter campaign last summer and used the money to
build out the clothing line. He’s using the $10,000 he won in the Comcast
Business competition to beef up the company’s online presence. If he wins the
$20,000 grand prize, he’ll use that money to greatly enhance Lawrence Hunt’s
online marketing.
“If we win that, we’ll add a lot more applications to our
website,” Schattner said. “We’ll enhance the online shopping experience and add
more features to the website through software integration.”
You can find out more about his business at http://www.lawrencehunt.co
Management for Comcast Business, said leveraging the technology of Comcast
Business can help entrepreneurs and startups accelerate their growth, the
driving force behind this competition.
“The Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs program celebrates these 32
businesses that are using technology in smart, strategic ways and we are
pleased to underwrite the investments they need to help them continue to
execute on their plans,” she said.
