Startup businesses make pitches for CO.LAB

Norma Maloney started making energy bars in 1995 when her husband began cycling long distances and needed a more fulfilling snack for his adventures.

Since then, Maloney has turned her hobby into an Ooltewah-based business, called LoAdebar, and her all-natural, organic energy bars are now available in places such as Whole Foods, local gyms, sporting goods stores and 22 regional airports across 15 states, including the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.

This Thursday, Maloney and the founders of 15 other companies that learned how to fast track their business’ growth over the last 12 weeks at The Company Lab will have a chance to showcase their services and products to locals and investors at CO.LAB’s “Demo Night.”

Businesses ranging from breweries to risk data and analytics firms will pitch their ideas, which marks the culmination of CO.LAB’s “Summer 2018 startup accelerators” program. Everyone is invited to the free event from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Waterhouse Pavilion at Miller Plaza, 850 Market St.

“CO.LAB’s support of hightech and consumer-focused entrepreneurs reflects the best of our region’s entrepreneurial assets,” said Marcus Shaw, CEO of CO.LAB, in a statement.

Shaw said the “consumer goods” companies build off Chattanooga’s “startup spirit” and quest for a more fulfilled lifestyle while the “GIGTANK” companies have leveraged the city’s internet infrastructure.

The consumer goods companies learned how to refine their go-to-market strategy and connect with the city’s network of experts in the outdoor and food and beverage markets during the program. Companies that participated include Cashew, Chattanooga Sports Leagues, The Chef & His Wife, Fleetwood Coffee, Hutton & Smith, LoAdebar, Muse + Metta, Site Seven, SWAYY and Weekly Fig.

While some companies are hoping to attract potential investors and partners to move their work forward, others are hoping to just increase awareness in the community of their products, such as Maloney.

“We find that so many people don’t know about it [LoAdebar] still locally,” Maloney said. “We are right here and

local. So, hopefully, we gain some ambassadors who will help us spread the word and increase our distribution.”

Maloney and her husband emigrated from Guyana, South America, to Canada and then eventually to the United States and Chattanooga because of her husband’s work. Maloney said Chattanooga has proven to be a great spot to sell her bars with all the emphasis on the outdoors.

“It’s a favorite among triathletes and endurance athletes,” she said. “It’s specially formulated for endurance sports.”

Maloney will be handing out samples of the energy bars Thursday evening, which come in two flavors — original and dark chocolate.

At the demo night, GIGTANK accelerator companies will present applications in mapping and location analytics, augmented reality, peerto-peer networking and data analytics. Companies that participated in the 2018 summer program include Big Bang, BrewFund, Blue Spatial, International Maritime Security Associates and TenGIG.

Corey Ranslem, CEO of International Maritime Security Associates, or IMSA, said they will use their five-minute pitch to attract potential investors. IMSA first started as a consulting firm but morphed into a technology company with the development of a software platform that provides risk data and analytics for large sea-bearing yachts and shipping companies, Ranslem said.

Both Ranslem and Frank Fenner, IMSA’s chief operating officer, attended classroom sessions twice a week for the duration of the program and met with mentors outside the classroom on a weekly basis, too. Ranslem said the program gave him a much better “crash course” on how to be a successful entrepreneur than the two years of schooling he did at Georgetown University, earning his masters of business administration.

“People here are so willing to help each other out when it comes to this really, cool entrepreneurial ecosystem,” he said. “The mentors have been taking time away from their own job to help us out. These people did an incredible job of just making themselves available.”