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NMotion Inc. in collaboration with gener8tor Management, LLC (DBA “gener8tor”)
151 N 8th Street, Suite 518, Lincoln, NE 68508
https://www.nmotion.co/
https://twitter.com/nmotionstartups, https://www.instagram.com/nmotionstartups/, https://www.facebook.com/NMotionStartup/
Brad Roth
NMotion Board Chair
broth5@unl.edu
+1 (402) 202-9650
Yes
Please see the attached proposal for a full list of team members.
NMotion powered by gener8tor is Nebraska’s premier startup accelerator working with founders and technology talent across the entire state. We help founders launch new companies and accelerate the growth of existing companies through connections to mentors, customers, and investors in a compressed time schedule. Since its local founding in 2013, NMotion powered by gener8tor has helped 77 early stage companies. Portfolio companies include QuantifiedAg, Nobl Health, RealmFive, Liveby, LeverageRX, Bumper, WellCapped, Snappy Workflow and more. In 2019, NMotion partnered with gener8tor, a nationally ranked, GOLD-tier accelerator in the US, to leverage its proven programming and national network of mentors, companies and investors. Since then, NMotion Inc. has provided strategic guidance and marshaled local resources while gener8tor manages daily operations. As an organization, gener8tor has a staff of 146 full-time employees dedicated to supporting gener8tor’s full breadth of programming and venture capital funds nationwide. We are proud that of the gener8tor Partners, 60% are women and of the senior leadership team, 55% are women and 18% are people of color. gener8tor’s leadership is inclusive of the following individuals: Troy Vosseller, Partner and Managing Member Joe Kirgues, Partner and Managing Member Maggie Brickerman, Partner Abby Kursel, Partner Chelsea Linder, Partner Prentice Keller, Senior VP of Growth Stephen Parker, VP of Public Affairs and Communication Cole Shearer, VP of Skills Accelerators Erika White, VP of Corporate Innovation Lauren Usher, VP of gBETA Jeremy Neren, VP of Investment Accelerator Dorothy Johnson, VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion As a whole, gener8tor’s diverse staff is inclusive of 52% women and 32% people of color. gener8tor staff are assigned to several key departments to include pre-accelerators (gALPHA and gBETA), Investment Accelerators, Creative Accelerators (Art and Music), Skills Accelerator, OnRamp Conferences and Events, Business Development and Operations. The benefit of this organizational structure is it allows for the sustainability and growth of our programming nationwide while ensuring the best customer service possible. gener8tor leadership are acutely attuned to the various inner workings of each department and work closely with department managers to ensure the effectiveness and quality of our work. NMotion powered by gener8tor’s organizational chart is provided as an attachment at the end of this application.
Please see the attached proposal for a full answer to this question.
NMotion Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship Programs
950000.0
950000.0
Service/program
This project team will operate from Omaha, be open to the underutilized population and traditionally marginalized communities living in all the Qualified Census Tracts, and will establish three economic development programs - NMotion Skills Accelerator, NMotion Founders Academy, and NMotion Pre-Accelerator. The programs will be focused on traditionally marginalized communities who are often disadvantaged when it comes to starting their own businesses or finding employment. This talent development will create lasting change to the community and economic ecosystem in Omaha. We believe that workforce development has a multiplier effect on a community and our workforce development programs, whether for individuals or businesses, ensure that marginalized communities receive the same support and training as other communities. NMotion Skills (known nationally as gener8tor Skills) is a virtual rapid skilling program for people looking for jobs in high-demand roles in their communities or working remotely for companies across the country. This program is designed to serve those who are unemployed and underemployed. Program length varies between 5 and 12 weeks. NMotion Founders Academy (known nationally as gALPHA) is a four-week venture creation workshop to help entrepreneurially minded students and technologists create high-growth startups. Graduates gain a deeper understanding of how to spark market opportunities, develop solutions for them, generate revenues, and grow a high-growth startup. As entrepreneurship is a growing industry, workforce development for early-stage entrepreneurs is a vital addition to any workforce development program. NMotion Pre-Accelerator (known nationally as gBETA) is a seven-week accelerator for early-stage companies with local roots that requires no fees or equity for participants. Each program is capped at five teams, and requires no fees and no equity. This program accelerates the growth of early-stage companies through its network-driven program. NMotion Pre-Accelerator supports five teams per cohort. This training and support ensures that marginalized business owners receive the workforce development needed to create jobs in their communities. This initiative will begin in January 2023 and operate through North Omaha Recovery funding through July 2025. Based on results, we will cultivate ongoing funding partnerships with Nebraska corporations, foundations, and economic development organizations aligned with the programming to continue the programming.
Announcement of NMotion Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship Programs January 2023 Training, Hiring, Recruitment, and Base Building February - March 2023 Founders Academy Cohort 1- Spring 2023 Program Dates: April - May Skills Accelerator Cohort 1 - Summer 2023 Programming: June - July Pre-Accelerator Cohort 1 - Fall 2023 Program Dates: September - October Skills Accelerator Cohort 2 - Winter 2023 Program Dates: November - December Skills Accelerator Cohort 3: Spring 2024 February - March Founders Academy Cohort 2 - Spring 2024 Program Dates: April - May Skills Accelerator Cohort 4: Summer 2024 Program Dates: June - July Pre-Accelerator Cohort 2 - Fall 2024 Program Dates: September - October Skills Accelerator Cohort 5: Fall 2024 Program Dates: September - October Skills Accelerator Cohort 6: Winter 2024 Program Dates: December - January Skills Accelerator Cohort 7: Spring 2025 Program Dates: March - April Founders Academy Cohort 3 - Spring 2025 Program Dates: April - May
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Long-Lasting Economic Growth (i.e., a proposal that will foster gainful employment opportunities and financial investment in the area, leading to the creation of generational wealth and widespread economic vitality in North and South Omaha)
Other Sustainable Community (i.e., create or enhance housing, services, education, civic uses, recreation, etc.)
Unemployment and support for small businesses
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted socially and economically disadvantaged populations, with communities of color among the most severely affected. Some would further contribute to this observation by crediting COVID-19 to amplifying and bringing to light pre-existing social and economic loop inequities. Taking this into account, diverse, equitable, and inclusive focuses around workforce development, expansion, and acceleration are essential and long overdue. NMotion powered by gener8tor’s programming works to help close racial, gender, and residential equity gaps. We seek to provide opportunity, access, and exposure to talent development and company creation for those people traditionally underrepresented and overlooked by the common and traditional systems. With millions of jobs lost due to the pandemic, entrepreneurship, by a variety of measures, proved to be a successful path towards income earnings for historically disenfranchised populations. Research from Gusto found that entrepreneurs in the pandemic were more likely to be women and more likely to be Black or Hispanic. Additionally, startup activity in the pandemic was particularly pronounced in Black neighborhoods. It appears that self-employment continues to be a favorable pathway out of poverty for many. The argument can also be made that traditional workforce programs do not provide an adequate pathway towards wealth for underserved communities. Employers continue to compete for candidates for knowledge-based skill positions and while this drives up wages for a select few, it does little to address equitable growth and wealth creation across the economy and perpetuates the cycle of disparity prevalent across the U.S and in Omaha. Alternatively, supporting an entrepreneur in their startup has the potential to create generational wealth for a low-income family and can lead to hundreds of jobs created. NMotion powered by gener8tor will work on multiple fronts to address the issues of unemployment and poverty in the community. In order to help the community build wealth, this proposal will simultaneously develop community skills, while incubating small businesses, thus both increasing the number of jobs created and ensuring people in the community are qualified for those positions. We believe that addressing multiple aspects of this problem will increase community resilience, giving the residents a chance to create long-lasting economic growth. The attached proposal full details the three programs of our strategy in further detail.
The visioning workshop highlighted the need to create high-paying jobs, support local businesses, and increase access and tools to leverage community resources. These programs use community resources (NMotion’s community tools, gener8tor’s network) to both support local businesses through NMotion Founders Academy and NMotion Pre-Accelerator, which will create high-paying jobs. Furthermore, the NMotion Skills Accelerator trains the workforce so that they are able to access these jobs.
This proposal aligns with LB1024’s strategic priorities by creating transformation, fundamental change, and long-lasting economic growth. This economic growth includes job creation from businesses in NMotion Founders Academy and NMotion Pre-Accelerator, as well as economic impact which stems from the increased wages of graduates from the NMotion Skills Accelerator program. We have found that when these programs have run in conjunction, they have a multiplier effect on economic growth.
4 direct full-time employees Plus 4.74 per new startup served (per Kauffman Foundation Indicators of Entrepreneurship)
We will hire two Program Managers for NMotion Skills at $84,500 annually and one Career Coach at $78,000 annually. In addition, for NMotion Founders Academy and NMotion Pre-Accelerator, we will hire two Program Managers at $97,500 and one Program Associate at $20,280.
NMotion will market our programs specifically to the businesses in the Qualified Census Tracts through direct targeting of our advertisement and recruitment. However, in addition to concierge programming for startups via the NMotion Pre-Accelerater and NMotion Founders Academy, these programs offer opportunities for the general public to improve their businesses and economic standing. These opportunities include routine in-person and virtual office hours, workshops, and webinars intended to provide immediate and ongoing opportunity for local business. We would also like to find a space in the Qualified Census Tracts to host our programming, however, that depends on what spaces are available. For events and in person gatherings, we will seek out businesses and contractors in the QCTs to serve as product and service vendors.
The community will benefit from the increase in economic activity and security created by the new jobs. In addition, the economy will be diversified by the influx of new businesses and entrepreneurs created by these programs. By introducing evidence-based programs that uplift the workforce, increase investment in high growth businesses and targeting both BIPOC and low-income individuals, the residents of Omaha will experience a higher quality of life and further economic mobility.
This proposal will create economic stability in the community. NMotion Skills Accelerator graduates will have increased salaries and benefits such as health care, creating both increased purchasing power and a decrease in poverty and health disparities. These increases in income will be passed on to local businesses in the community. In addition, the small businesses created by NMotion Founders Academy and supported by the NMotion Pre-Accelerator will leverage community resourcefulness and innovation to create both additional jobs and additional high-growth businesses, which will support Omaha’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and economic diversification.
Please see the attached proposal for a full response to this question.
Please see the attached proposal for a full response to this question.
These outcomes will be tracked by our program manager, who will collect demographic and financial data from program participants. The program impacts will be tracked and reported on using HubSpot, a data and client management system, and Airtable. These tools allow us to track company insights, deal tracking, pipeline management, and more.
Yes. Over the past two years, graduates of NMotion powered by gener8tor have secured over $4 million in follow-on investments and non-dilutive grants. We expect this to continue and increase.
Yes
NMotion powered by gener8tor has direct ties with Nebraska Angels, Invest Nebraska and Nelnet, which serve as the state of Nebraska’s most active early stage, industry agnostic investor. These three organizations are the most common follow-on investors in NMotion program participants. We are willing and open to partner with existing and new community organizations which can leverage our unique expertise to perform their missions. We enjoy cordial relationships with Omaha 100, Alpha Mission: Omaha, and Code Black. Our intention is to help increase community understanding and capacity to support skilled technology workers and high-growth startup entrepreneurs.
Nebraska Angels, Invest Nebraska and Nelnet are limited partners in gener8tor Fund VIII, Inc., which serves as the investment vehicle for NMotion powered by gener8tor investment programs. As part of their involvement they are required to complete a formal, legally binding agreement.
No
These programs are location agnostic and would be open to any willing person living in any of the Qualified Census tracts. NMotion Skills works best in a virtual environment to allow participants to work at their schedule and location. NMotion Founders Academy and NMotion Pre-Accelerator will be conducted somewhere in North and South Omaha to best serve the community. We could conduct them anywhere that has a classroom or workshop environment, such as Highlander Accelerator, public libraries, or any other community space. We want to house these programs in consultation with the application review committee and key community stakeholders to determine where we can have the most impact and create the greatest outcomes.
Within one or more QCTs
No
No
No
No
No
No
Our annual budget for the NMotion Skills Accelerator is $500,000. This includes the following categories: Staffing - $247,000 is allocated to staffing. Staffing is the largest portion of our expenses, as the concierge support we offer each participant is essential. This expense covers two Program Managers and one Career Coach. All of these positions are full time and include fringe benefits such as healthcare. Program Expenses - $83,500 in program expenses goes to travel, software subscriptions for participants, and fractional staff time from support and operational staff such as sr. managing directors, operations managers, our graphic designers, Vice Presidents, legal, finance, etc. who have oversight and involvement in the programs. Training Expenses Expenses - Our program expenses are $80,750, which includes LinkedIn licenses for all participants. Other Expenses - At $42,296, our other expenses cover costs like recruiting, including posters and advertising, and promotional items. They also include brand licensing and contracts with other service providers necessary to deliver the best possible experience for our participants. Indirect Costs - gener8tor has $45,254 in indirect costs at the 10% de minimus rate. Our annual budget for the NMotion Founders Academy and the NMotion Pre-Accelerator is $450,000. This includes: Staffing Costs - $215,280 is our staffing costs. Staffing is always the bulk of our cost, as we believe individualized attention is essential for the success of the startups in our programs. This costs covers two Program Managers and one Associate, as well as fringe benefits. Director Expenses - $27,875 is our expenses for travel, software subscriptions, and promotional items which are essential in our recruitment. Other - These costs of $100,851 include our subscription to the Global Accelerator network subscription, contracts with service providers, rent and utilities, and fractional costs for support and operational staff such as sr. managing directors, operations managers, our graphic designers, Vice Presidents, legal, finance, etc. who have oversight and involvement in the programs. Program Expenses - The $36,500 expenses for our program include recruiting expenses for advertisements and expenses for program events such as our Mentor Swarm and Lunch and Learns. Live Events - $28,585 is our cost for live events such as our Showcase, which ensures that the startups in the program can present their innovations to the community and funders. These costs includes facility rental, refreshments, supplies such a A/V equipment, and printing. Indirect Costs - gener8tor has $40,909 in indirect costs at the 10% de minimus rate.
Grant funds will be used to cover the operational costs of implementing the three proposed programs (NMotions Skills, NMotion Academy and NMotion Pre-Accelerator) which includes costs incurred such as support staff time, venues and event expenses, program supplies, etc. as outlined in the attached budget.
Yes
Please see the attached proposal for a full response to this question.
NMotion does not currently have funding secured to support the proposed programming in Omaha. However, NMotion has recently successfully leveraged $3.7M to support business acceleration in new investment to expand to serve communities statewide, demonstrating strong commitment from community partners and stakeholders.
No other funding sources at this time.
All funds are necessary to execute programming effectively.
The proposal is scalable - our accelerator programs can add more cohorts in more locations if needed. Conversely, we can run fewer programs, or run only NMotion Skills, NMotion Founders Academy, or NMotion Pre-Accelerator.
Each accelerator program can be run separately, though we believe they work best in conjunction. NMotion Skills, NMotion Founders Academy, and NMotion Pre-Accelerator are separate programs and any of them can be chosen as a single component or in combination.
NMotion has an organizational commitment to this proposal. The board represents a broad spectrum of the community, including our partners such as University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nelnet, Lincoln Partnership of Economic Development, Union Bank & Trust, Nobl Health and Invest Nebraska. Their time and advice have steered this proposal. We are committed to our expansion to Omaha which came from $3.7M in direct investment from Nebraska corporations, organizations, and individuals. We will continue to look for additional funding for this proposal. Additionally, we believe that our proven ability to support a robust variety of programs in Lincoln has prepared us to be able to fully fund and support programming elsewhere in the state.
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Data table of uses (breakdown of how the requested funds will be used for your proposal) Organizational Chart Pro Forma Proposal Budget/Sources and Uses Request Rationale Documentation Schedule