Five Companies to Pitch at Second Southeast Wyoming Innovation Launchpad Event

CHEYENNE, WYOMING – Last year the Southeast Wyoming Innovation Launchpad (SEWYIL) Pitch Day helped create ten new companies and 23 new jobs across Laramie and Albany counties. This year, the collaborative partnership between Forward Greater Cheyenne, Laramie County Community College, and the University of Wyoming looks to recreate this success with their virtual Pitch Day, this Friday, Feb. 26.

This year’s event will begin at 4 p.m. via Zoom with the first “pitch” coming from LCCC student, Zach Valerio. The Zoom meeting is open to the public, access to the event can be requested by emailing laramie@uwyo.edu. Results from the 2021 Pitch Day will be announced at 8 p.m., also on Zoom.

This year’s SEWYIL Pitch Day presentations include: 

• Peace in the Wild – Zach Valerio: A lifestyle clothing brand geared towards a younger audience that is exploring the outdoors on their own. 
• Fair Housing Wyoming – Paulina Gurevich: A non-profit seeking to educate landlords and other property owners on fair housing practices. Wyoming is the only state in the Rocky Mountain region that does not have an entity (governmental or non-profit) to address these needs. 
• 1FitPass – Christopher Aden: 1FitPass aims to help independent gyms expand their customer base, compete against the national chains, and give gym-goers more options.
• Hood Skinz – Joel West: A company geared towards solving problems for truckers, at first by eliminating the noise created on specific Peterbilt hood assemblies. 
• Frosty Flake – Marcus Curley: A Software as a Service (Saas) play to aid the snow removal industry. 

IMPACT 307 Assistant Director, Fred Schmechel is excited to bring the competition back to Cheyenne. “Cheyenne has a lot going for it, but it wouldn’t have happened without community buy-in of the Launchpad project.,” said Schmechel. The successes of the launchpad programs in both Cheyenne & Laramie are a model that IMPACT 307 hopes to replicate across the state with the rest of the Wyoming Community Colleges.

“We are excited to see the support that we are receiving from not only SEWYIL and the LCCC campus, but the Cheyenne community, for this entrepreneurial showcase,” said Minden Fox, LCCC instructor. The monetary awards for the winners of this year’s competition have been provided by multiple partners including the Cheyenne banking community and the Microsoft Tech Spark program.