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VELOCITY
[About Velocity]
Welcome to the Velocity Creative Accelerator

The Center for Creative Economy has hosted a creative accelerator annually since 2016.

The Velocity business accelerator helps entrepreneurs develop viable businesses rooted in creativity. This 10-week, cohort-based program includes a robust curriculum (with in-person and remote options), skilled facilitators, and a customized mentor team of subject matter experts from every business discipline. Master business basics, solidify your positioning, and refine your pitch for a chance to win a seed stage grant. 

Our program focuses on these 5 creative industries:  

Apparel,  Fashion, & Design

Content Creators, Digital Tools and Media

Creative Health Tech, Beauty and Wellness

Arts & Entertainment Industry

Culinary and Food Innovation

The fee to participate is $1195 and covers: materials, workshops, mentor access, meals, & more! A limited number of scholarships are available for those demonstrating financial need.

FAQ
[Fabulous & Amazing]
Questions

Velocity is designed to help businesses develop the high impact business skills necessary to launch and grow a creative venture.

Who Should Apply?

Velocity is FOR:

  • A creative team of one or more
  • Creatives with initial customer base and identifiable value
  • Creative businesses that solve a problem
  • Creatives building a new user experience
  • Creative entrepreneurs building a prototype or “ready to launch”
  • Creatives with product on the market and a goal of soaring
  • Creative entrepreneurs ready to scale their business

Why Velocity?

Teams will learn how to:

  • Focus and refine their creative business model
  • Research and analyze the market, competition and industry your business is in
  • Prepare financial forecasts and budgets
  • Construct your marketing, operations and launch plans
  • Build the right team
  • Develop a pitch for seed stage capital from investors

The Curriculum

Velocity brings together a great curriculum, industry expertise, and mentors to develop the best version of your business and get traction in the market.

In collaboration with Mike Buckovich, founder of Vision to Venture and Velocity guest faculty, content and workshops are tailored to accelerate your creative business.

The core curriculum covers 4 sprints with lesson specifics based on the individual needs of the selected cohort members. In addition to weekly curriculum sessions, each startup team will regularly connect with mentors to flesh out the concepts presented in the workshops and put them into practice.

WINSTON
[The City Of Arts and Innovation]
Why Winston-Salem?

Winston-Salem is home to a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, that welcomes creativity and innovation. The Center for Creative Economy partners with Winston Starts, Flywheel, Greater Winston-Salem Inc., Forsyth Tech Small Business Center, and more! There’s a growing synergy throughout Winston-Salem that embraces creative entrepreneurs as part of the robust economy.

FOCUS
[Creative Industries]
A Creative Focus

Creative companies in the industries below are encouraged to apply:

  • 3D Printing
  • Advertising
  • Art & Health
  • Animation
  • Animatronics
  • Apparel & Textiles
  • Apps (creative industries)
  • Architecture
  • Augmented & Virtual Reality
  • Beauty
  • Content Strategy
  • Crafts & Artisan
  • Creative Concept Development
  • Creative Health Tech
  • Creative Services
  • Creative Tech & Software
  • Culinary
  • Data Visualization
  • Educational Tech
  • Fashion
  • Film
  • Food & Beverage
  • Graphic Design
  • Health and Wellness
  • Healthcare Support Tools
  • Industrial Design
  • Music
  • Performing Arts
  • Photography
  • Planning & Project Mgmt
  • Podcasting
  • Product Design
  • Publishing
  • Studio & Fine Arts
  • Theater Production
  • Toys & Games
  • TV & Film
  • Video Games
  • Video Production
  • Virtual Reality
Accelerate
With a robust curriculum designed specifically for creative entrepreneurs, startups will develop skills to accelerate and scale their growth.
Mentoring
Velocity is mentor-driven. With 35+ mentors from all over North Carolina, the country, and worldwide, you and your startup can be easily matched with mentors in your industry and to meet your biggest needs.
Coffee Breaks + Networking
With coffee at every session and lunch for full day programming, breaks offer a great opportunity to further connect with other startups and mentors.
Sponsors
[Sponsors & Partners]
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Velocity’s content and events are powered by CCE and these generous sponsors and partners.