Testimonials
The best part about us is our community. Here's what some of our alumni are saying about us.
Accelerating Appalachia empowered me as a woman in business, us as entrepreneurs, and as owners of a values-based enterprise. ACAP came during a time of transition for our business so it allowed us to dig deeper and maintain accountability to complete the work, fleshing out our current business plan while forming a new business model and groundwork for a new project. It’s the best thing we’ve done for our business so far. We feel like we just leveled up and we are excited about where we are headed.
The visionary women who run Accelerating Appalachia definitely make sure it lives up to the name ‘accelerator.’ During the few months of the program, our business probably moved forward two years as far as planning, financial projections, team building, etc. ACAP forced us to get tightly organized while providing the tools and resources to do so. We’ve also been introduced to a wide range of prospective impact investors that we might not have met otherwise. We’ve also been introduced to a wide range of prospective impact investors that we might not have met otherwise. Accelerating Appalachia has been the best investment we’ve ever made, and we can’t recommend it highly enough to other nature-based businesses that are ready to accelerate.
We were very excited to be selected to be a part of the program because we were at a point in our business where we needed to scale up but were not confident in the next steps. The business training we received was more in-depth than other courses we’d taken in the past, otherwise not available in our region. We also received immense benefits from connecting with peers and professionals in our industry and learned so much by hearing their stories and sharing one-on-one in a confidential setting.
Congratulations to all of the business owners who were selected for Accelerating Appalachia! You will come out of this experience with more knowledge, motivation, focus and support from outstanding leaders within your local community for the future growth of your nature-based business.
As an entrepreneur working with Accelerating Appalachia is extremely rewarding because I truly believe in the importance of nature-based, sustainable, environmentally-conscious products, services, practices, and leadership. I am honored to help build and grow companies that are focused on making the world a stronger, healthier place.
Accelerating Appalachia created a unique opportunity for Riverbend Malt House to interact with successful entrepreneurs, finance professionals, and business leaders throughout our region. Those interactions helped guide our company through a period of explosive growth that continues to the present day. Accelerating Appalachia creates a bridge between the new wave of nature-based businesses and an amazing array of mentors, venture capitalist firms, and business leaders who are eager to support a more durable, localized economic model for our region.
As an investor, Accelerating Appalachia is an ideal partner that plays a high-value role in identifying promising nature-based companies that are investment-ready. It is our pleasure to have a partner that not only provides a source of investment opportunities, but also shares our values to build a movement among entrepreneurs and investors for a healthy and prosperous world for people and planet.
Accelerating Appalachia is convening a great eclectic group of entrepreneurs with experts who care about more than just making a pitch. The outcome potential from this hybrid vigor is exciting.
