Alchemy Sandbox awards 5 more grants: Lean into failure to make your business ‘worthy to win’
June 4, 2022 | Austin Barnes
Success isn’t always immediate, Elaina Paige Thomas said, grateful for lessons learned through trial and error, as well as a firm belief that persistence pays off.
“What I originally thought my business needed was not seen as a necessity to my panel of judges,” said Thomas, founder of The Next Paige Agency, recalling an experience earlier this year with Alchemy Sandbox — a grant program of The Porter House KC that provides critical funding, mentoring, and connections to founders in partnership with UMB Bank.
Miranda Schultz, Daniel Smith, Charon Thompson, and Jahna Riley, The Porter House KC
In May, Thomas took to the sandbox a second time, eager to pitch her talent management and production company to its judges with new flair.
“As a business owner, it’s trial and error. I take pride in remaining a student, learning and soaking up knowledge,” Thomas said. “I made some adjustments to my pitch, did more research on the topic and came back more prepared this round.”
The showing ultimately landed The Next Paige Agency a $5,000 grant.
“This win will help us continue our ultimate goal of giving back to the creative community here in Kansas City,” she explained, adding the funds will also fuel marketing efforts designed to reach more local creatives who might benefit from services offered by The Next Paige Agency.
Click here to learn more about Thomas and her work to develop a network of equipped and thriving creatives in Kansas City.
Additional winners from the program’s Quarter 2 cohort include On the Rocks Gourmet Jams, Regal Health and Wellness, The Black Pantry, and Royale Cohesive Network.
Click here to learn more about Alchemy Sandbox and its quarter one winners.
“While the more visible, key goal of the Alchemy Sandbox program — for which we are eternally grateful to UMB Bank for their partnership — is to find a way to put dollars in the hands of our small business owners, the other, less visible but just as crucial key goal is to find a way to elevate our small business owners by giving them the tools, experience, and confidence that comes from knowing the entrepreneurial landscape and how to effectively pitch [their] business,” said Miranda Schultz, program manager at The Porter House KC.
“With four out of the five small business winners of Quarter 2 having never participated in a pitch competition before the Alchemy Sandbox, these small business owners are not only leaning in to the uncomfortability of challenging themselves and their businesses with a new experience, but leaning in to the potential failure that might come with that new experience,” she continued, adding past applicants are encouraged to reapply for participation in the program’s Quarter 3 contest.
Interested in pitching your business to Alchemy Sandbox? Click here to apply.
Elaina Paige Thomas, The Next Paige Agency, accepting the 2022 Small Business Equity Award from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
Participation in the program doesn’t only pay off financially, Thomas said, it provides business owners with an invaluable opportunity to hone skills that could transform their entrepreneurial journey entirely.
“As entrepreneurs we are passionate about our businesses and we have to deliver our passion with facts of what makes your business worthy to win,” she said.
“I learned to present yourself the way you want to be seen. You are the most important part of the presentation. Your delivery, numbers, story, and understanding your audience are all key.”
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2022 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
She started by getting Black art into Black spaces; now Natasha Ria El-Scari wants all of KC to know what they’ve been missing
A Renaissance woman, Natasha Ria El-Scari — gallerist, curator, poet, spoken word performer, educator, and life coach — has surrounded herself with art throughout her life. However, as the Kansas City native watched her hometown’s art scene flourish and thrive, she noticed not everyone was included. “As the city started to change, and the Crossroads…
Travel on tap: How a KC couple built a self-serve port for international wine lovers north of the river
Grab your wine passport, Russ Johnson said, because this self-serve wine bar allows customers to taste the world one sip at a time. And the technology that makes the business possible? Johnson — a software developer-turned-entrepreneur — built it himself. “Our brand is really focused on going on a vacation and having this world experience —…
Don’t like cookies? Your new favorite weirdough baker hungrily accepts the challenge
Tierney Larson is on a mission to bake the perfect cookies for those like herself with a not-so-sweet tooth, the Outliers Baked Goods owner shared. Each month, the self-taught baker and New York native experiments, developing four new adventurous flavors to please the taste buds of the outliers or weirdoughs of the dessert community —…
Shocked by a discovery while pregnant, this entrepreneur vowed to make self-care products from ingredients safe enough to eat
‘I might as well make my own’ Jess Winns, founder of Ari Rose Body Care, had always been pretty conscious of what she and her three daughters put into and onto their bodies, she said. However, as she researched more about holistic wellness while pregnant with her second daughter, Winns read about how more than…