Steel Works Health Accelerator

The Steel Works Health Accelerator program is managed by UNeMed and UNeTech Institute, as a three-month program aimed at early-stage startup companies built around emerging University of Nebraska innovations.

The specific goals of the program are to train, encourage, mentor and support small cohorts of Nebraska startups so they are better prepared and able to seek and secure additional funding for further development and growth. The program focuses on helping entrepreneurial teams sharpen their understanding of the problem; clarify the value they create; and how to survive real market, stakeholder, and economic conditions.

Startups in the program will receive weekly training from CQuence Health and the Nebraska Business Development Center in the UNeMed classroom, located in the Edge District’s Catalyst building near the intersection of Saddle Creek Road and Leavenworth Street. The program is structured in a cycle of modules that builds founders and their startups into compelling and durable companies worthy of capital investment. The sequence of workshops, seminars, and one-on-one mentoring sessions ensure that strategy, business modeling, and capital planning emerge as logical outcomes of validated insight.

CQuence Health will lead training modules providing strategic advice and training for securing investment from venture capitalists and other investment groups. The NBDC will provide coaching and mentoring toward preparing applications for the federal government’s SBIR/STTR small business grant program.

Upon completion of the accelerator program, each participant can expect to have each of the following:

  1. Completed SBIR/STTR Grant application
  2. Go-to-market strategy
  3. Pitch deck & one-pager
  4. Advisory board

Admission into the accelerator program is based on the strength of the application, which must include:

  1. Evidence of Customer Discovery Interviews
  2. US-based small business entity registered in sam.gov for SBIR/STTR eligibility
  3. A minimum viable product and/or a development and funding plan draft
  4. A lean canvas and/or business plan draft
  5. The completed application form and supporting documentation (DOC or XLS files) may be uploaded via the link below or emailed to program director, Tyler Scherr, PhD, at tyler.scherr@unmc.edu.

Applications will be reviewed in the order they are received until all spots are filled. Selected participants will be expected to accept or reject the invitation within three days of the offer.

Steel Works Health Accelerator logo
Tentative Itinerary

Here’s a look at the tentative schedule for the Steel Works Health Accelerator’s program. The Accelerator is delivered primarily through in-person sessions, typically held weekly, and supported by independent work and scheduled one-on-one virtual meetings with program advisers. Unless noted, all sessions and events will be held in UNeMed’s classroom in the Edge District’s Catalyst building at 4601 Catalyst Court in Omaha (See map below).

  • Launch Party!
  • Module 1 — From Founder Story to Shared Problem Clarity
  • Module 2 — From Value to Market Insight
  • Module 3 — From Market Insight to Business Reality
  • Mid-Point Check!
  • Module 4 — From Business Reality to Go-to-Market & Capital Strategy
  • Module 5 — From Strategy to Executable Roadmap
  • Module 6 — From Internal Clarity to External Readiness
  • Graduation!

Map & Driving Instructions

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