September 24, 2019
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Elevate Ventures today announced an investment from the Community Ideation Fund into STRE.ME in Northeast Indiana. STRE.ME is an early-stage startup that helps organizations simplify their business growth process, as well as allow small-business owners to overcome temporary plateaus in their long-term growth.
“We have to be intentional about the companies who receive investment from this fund. STRE.ME will use the funds to prove their market and we are excited to provide support to companies with ideas that have the potential to be high-growth,” said Mike Mirro, Elevate Northeast Indiana Investment Committee member.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, only about half of all new businesses survive five years or longer. After serving in several leadership positions for over a decade, STRE.ME’s CEO, Jack Patton, launched the company in November 2018 as a “result of seeing so many organizations compromise their potential by simply failing to plan and use strategy to grow.”
STRE.ME allows users to set business goals, track and visualize daily progress, set up nurturing messages, and invite accountability partners to participate. STRE.ME uses a progressive web app, which can be used in both desktop and mobile versions.
Patton says that “STRE.ME makes the growth process more manageable, actionable, and measurable, and helps these leaders improve their decision-making process. On an individual level, especially through the mobile app, this shifts the user’s mindset from scarcity to abundance wherein pursuing the future becomes more clear and structured with higher confidence to persist.”
STRE.ME will launch a beta version of its mobile app and is looking for testers. This study is being conducted in conjunction with the Organizational Leadership Department at Purdue Fort Wayne as part of the Purdue Technical Assistance Program (TAP). Findings will be used for product development purposes and to help others progress with purpose. Beta test registration is available at https://stre.me/beta-test.
“It is an honor to get investment from Elevate Ventures’ Community Ideation Fund. This funding will enable STRE.ME to develop mobile technology and acquire early adopters. What is more, it is encouraging to validate the market need, especially for small businesses bursting with potential, locally and beyond,” said Patton.
Under the Community Ideation Fund, each partnership region has access to up to $200,000 over the next three years through the state’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, which is overseen by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and promotes economic growth and innovation-driven public-private partnerships in Indiana.
