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Lincoln, Nebraska — 〇After leaving Stanford University, Bumper founder Luke Moberly is back in Cornhusker. He met with investors, attended local startups at his events, was fueled by nearly 7,000 app users and his $500,000 funding round.
Bumper Founder and CEO Luke Moberly said:
His startup — an investment app for teens — N motion venture studioEarly evidence points for: First company to receive significant post-completion investment from one of the cohorts of the Lincoln-based program.
For Bumper, it took just nine months from idea to funding.
“Most accelerators need to come in with a startup idea, and they can help you accelerate.” It is an incubator.”
“In the end, we were able to come up with something that had potential and was fun to work on,” he continued. “But if we had taken the first idea of an equestrian performance analysis tool for equestrians, I don’t think it would have worked very well. It was worth the weight of
click here Read more about Bumper’s origins, its $500,000 pre-seed round, and what inspired the teen investment pivot.
The concept behind NMotion Venture Studio aligns with Moberly’s experience, said Scott Henderson, managing principal and studio lead at NMotion. It’s building a startup from scratch.
“The problem you have [with a traditional accelerator] The founders have already built some assumptions,” he explained. “They baked a cake and committed to the market. They have the technology.
Scott Henderson, N-Motion
Instead, Venture Studios — part of NMotion with generator8tor — Start by laying the groundwork for founders to explore entirely new concepts in a 16-week program.
“We are based on this categorization proposition, which is to look at the world and see where there are issues that people are overlooking, or not grouping those issues into a clear, well-defined common problem. It means to do,” Henderson said. “And then really define the problem and who’s in that market. And then build a company that solves it first and will be the best company that solves it, basically being the monarch of the category. I can.”
Each founder of NMotion Venture Studio will receive $100,000 in investment funding, he said. Half of the funding will be raised by investors and half will be matched by the state’s evergreen fund called Invest Nebraska, he added, with major funders including Invest Nebraska, Nebraska Angels and Nelnet from his state fund. pointed out to be the three largest agnostic early-stage investors.
“It requires a lot more hands-on, focused work, and you’re betting on people, not companies, so there’s a lot more risk,” Henderson said.
NMotion closed submissions for its third venture studio cohort in September. The program will run from October 20th through February 23rd for her six selected founders.
“The output of NMotion Venture Studio is not a fully formed product,” Henderson said. “It’s not a fully formed market. It’s not a fully formed company. It really looks like a cocktail napkin with a concept on it.”
Startup pitch at the 2021 NMotion Venture Studio event
Founder-Centric Programming
Founders selected for the NMotion Venture Studio cohort are required to spend the first four weeks of the 16-week program rigorously, Henderson said, including one-on-one coaching sessions, group workshops, and quality control sessions. attention, where they get feedback on their ideas to generator8tor staff and stakeholders.
“We’re really testing with pressure, pushing back and asking questions,” he said. “And they do it four times in a row, and then we step back. ”
After deciding which ideas to pursue, founders spend the next eight weeks building traction.
“We do a lot of technology and customer testing,” Henderson says. “We are testing it to see if it works.
He noted that the building phase is also all about networking, with one-on-one mentorships, speed mentoring sessions, local and national roundtable discussions, and community events.
“They’re meeting a lot of people and really increasing their luck surface area,” Henderson said. I don’t know if it will help you, we’re just trying to find out what they have that will help you break through or step forward.”
During the last four weeks of the venture studio, founders pitch their ideas to investors. The program works to challenge founders’ assumptions as soon as possible so they don’t waste time and energy, Henderson said.
“We’re taking as much up front as we can to pressure-test their assumptions and pressure-test the market,” he continued. Do the others involved in the game actually think there’s a path to success? Early on, ask yourself, “Is there a problem? And would anyone want to pay for that solution? And is it the right solution?”
N motion in motion
NMotion began nearly nine years ago in Lincoln, Nebraska as a traditional 12-week program investment accelerator led by Brian Ardinger.
After going through six cohorts and launching companies such as QuantifiedAg sold to Merck Animal Health Sciences, Liveby sold for $15 million, Nobl Health and RealmFive, NMotion decided to switch from investing to programming. did.
Three years ago, based in Madison, Wisconsin, generator 8tor I took over the day-to-day operations of NMotion. Ultimately, gener8tor reverted to an equity investment and venture studio model after examining its existing portfolio to identify the company’s needs.
“[gener8tor] “Well, why don’t we go further upstream?” Henderson said.
The first NMotion Venture Studio cohort debuted in December 2020.
The founders of the Venture Studio Concept will receive 80% common stock (60% 4-year vested founders’ stock and 20% core employee option pool).
“The difference in this model is that you actually create a Delaware C Corporation before you choose a founder,” Henderson explains. “And then when we pick the founders, they become co-founders and get an 80% stake in four years. will be the primary active founder responsible for
Monetization movement
NMotion Venture Studio has launched 10 startups so far, according to Henderson. Three are female-led, three are black-led, and two are Hispanic-led.
Luke Moberly, Bumper
Six of these ten companies raised a total of $1.8 million in additional funding. Four of these six received $89,000 state prototype grants: Bumper, Snappy Workflow, Ensemble, and For Sure Fit.
Moberly said of Bumper’s top priorities: “We’ve been able to grow pretty well organically for the most part. Right now, we’re at a rate of 25-30% month-over-month and almost everything is organic, so that’s great. We have found that teens and parents are very interested in this idea of investing for teens.”
The startup is also working with a beta group of paid services, he said.
“Our focus is on implementing different subscription tiers to understand the business model,” added Moberly.
The program is now closed, but support for NMotion continues.
“You can text Scott anytime and he can join a 15- to 20-minute Zoom call,” says Moberly. “Especially in the Nebraska ecosystem, there is so much ongoing support even after making the rounds and completing the program. There’s always someone you can riff on.
Scott Henderson, N-Motion
“A great tree never grows alone”
Henderson said the Nebraska business community understands the importance of empowering entrepreneurs, and support is essential for NMotion’s success and continued support for start-ups like Bumper. I pointed out that there is.
“Like Kansas City, over the past 15 years, we’ve seen more investment in tech startups, and we’re starting to see an exit,” he said. “And these founders understand that the best thing they can do with most of their exit money is reinvest it in the next wave.”
Business and economic development leaders who support NMotion know that the best hope for growing the economy is to invest in their own people, Henderson continued.
“These leaders understand if they can encourage high-growth and ambitious transformative entrepreneurs and help them succeed. It will strengthen our business because we can hire good people,” he said. He said.
According to Henderson, it boils down to the fact that big trees never grow alone.
“If we want a more vibrant forest here in the plains, we need to let the forest manage itself and allow the whole forest to grow, not just one tree,” he added.
This story is Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundationis a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create extraordinary solutions and empower people to shape their futures and succeed.
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