Scale Up North awards return | Business – Traverse City Record Eagle
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Updated: January 23, 2022 @ 10:36 am
Traverse City, MI
Taste the Local Difference CEO Tricia Phelps, left, and owner Jody Trietch.
Taste the Local Difference CEO Tricia Phelps.
Business writer
Taste the Local Difference CEO Tricia Phelps, left, and owner Jody Trietch.
Taste the Local Difference CEO Tricia Phelps.
TRAVERSE CITY — Food and drink were on the menu in 2021.
Now it’s time to look ahead to what the 2022 Scale Up North Awards will serve up.
Nominations for the Traverse Connect’s annual Scale Up North Awards open Monday at www.traverseconnect.com/sun. Application deadline is Feb. 18.
The Scale Up North awards recognize for-profit companies in Traverse Connect’s five-county service area in two stages of growth.
The Emerging Business Award is for new local businesses in the startup phases of growth. Eligibility includes companies with fewer than five years in business with any amount of revenue and at least three full-time employees.
The Hagerty Scaling Business Award is for existing scaling businesses with demonstrated growth. Companies must have been in business for five or more years with 2021 revenue greater than or equal to $500,000 and up to 150 full-time employees.
Taste the Local Difference of Traverse City won the 2021 Emerging Business Award and Antrim County’s Short’s Brewing Company claimed the Hagerty Scaling Business Award.
Taste the Local Difference CEO Tricia Phelps and Short’s Brewing Company founder Joe Short both said they were honored after receiving the 2021 Scale Up North at a virtual ceremony in May. Phelps and Short said it was particularly meaningful to receive the award after a challenging year.
“It was incredible to talk about that as a team and really acknowledge everything that’s happened in the last 12 months,” Phelps said last May. “This just feels like recognition of that whole work.”
Short said he was “very honored and just really appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this program.” Short’s has a microbrewery and brewpub in Bellaire and a production facility in Elk Rapids.
“We’re super appreciative and a little taken aback, to be honest with you,” Short said.
While the entire Scale Up North process was virtual in 2021, the 2022 competition will take a more hybrid approach. It will begin virtual and then shift later in the competition.
“Yes and no,” said Camille Hoisington, director of Ecosystem Development at Traverse Connect. “We’ve tidied this up a little bit. The first in-person parts are the judge site visits April 6-7. That’s the first in-person portion and at that position we had narrowed it down to 10 finalists.”
After the applications are received, as many as 20 finalists will be notified on Feb. 25. Those 20 showcase finalists will submit videos by March 11, and the top 10 finalists will be notified on March 18.
Following judge site visits, the top six finalists will be notified on April 8. The Scale Up North finals are scheduled for May 5.
“We are planning to do the finals at the City Opera House in person,” Hoisington said.
At the May 5 event, the Emerging Business Award finalists will participate in a pitch competition, similar to TCNewTech or Shark Tank.
A panel of judges will ask questions following the pitches.
The Hagerty Scaling Business Award final will feature a question-and-answer panel discussion.
The winning businesses will receive a prize package of cash and in-kind services.
The Emerging Business Award prize is valued at $23,000. The Scaling Business Award winner is worth $41,000. Both prize packages include space at Commongrounds on Eighth Street when construction is completed.
Hoisington said any businesses in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties that meet the criteria are encouraged to apply.
“Small businesses drive our regional economy, our communities, and our culture,” Hoisington said in a release announcing the 2022 competition. “The Scale Up North Awards recognize and celebrate the vibrant and varied companies that are in the startup phase, as well as those that are scaling to their next stage of growth.
“In the past year, we have seen innovations and achievements from businesses in the manufacturing, tech, traded industries, and creative sectors.
The 2022 Scale Up North Awards will help shine the spotlight on these companies so that they can continue to attract customers, investors and talent.”
The Scale Up North awards had 36 applicants in 2020, but dipped to 25 in 2021. Hoisington expects the number to return to 2020 levels in 2022. She is encouraging those from outside Grand Traverse County to be a bigger part of the process this year.
“The majority of the applicants are from Grand Traverse County,” Hoisington said. “We’d love to see more applicants from the other four counties.”
The winners from the previous year usually contribute a judge on the panel for the next competition, and that will again be the case with Phelps and Short’s Brewing Company Creative and Marketing Manager Christa Brenner. The addition of Phelps and Brenner also means the panel of 10 judges will include six females.
The other judges will be Janis Adams, partner at Danbrook Adams Raymond PLC; Kelly Alpers, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at Hagerty; Matt Bulloch, President at TentCraft; Dr. Andrew Gorecki, Owner of Superior Physical Therapy; Barbara Shellman, Marketing Committee Chair of SCORE Traverse City; Elizabeth Sonnabend, Program Manager for Extended Educational Services at Northwestern Michigan College; Mark Stephens, CEO of Interactive Aerial; and Logan Suttman, Senior Sales Executive at Priority Health.
“Their skill sets and (industry) backgrounds are so diverse,” Hoisington said of the judges. “They’re so fun to work with.”
Jan. 24 — Applications open
Feb. 18 — Applications close
Feb. 25 — Up to 20 showcase finalists notified
March 11 — Finalist showcase videos due
March 18 — Top 10 finalists notified
April 6-7 — Judges site visits
April 8 — Top six finalists notified
May 5 — Scale Up North finals
Business writer
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