North Carolina agency The Variable is launching a business accelerator, 100watt, combining branding, business and operations expertise to help startups navigate the early stages of business development.
100watt is designed to provide commercialization services, including idea and business plan creation, market validation, brand development, seed stage execution and fundraising.
“We created 100watt after identifying a gap in the entrepreneurial space. Most of the venture community is focused on twenty-something entrepreneurs who have quit their jobs and believe they have the next tech unicorn,” 100watt director of business innovation Dan Driscoll (pictured) said in a statement. “No one is talking to the people who are already incredibly successful in their careers and have an idea that developed out of their expertise, along with the capital to pursue it, but are unwilling to take on the time and career risks typically associated with startups. 100watt insulates people from these risks.”
“As a growth company, The Variable prides itself on being entrepreneurial in action rather than just entrepreneurial in spirit,” The Variable partner and president David Mullen, who was promoted to that role last August, a little over a year after the sentencing of Bill Grizack, said in a statement. “100watt is a perfect example of how we have continued to build on that commitment to true innovation in a way that doesn’t just make us sound different in a pitch, but that actually provides utility and creates disproportionate value for 100watt founders and our employees.”
1oowatt formalized last fall with four projects under contract. The first of these will launch this summer, including Kabook!, “a first-of-its-kind, technology-driven platform for children’s books that creates an epic new way to experience stories.”