Interview With Shari Wynne Founder & CEO Of Austin’s Incubation Station [SXSW]

Incubation Station,Shari Wynne,startups,startup,accelerator,austin texasThe ATX Startup Crawl at SXSW 2013 brought us to the offices of Incubation Station, a consumer packaged goods accelerator program.

The program, founded by Shari Wynne, just announced it’s selections for their second cohort which runs from March 19th to June 11th. The session will close with a Showcase day that will attract hundreds.

Austin is on fire about this new CPG program. At their recent event to announced this year’s cohort it was standing room only. In a city known for it’s budding tech startup community, Incubation Station doesn’t do tech they focus on helping to build consumer packaged goods, and the program is working. Wynne told us in an interview that 5 out of 5 teams in the last cohort received the funding they needed to accelerate to the next level.

Wynne is no stranger to startups of the tech variety though. This firecracker woman who functions like a 25 year old caffeine filled founder, practiced law at two of the biggest firms in Washington DC. After that, she hung her shingle out and worked with the phone on the floor, to help bring legal services to entrepreneurs and startups. Her law firm, MWR, has the big firm experience with the boutique firm feel, and entrepreneurs love the attention she and her lawyers can give them.

As for the Incubation Station, check out the video interview with Wynne below and for more info visit theincubationstation.com

We’ve got a lot more SXSW coverage where this came from

Austin’s Incubation Station Prepares For Next Cohort

Incubation Station, Austin startup,startups,startup accelerator, CPG, Consumer Packaged GoodsAustin’s consumer packaged goods startup accelerator, Incubation Station, is preparing for it’s next cohort.

Incubation Station is in it’s second year and is specifically targeting startups in the consumer packaged goods space. They’ve extended the application deadline until February 15th and plan on unveiling the selected startups to participate in the program at an event being held at “Abels on the Lake” on the evening of February 27th.

This accelerator in the CPG space is proving how startup accelerators in new verticals can be successful in cities across the country. Incubation Station applies the cohort based startup accelerator methodology to companies that make actual, consumer purchasable products.

The session at Incubation Station is 12 weeks and features intense training from go to market strategy, marketing, pitch, and business skills. Like most accelerators, the session finishes off with a demo day, which they call “Showcase Day” in the middle of June. Incubation Station participants will show their products and business models off to over 100 investors that specifically invest in consumer packaged goods.

Their first class included  Thunderbird EnergeticaCriquetWhynattePrimizie and Verb

“After participating in Track 1 of Incubation Station we expanded our growth by 300%. We have broken through the borders of being solely an Austin-based company and now serve the entire nation,” comments Taylor Collins, founder and owner of Thunderbird Energetica. “IS helped mold our start-up company into an efficient, goal-setting powerhouse through the sound and strategic advice from the brilliant minds in the diverse mentor pool.”

“Incubation Station provided Criquet with all the tools that we needed to fine-tune our marketing strategy, product offering, and investment pitch,” comments co-founder of Criquet golf shirts, Billy Nachman. “Our mentors pushed us to focus on the core concepts of our business plan, helping to effectively reach our customer, and efficiently message our investor.  Since IS Track 1, Criquet has seen consistent and significant revenue growth, helping us secure a strategic capital investment, which puts us in position to achieve significant milestones within the next 9 months.”

Incubation Station was founded by attorney Shari Wynne who’s MWR Legal, specializes specifically in the needs of entrepreneurs, investors and startups. She’s a past president of the Entrepreneur’s Organization Austin chapter and she’s an active mentor at Incubation Station.

Startups in the CPG space that plan on applying can do so by clicking here.

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