Earlier this month, we were proud to see our second cohort of innovation teams pitch their solutions at Ignite: Launch Pitch Day. These pitches represent the culmination of 12 months of dedicated work—and provided a look ahead for the teams and their innovations.

The event was open to experts in adolescent and sexual health, innovators and entrepreneurs, and funders. In total, more than 50 people attended Ignite: Launch Pitch Day in person or virtually. Teams pitched in front of an esteemed panel of judges.

At the end of the day, two winners were announced. Each winner received an additional $1,500 to help ignite their innovation. Congratulations to:

• Mad Hatter Wellness, who pitched their innovation Empowered Together: a co-facilitated, peer-led sexual health education curriculum designed for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Empowered Together received the Audience Choice Award.
• SafeBAE, who pitched their SafeBAE 360° Schools program, which helps prevent sexual violence in middle and high schools through a full-spectrum model that engages both students and adults. SafeBAE received the Judges’ Choice Award based on the innovation’s demonstrated desirability, feasibility, and viability.

We also heard exciting pitches from our other teams:

• ATLAS (Autistic Teens Learning About Sexuality), who are building a web-based game for neurodivergent youth to learn about relationships and growing up. Connect with the team to learn more.
• EyesOpenIowa, who are working on Growing Sideways, a card game to help start and sustain conversations between young people and the adults in their lives. Sign up for early access.
• #RelationshipGoals, who are creating a values-centered, trauma-informed, customizable program that supports trusted adults in creating safe spaces and youth in building healthy relationship skills. Contact the team to learn more.

After their pitches, each team connected with the judges to receive feedback about their pitch followed by roundtable discussions with experts in various fields such as business models, intellectual property, and evaluation to help map out next steps.

We also had the pleasure of welcoming Kathryn Thompson, Chief Operating Officer of Girls on the Run, as the event keynote speaker. Kathryn described Girls on the Run’s three-decade journey—from the beginning serving 13 girls to a nationwide movement serving over 2.8 million girls.

Kathryn shared six key lessons—learnings from Girls on the Run’s growth that any aspiring entrepreneur should keep in mind:

• Start with a compelling mission and vision.
• Develop core values that guide your way,
• Codify (or get a structure in place) before you scale.
• Decide what must be centralized versus local.
• Diversify revenue into a revenue “stack” (rather than a single stream).
• Treat implementation quality as strategy, not overhead.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Kathryn, to our judges, to all of our attendees to Ignite: Launch Pitch Day, and most of all, to our teams. Thank you for your work and perseverance during this program. Your dedication helps make our accelerator successful, and we can’t wait to see how your innovations change health outcomes for young people.

Next month, we will begin recruiting for our fourth cohort of innovation teams. Stay tuned for more information by signing up for our newsletter, and in the meantime, explore all of our funded projects.