Entrepreneur Network Brings National Program to Buffalo

A national selection committee will evaluate four companies (including two from Buffalo) that are ultimately interested in joining Endeavor’s global network as part of an event planned in Western New York.

The program, which includes an interview and evaluation process as well as city tours and a welcome and feedback dinner, was held in Bentonville, Arkansas and Atlanta last year and in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this year.

This is the first time the relatively new program has been held in Buffalo, where Endeavor Western New York launched in 2020. “This has been in the works for over a year,” said Alan Rosenhock, managing director of Endeavor Western New York.

The panel of leading domestic entrepreneurs was first launched about two years ago to enable Endeavor’s U.S. branch to provide support to shortlisted companies preparing for final selection by an international panel.

“Endeavor is all about bringing talented people together to share their experiences and help the next generation of entrepreneurs accelerate their growth and avoid making the same mistakes they made,” Rosenhock said.

The week kicks off with a staff retreat that will bring together about 37 Endeavor staff members who will be in Buffalo from offices across the U.S. Staff will visit sites such as Niagara Falls and Buffalo’s Riverworks and Southern Junction.

The welcome dinner will be held on Wednesday evening, the feedback dinner will be held the following evening, and the interviews and deliberation will take place on Thursday afternoon.

The 12-person judging committee, which includes Endeavor WNY executives, has already reviewed the backgrounds of the candidate companies seeking to join Endeavor’s global network of mentoring entrepreneurs, services and capital providers.

The two Buffalo nominees, along with one each from Texas and Atlanta, will be evaluated by judges on the scalability of their businesses and their willingness and ability to accept and use feedback.

Among the cohort of entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem players traveling to Buffalo for next week’s event are Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant, co-founders of past 43North winner Squire, and Julian Torres, co-founder of global payroll platform OnTop and Endeavor’s Colombian subsidiary.

Also scheduled to come to Western New York for the program is Buffalo native Geoff Ralston, founder of Rocket Mail, one of the earliest and most successful email products in the 1990s that later became Yahoo Mail.