Catapult Lakeland Inc.

“the board of directors reviews the form 990 before it is filed and designates one of its members to discuss any questions with the cpa who prepared the return.”

“we monitor any interests with our board of directors and volunteer legal counsel.”

“the organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public by having them available in the corporate office and by mail upon request.”

“Through educational and mentoring programs. Catapult provides an atmosphere for education, mentoring, training and accelerating innovative ideas to help entrepreneurs learn how to build stronger businesses. Catapult provides educational opportunities and resources that allow entrepreneurs to pitch and flush out ideas to catapult their businesses to the next level, as well as identify technologies or business gaps and provide value-added solutions. Catapult is a place where ideas can be shared and problems can be solved in an entrepreneurial culture that encourages and fosters innovation for the betterment of the lakeland community.”

“Catapult puts creative capital to work through educational and mentoring programs that: Support the professional growth of entrepreneurs, artisans and emerging leaders; Help entrepreneurs build and develop sustainable and viable ventures; Enable the development of visionary ideas for the Lakeland community; Showcase entrepreneurial successes and ideas, as well as establish a platform for social interaction.”

“CO.STARTERS is a business-planning course, designed to position startups for greater sustainability in their business ventures. CO.STARTERS is a nine-week course, convening one evening a week for three hours and is facilitated by MBA's and serial entrepreneurs. Guest speakers are invited from leading marketing, design, web development, content-sourcing, accounting and law firms in Lakeland. Throughout the course, participants identify and test business assumptions through customer interactions, develop a functioning business model, learn valuable management and marketing skills, and receive constructive feedback from advisors, peers, and former grads. The relationships and connections formed within this class are also very valuable to the entrepreneurs. This program launched in January 2014 when Catapult Lakeland, Inc opened its doors and has graduated 3 classes of more than 45 entrepreneurs in 2015.”

“Students from each of these educational institutions would form teams of 5-7, with 5 to 7 teams participating in the course. Teams would be selected on the basis of functional/industry interest. The Innovation and Design Course during the first 9 weeks, students use Co.Starters to learn the ins and outs of a robust business model. During the 2nd 9 weeks, students work with mentors from the community to make their ideas come to life. The course culminates in a pitch night where students pitch their ideas to a panel who has invested in several ideas to see them come to fruition in our community.”

“The relationship between mentor and mentee will last 3-months. We call this a mentor cycle. During these three months you should expect to meet once per month, perhaps for lunch or coffee. Each meeting will probably be 60-90 minutes. While each mentor will have his or her own style, remember the primary goal of these meetings is to attack a specific challenge facing your business and make forward progress. Our program is open to all Catapult entrepreneurs/mentees, but the best candidates are usually actively working on a startup and have a specific topic or problem where they could use help from an experienced mentor. Catapult Lakeland also offers the following programming: Lunch & Learns Workshops - 1 hour training on a specific topic; Seminars - 2-3 Hour in-depth training on a specific topic; Office Hours - Questions answered by a professional. More than 200 people have particpated in free or low-cost educational workshops and training in 2015.”

“payroll expense represents amounts paid to lakeland economic developement council (ledc) for use of ledc employees for catapult purposes.”