PRESS RELEASE: 2 Winners Will Take Home Crowdsourced Cash Award at Community Pitch Challenge

Sami Jensen • February 18, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emily Reisner (ereisner@resetco.org)

2 Winners Will Take Home Crowdsourced Cash Award at Community Pitch Challenge Hosted by reSET in Partnership with Murtha Cullina LLP

HARTFORD, CT, FEBRUARY 14, 2020 – On April 2 at 5:30 – 8 pm reSET presents our quarterly Community Pitch Challenge (formerly called Flight Night) in partnership with Murtha Cullina LLP. The event provides an opportunity for community members to pitch their business ideas and receive feedback from expert judges and the audience. Two cash awards are crowd-sourced from ticket donations, giving the community a chance to invest in the top local business!

All types of businesses and start-ups are welcome! This is an open forum for budding entrepreneurs to share their business with investors, business experts, mentors, and friends. reSET specializes in mission-driven businesses, so if the business is addressing a social or environmental need, even better!

How does it work? Businesses will have just 5 minutes to prove their concept is ready for an investment. Both the panel of expert judges and the audience will offer valuable feedback at the end of each pitch. The Audience and the judges each choose a business that demonstrates unique value, marketability, and scaling opportunity. The two winners will take home a cash award raised by ticket sales. Tickets are $10 suggested donation and all proceeds go towards the cash award.

At the last Community Pitch Challenge in November 2019, the Audience Choice Award went to Andrew Slaiby, founder of Tip$. Tip$ mission is to increase generosity by providing a digital tipping platform that allows a hotel guest to tip their room attendant virtually, since many hotel guests no longer carry cash. When asked what he would do with initial startup investment, Andrew responded “In order to improve operational efficiency and scale, we need to develop our platform. The first use of funds would be to replace our hotel guest payment screen: Today we are utilizing a 3rd party to provide [an interface] that sits on top of the STRIPE payment processor. If we develop our own interface, we will avoid the 3rd party transaction fees and have a better user experience.”

“The idea is to give people a pre-pitch opportunity,” said David Menard, reSET Board Member and partner at Murtha Cullina, one of the event’s sponsors. “For some people it’s their first time speaking in public and their voices shake. We consider that a success — we are building up the ecosystem and providing community and support.” (9/20/19 CT News Junkie)

Many of the presenting entrepreneurs continue to receive support from reSET after the pitch event to continue building their confidence as business leaders including participation in the Impact Accelerator program, a four month mentorship and technical support program aimed at scaling local business. All reSET programs are free to the community and funded through generous partnership from foundation and corporate partnerships.

More details regarding the Community Pitch Challenge, including how to register to pitch and attend can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-pitch-challenge-tickets-94185175395

About reSET

reSET’s mission is to advance the social enterprise sector in CT through programming, access to capital, and advocacy. reSET aims to inspire innovation and community collaboration, and to support entrepreneurs in creating market-based solutions to community challenges.

By designing business to focus on both purpose and profit, innovation is unleashed and profit is a means to solving problems. reSET offers an intensive, four-month Impact Accelerator that has won an SBA award, and a structured summer internship program for undergraduates, and recently launched a Food Incubator for early stage ventures. We offer co-working space, workshops and networking events. Our mentor network and SBDC advisor provide affordable access to a wide range of expertise for startups.

About Murtha Cullina LLP

With more than 100 attorneys in six offices throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, Murtha Cullina LLP offers a full range of legal services to meet the local, regional and national needs of our clients. Our practice encompasses litigation, regulatory and transactional representation of businesses, governmental units, non-profit organizations and individuals. Core practice areas include litigation, insurance recovery, labor and employment, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, construction, energy, health care, trusts and estates, intellectual property, real estate, land use and retail and hospitality.

Murtha Cullina is the exclusive member firm in Connecticut for Lex Mundi – the world’s leading network of independent law firms with in-depth experience in 100+ countries worldwide; and the exclusive Connecticut member firm of State Law Resources, an international network of independent law firms. For more information, visit www.murthalaw.com.

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Leadership Transition Announcement: reSET Executive Director to Step Down in 2026

By awalsh • February 13, 2026

Dear reSET Community, The Board of Directors today announces the departure of Sarah Bodley as Executive Director of reSET in a planned transition later this year. The Board has immense gratitude for Sarah and all her contributions over the years. Over the last seven years, Sarah has built an amazing foundation for the organization and she leaves reSET in a strong position for continued growth and service. Sarah joined reSET in 2018 and over the past seven years has solidified and expanded reSET’s mission of supporting impact-driven entrepreneurs throughout Connecticut. Here are a few key highlights from Sarah’s time here: Facilitated the acquisition of Collab New Haven, expanding reSET’s footprint to a statewide geography and further enhancing our mission Developed and implemented new core programs including the award-winning Food Incubator, as well as the Food Accelerator, Retail Incubator, Measure What Matters, and Digital Marketing Mastermind Established reSET as a founding partner of the Hartford Culinary Collaborative, enabling greater connectivity and cooperation among food-centric support organizations in our region Doubled the organization’s budget to over 1 Million Dollars, securing multi-year State government grants Won the prestigious Neighborhood Builders Award from Bank of America, and the Leadership Greater Hartford Polaris Community Award in 2022 Established an endowment fund thanks to support from the Zachs Family Foundation to support the long term sustainability of reSET’s mission Over the coming months, we will be continuing our search to find reSET's next Executive Director. Sarah will stay onboard through June to ensure a smooth handoff to our next leader, and will be available as a resource throughout 2026. It is the Board of Directors’ priority, along with Sarah's, to make this transition as smooth as possible to continue the great work Sarah has helped us do over her tenure. The Executive Director’s Job Posting can be found at this link, and we invite you to keep in mind any potential candidates in your community or network that you think might be a great fit. The Board of Directors wishes Sarah the best of luck in her future endeavors. We are appreciative of the dedication and enthusiasm she has given to reSET over the last seven years, particularly navigating our organization seamlessly during the historic times of the pandemic, changes in administration, and an ever-evolving landscape of opportunity for entrepreneurs. We are confident that with Sarah’s support, this transition will be a smooth one for our Connecticut entrepreneurs, partners, and generous supporters. We look forward to continuing our growth and to serving our mission of supporting the social enterprise sector. If you have any questions or concerns during this transition, please don’t hesitate to reach out via contacting admin@resetco.org to get in touch with the board. Sincerely, Ali Lazowski + Dave Menard, co-chairs, reSET Board of Directors

Applications Open for Spring 2026 Impact Accelerator

By awalsh • February 10, 2026

Inviting Impact Entrepreneurs Into Transformative Growth

reSET Announces Pitch Competition Winners from Fall Food Accelerator and Floor–Plan Retail Incubator Programs

By awalsh • November 25, 2025

21 Businesses Participated, Gaining Valuable Impact-Driven Business Training

reSET to Host Two November Events Celbrating Connecticut's Next Generation of Food and Retail Entrepreneurs Making an Impact

By awalsh • October 27, 2025

Special Discount Available for Attendees Purchasing Tickets to Both Events

reSET Announces Second Food Accelerator Cohort

By awalsh • October 1, 2025

11 Impact-Driven Food Businesses Ready to Scale Operations and Community Impact

reSET Announces 5th Cohort of Floor - Plan Retail Incubator Featuring 10 Emerging Entrepreneurs

By awalsh • September 22, 2025

Program Partnership with Breakfast Lunch & Dinner Supports Early-Stage Retail Businesses with Social Impact Focus

reSET Food and Retail Programs Featured in Radio Interview

July 7, 2025

Listen in to the replay of John Voket of Connoisseur Media's interview of reSET Food Program Manager Katrice Claudio and Program Manager Ndubisi Okeke that aired on Sunday July 6, 2025. They talked about the reSET programs that are enrolling for the fall--the Food Accelerator for food businesses looking to scale, and the Retail Incubator for early stage product-based businesses looking to ramp up for holiday markets in Connecticut. Listen here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8745230-reset-fall-program-preview The interview aired on the award-winning "For the People" show on Sunday, July 6 on WEBE 108 FM, STAR 99.9, WPLR FM and THe VOICE of Connecticut and on the podcast.