Meet the student-led startups in the 2016 Jones + Foster Accelerator

Decaf Style is one of the student-led startups participating in this year’s Jones + Foster Accelerator

Way back in 1983 the Harvard Business School succinctly defined entrepreneurship as “the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources….” This still rings true today, but the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship’s Jones + Foster Accelerator (J+FA) gives student-led startups both the opportunity and the resources to navigate the entrepreneurial process, taking them from student team to early-stage startup.

The J+FA provides these student teams with six-months of mentoring from Seattle entrepreneurs and investors, a framework for defining measurable milestones, guidance in achieving those milestones, and the opportunity to earn up to $25,000 in follow-on funding.

Thirty-six companies have completed the J+FA program since its inception in 2010. Twenty-seven of them are still in business today, raising millions in funding, becoming household names, bringing families together in Haiti, purifying drinking water in Somalia, and teaching coding skills to students across the country.

Twenty-five teams applied for this year’s program, now in its seventh year. The 10 companies accepted into the 2016 cohort run the gamut from clean technology, to new platforms for the real estate, restaurant and fitness industries, to edible consumer products.

In addition to opportunity, all these companies share the passion to turn their idea into a successful venture. Over the next six months, these startups will polish their pitches, raise early-stage funding, develop their technologies, and get their product to market. Each milestone they hit will bring them a few steps closer to their startup goals. Stay tuned for the 2016 success stories!

ACRELO
Marketing automation software for the commercial real estate industry that increases broker efficiency by eliminating manual, repetitive data entry.

Bellhapp
Bellhapp is restaurant technology that links customers to restaurants through web portals which dramatically improves the customer’s experience.

Decaf Style
At Decaf Style, we empower you to enjoy your favorite coffee, tea or soda decaffeinated anytime, anywhere using our product, the Decaf Pouch.

Engage
Engage creates medical devices for developing countries, initially focusing on reducing the spread of diseases resulting from contaminated injections.

FitTraction
FitTraction is revolutionizing fitness communities by increasing motivation, accountability, and engagement through our innovative web and mobile app.

Frontier
Frontier is a platform of interactive videos that guide users through hands-on tasks that are representative of a profession.

Ionic Windows LLC
Ionic Windows makes membranes for advanced batteries, fuel cells and reverse osmosis water desalination applications.

Joe Chocolates
Joe Chocolates perfectly combines two delicious ingredients: coffee and chocolate. We give you with the boost you need from flavors you love.

Tack Technologies
We’ve created a platform that helps non technical teams collaborate easier, and we do this by combining task management and communication in one app.

Tape-It-Easy
Tape-It-Easy simplifies drip tape installation, making it a pragmatic option for farmers and contributing to global water conservation.