Flyover Automation founder Cole Jarecke burst into the room, enthusiastically shouting “Let’s go!” before a packed audience.
He rushed to the stage, looked out over the crowd, then collected himself. Five minutes on the clock. Showtime.
Jarecke was one of five startup founders participating in Awesome Inc.’s 5 Across pitch competition. The timed contest puts entrepreneurs before a panel of judges, who evaluate each participant’s presentation. After each five-minute pitch, the judges have three minutes to ask questions before moving on to the next participant. Their questions centered on customer acquisition, market competition, pricing, scalability and the founders’ ability to sustain growth.
Awesome Inc., a Lexington-based technology incubator and startup accelerator, has hosted 5 Across since 2010, staging multiple competitions throughout the year. The winner of each qualifying event advances to the 5 Across Finals, which will take place Dec. 2 in Lexington. The eventual champion will receive $5,000 in cash and be eligible for a $50,000 convertible-note investment from venture capital firm Keyhorse Capital.
Jarecke won the Oct. 14 competition, taking home $500 and securing a spot in the December finals. Here’s a closer look at the five startups that took the stage and the businesses they’re building.
The first founder to present was Northern Kentucky’s Larry Edmister, who founded Roof&Claim Adviser, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with roofing contractors. The service allows homeowners to quickly estimate the cost of a roof replacement and compare bids from local contractors.
Edmister positioned the platform as an alternative to Angi, an online marketplace for contractors and home service businesses, emphasizing that homeowners could receive competing bids without scheduling in-person sales appointments.
“We sell two specific products: leads, which is a traditional product similar to Angi’s List or a roofing calculator,” Edmister said. “That's where we connect contractors to get in-person appointments, and then we sell bids.”
Next up was Kasandra Kin, founder of Kin, an AI-powered personal assistant designed to help mothers manage everyday responsibilities, including scheduling, meal planning and grocery shopping. Kin said her immediate focus is expanding across Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, which together have 1.8 million working mothers.
Kin drew inspiration from her own experiences as a working mother, developing the app to ease the burden of managing household responsibilities while balancing work and family life. The app is currently available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
“The app itself is one assistant, and it manages your whole day,” she said. “There are 500 tabs, but one brain. There are three different ways to interact with it: through the app itself, through voice or through text.”
Vantage Exchange
Following Kin was Vantage Exchange founder David Craig, whose online platform is designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas.
The concept involves introducing participants to an idea or problem, allowing them to independently record their observations before discussing them with others. Through those conversations, participants can build on one another’s perspectives and challenge their initial assumptions. Craig’s project is currently in the pre-operational pilot phase.
“Whether or not you're talking about a game, whether you're talking about particle physics or international economics, the stakes are different, the rules are different, but it's still a group of people coming together and creatively trying to solve problems,” Craig said. “That work became Vantage Exchange.”
Robert Mazur of Zenyor Healthcare presented next. Inspired by his experiences caring for his mother, who has dementia, and his father, who has a speech impairment, Mazur developed software that transforms existing tablets and smartphones into simplified, customizable communication and caregiving stations.
The software enables families and caregivers to remotely manage multiple smart devices, coordinate schedules, facilitate video calls and access community resources.
“We are a platform software to support caregivers of older adults,” Mazur said. “Specifically, we simplify care and communication, simplify living, in addition to supporting independent living.”
Jarecke was the last to present. His company, Flyover Automation, helps residential contractors turn customer inquiries into booked appointments. He founded the company to help a friend who struggled to manage customer leads while handling the day-to-day responsibilities of running his contracting business.
“He's working all the time, so he gets to it when he can,” Jarecke said. “The customer doesn't know what to do. He has an office assistant. It's all over the place. No one knows the next step. That's where I step in.”
Jarecke believes smaller contractors often struggle to respond promptly to potential customers because they're busy completing jobs and handling administrative tasks like bookkeeping.
Flyover Automation integrates with existing websites, advertising campaigns and phone systems to automatically qualify leads, determine whether potential customers meet service and budget requirements, and schedule appointments.
After securing his spot in the finals, Jarecke returned to the stage and encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue their ideas, even when faced with challenges.
“If you have an idea, stick with it, no matter how hard it feels, no matter what you're feeling,” he said. “There's nothing holding you back from succeeding in America right now. Follow your dreams, make a difference and leave your mark.”
Jarecke will face four other startups in the 5 Across Finals in December. His competitors include Jackie Jolie, founder of AnimaSol; Patrick Jacobs, founder of TraumaScore; Brad Couch and Christian Carr, co-founders of ArcLite; and Andre Wilson, founder of SYMI. Each advanced by winning 5 Across competitions earlier in the year.
