Last week the Digital Greenhouse celebrated the latest cohort to complete the Startup Academy. The Graduation Evening marked the culmination of eight weeks of intensive business development, and gave local entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their progress. It brought together early-stage founders for a night of presentations, shared learning and community support. The accelerator programme supports founders who are building businesses across a wide range of sectors, this cohort included technology, training and maritime businesses.
Throughout the evening, participants reflected on the pivots they made during the Academy and how the process shaped their ideas and the direction of their businesses. Many described the value of structured momentum, constructive challenge and working collaboratively with a supportive cohort. As Michelle Winn, founder of Peak Positive explained, the programme gave her “the permission to think bigger”, adding that it also gave her the confidence to talk about her business in a clear and compelling way. Others highlighted how learning from peers, validating ideas early and understanding real customer problems helped them refine their ventures.
The Digital Greenhouse’s business support programmes, such as the Startup Academy continue to demonstrate the strength of Guernsey’s entrepreneurial community, offering founders a place to test ideas, gather insight and build capability. This year’s cohort showed the power of collective learning and the Graduation Evening celebrated that shared progress. The challenge for those in the audience was to help the businesses expand their networks even further, because Guernsey is a place built on connections and relationships and together we can do more.
The Startup Academy Class of 2025 L-R: Dave Herschal, Isle Maritime; Michelle Winn, Peak Positive; Nathaniel Moseley-Jones, Unturned Cycling Travel; Alex Rich, Kahve; Lukas Laubscher, Rock Talent Search; Nadia Newton, Nadia Newton Ltd; Rutendo Rumano and Neil John Martin, TOV Ltd.
