Jeffrey Mosher welcomes Paul Moore, Director, Start Garden, Grand Rapids, MI.

Hear Paul and Jeffrey discuss how Start Garden’s reimagined The 100 connecting Michigan entrepreneurs with capital to grow and scale, in the SoundCloud podcast shared below:

Jeffrey had several things he wanted to find out from Paul in this conversation: 

• Welcome Paul, remind us about Start Garden and your “The 100”?
   

• ‘The 100’ has traditionally focused on early-stage startup ideas. What prompted Start Garden to redesign the competition to serve businesses at multiple stages of growth and connect them with different types of capital?
   

• This year’s program brings together lenders, investors, grant makers, and corporate partners under one umbrella. How does that broader funding ecosystem create more opportunities for Michigan entrepreneurs?
   

• The competition now centers on an entrepreneurial “sprint” tied to a specific business milestone. Why is that approach valuable, and what kinds of measurable results are you hoping participants will achieve?
   

• Existing businesses are now a major part of the program, not just startups. How does this change expand the impact of The 100 for established companies looking to grow, hire, or scale operations?
   

• With more than $500,000 in potential funding opportunities, live funding announcements at Demo Day, and strong participation from underrepresented entrepreneurs, what role do you see The 100 playing in strengthening West Michigan’s broader business and innovation economy?

   

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Start Garden reimagines annual entrepreneur competition by adding funding partners, expanding reach beyond startups and boosting funding opportunities to more than $500,000

Applications open June 1 for a revamped 100 with a bigger pipeline for business owners and capital providers and a new format

(GRAND RAPIDS, MI) — Start Garden today announced a major evolution of The 100, its eight-year-old annual entrepreneur competition that has connected more than 800 Michigan founders with funding and community resources. For the first time, the organization is bringing together multiple capital providers to fund multiple types of businesses at different stages, a shift from the event’s historical focus on new business ideas. With the addition of external partners, The 100 will up its funding opportunities to more than $500,000, introduce a “sprint” process, and expand the people giving out money at the culminating event, Demo Day.

Joining Start Garden in the new iteration of The 100 is what the organization calls Capital Partners that will help support up to $500,000 in corporate contracts, loans, shared revenue agreements, venture capital, and, as before, small catalytic grants to entrepreneurs at every stage.

The 2026 Capital Partners include:

• GROW (small business loans)
• Opportunity Ventures (shared revenue agreements)
• Union Heritage (venture capital)
• Meijer (first-customer contracts for food and consumer product companies)
• Start Garden (grants)
  
  

Applications for The 100 open June 1 at 100.startgarden.com. The application is still as simple as recording a 100-second video, but now includes a brief explanation about what stage the business is at. Start Garden will also host three community pop-up events this summer, where entrepreneurs can submit pitches in person with assistance.

“Entrepreneurs were using the 100 to connect to capital, so we decided to bring as much capital from as many partners right into the beginning,” said Laurie Supinski, Co-Director, Start Garden. “Now the 100 is not just about winning a small cash award, but can be where you land your first major contract or investor.”

Also new for the 2026 competition:

• The program is built around the entrepreneurial “sprint,” where founders identify a critical milestone and attack it as a focused, short-term project.
• Participants submit a business pitch and a Milestone — a single sentence describing what they will prove during the sprint.
• For the first time, existing businesses are not just eligible — but a central part of the program’s vision. Partners offering loans, shared revenue agreements, and venture capital can work with businesses already generating revenue, not just idea-stage startups.
• All 100 selected semi-finalists will attend a mandatory 100 bootcamp at Start Garden in August, where Partners select 50 finalists to pursue their sprint.

   

The initiative’s winners are announced at the annual Demo Day Showcase, which will be held on October 22 at Start Garden, 2 Fulton St. W in downtown Grand Rapids, where funding announcements will be made live.

“Our original 100 design was catalytic in getting 100 entrepreneurs to drive their business ideas forward, but always resulted in us comparing apples to oranges,” said Paul Moore, Co-Director, Start Garden. “How do you compare a startup that needs $400,000 in venture investment to a small business making $50,000 that needs a grant to buy equipment? We had to accept that although some businesses need a catalytic grant, many of our participants just needed a way to connect to other types of capital. Our new competition still includes Start Garden’s grants, but as just one form of capital available to meet them where they are.”

Start Garden leaders are optimistic that this new format will appeal to more businesses while not losing its commitment to the startup entrepreneur.

“The 100 has always been about meeting entrepreneurs where they are,” said Darel Ross II, Co-Director, Start Garden. “This new format expands that commitment — bringing together a community of partners that can offer the right opportunity at the right time, whether that’s testing an idea or an investment to scale.”

Since its inception, Start Garden has served thousands of entrepreneurs. The 100 has historically had strong participation from underrepresented communities, with 75% of participants identifying as women or minorities. Start Garden alumni have expanded products into Meijer and other major U.S. retail chains, grown small business ideas to more than $10 million in revenue, and built tech companies across Michigan and beyond that have grown or been acquired by other organizations.

2026 Key Dates

• June 1 — Applications open at 100.startgarden.com
• July 12 — Submissions close (11:59 PM)
• July 21 — 100 semi-finalists announced
• August 7–9 — Mandatory Bootcamp at Start Garden, Grand Rapids
• August 10 — 50 finalists announced, sprint begins
• October 8 — Sprint ends, Executive Summaries due
• October 22 — Demo Day at Start Garden, Grand Rapids

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About Start Garden

Start Garden is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based nonprofit entrepreneurial ecosystem builder dedicated to cultivating a culture of entrepreneurship across West Michigan — with particular emphasis on equity, access, and inclusion for underserved communities. Founded in 2012, Start Garden operates The 100, 5×5 Night, Accelerate Equity, and First Fridays. More at startgarden.com.

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