When LeverageRx, an online lending and insurance marketplace for doctors, participated in an online accelerator this winter, little did they know that they would be walking away from the experience with a $10,000 prize and new business connections that spanned the globe.
LeverageRx founder Colin Nabity was selected for the accelerator program sponsored by YPO and two professors that founded the entrepreneurship program at Columbia Business School alongside 20 other startups from around the world. 4 finalists from the accelerator were chosen by a panel of judges to pitch their businesses at the annual YPO EDGE Conference in Vancouver, a conference attended by roughly 2,500 CEOs and business leaders from around the world.
Nabity was chosen as one of those finalists and competed in the Most Innovative Business pitch competition, judged by three venture capitalists and angel investors. LeverageRx went up against startups from California, Seattle and Ecuador and won the $10,000 prize, but Nabity said that wasn’t the most valuable thing he left Vancouver with.
“The biggest value for us was networking with the people that were there,” said Nabity.
Among other speakers and attendees were Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price, Ford CEO Mark Fields, Hootsuite founder Ryan Holmes, and Huffington Post cofounder Arianna Huffington.
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“It was just incredible to be able to listen to some of these leaders and how they’re really changing their industries,” said Nabity.
He was also proud to be representing the Nebraska startup scene in Vancouver. He thinks that the exposure and networking coming out of the conference will be huge for both LeverageRx and the community.
“I think the biggest thing for us were the relationships that came out of this,” said Nabity. “The conversations and connections are worth a lot more than the $10,000 that we came home with.”
Nabity has plans to reinvest the money in the business through marketing and building out the LeverageRx team. He said they’ve added some great key hires in the last couple of months and are still seeking out new hires including another developer with .NET and web experience.
For a young company founded in October of 2015, LeverageRx is gaining ground fast.
“We’ve really only had the platform up for a little over a year now and in the last six months have helped a couple thousand doctors find mortgages and disability insurance.”
Their win in Vancouver only adds to their momentum but Nabity knows that they’ve had a lot of help getting to where they are today.
“We are excited about our momentum but have to give credit to NMotion and the Startup Collaborative for helping our team get to this point.”
Colin Nabity can be reached at colin@leveragerx.com.
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Christine McGuigan is the Associate Editor of Silicon Prairie News.
