
NEW North HATCH 2019 Winners – Luke Haen & Andrew Schmitz

Andrew Schmitz Presenting Proceed.app at NEW North 2019
The Proceed app provides a modern solution for retaining and sharing institutional knowledge of an organization, empowering everyone from the CEO to entry-level employees to capture internal know-how using photos and videos. As a knowledge management system, it makes company intelligence highly accessible, easily searchable and secure. Proceed has proven to be especially helpful during the on-boarding process for new employees, along with training sessions, by allowing for easy sharing of visual documentation.
“Our main goal during the HATCH pitch events was to gain visibility for Proceed and to spread our message,” says Schmitz, company CEO and co-founder. “It was so cool to see what other entrepreneurs are up to in our communities, and I always get pumped up by their energy and willingness to take on risk.
“Our product hits home with a lot of business leaders – the shifting workforce is a big challenge for many businesses, and so I believe we are the right team with the right solution at the right time for a lot of organizations.”
Proceed currently is a pre-launch phase, and is working with Alpha Users while it continues to develop the product, according to Schmitz. He indicates that the product is expected to be rolled out to Early Adopters as Beta Users in January 2020. Following beta testing Proceed will be launched publicly; Schmitz estimates that the wide introduction will occur in the second quarter of next year.
“We are following the LEAN startup methodology. The prize money will keep our company running at full speed into the new year,” Schmitz says, “and it will give us some flexibility to try new tactics and ideas.”
Additional information on Proceed is available at www.proceed.app.
New North worked with the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation to bring their HATCH program to its communities in the region. BrightStar, in cooperation with a grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, furnished the prize money for both the local events and regional final.
“We thank our local partners for their efforts in supporting not only the finalists, but 35 contestants who have been given valuable feedback to further develop their business ideas,” adds LaMue. “We appreciate the financial support of the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and C.D. Smith Construction. We look forward to expanding this event in 2020.”
A total of 35 entrepreneurial pitches were made across four local qualifying events during Start-Up Week in mid-November. The top two finishers at each local competition advanced to the HATCH Regional Final at the New North Summit.