Converge is extremely excited to announce that we have been selected as one of ten startups to participate in the inaugural class of The Bridge: Atlanta.
The Bridge was originally piloted in Tel Aviv in 2014 with overwhelming success. Two years and two cohorts later The Coca-Cola Company has decided to bring The Bridge to their home city of Atlanta.
The Bridge is a unique commercialization program that helps startups and corporations work better together, acting as a “bridge” between the startup community in Atlanta and five enterprise companies. For its flagship year, Coca-Cola has partnered with Capgemini, COX Enterprises, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and The Weather Company for sponsorship of the program.
The Bridge will last six months and not only provides opportunities and the connections needed to work with these 5 corporate sponsors on a pilot program but also offers guidance in customer development, marketing, brand development, storytelling, negotiation, and sales.
What makes The Bridge unique from other accelerator programs is that it addresses the difficulty startups have in building relationships with the right people in large corporations. The Bridge provides insight into how to navigate each of the sponsoring companies corporate landscapes, in-depth training, mentorship opportunities, and access to senior level executives who can green light technology initiatives. As a member of The Bridge, Converge is looking forward to building relationships and working with all five sponsoring companies in providing solutions and tools for their marketing and analytics needs.
The Bridge gives the first-hand advantage to theses five sponsors to increase their business and technology competitiveness by piloting with startups like Converge. We have already identified ways in which not only our business but our product will benefit from relationships built through The Bridge and are excited to work together with these enterprise companies to solve problems that will also achieve their goals.