Pretch

For as long as Philip Holmes could remember, he has always pursued entrepreneurship and never gave up on his journey to start his own business.

Having failed in business over 10 times and completely re-pivoting his efforts three times, he learned that the startup game was far from easy. Yet, these experiences only fueled his drive and more importantly, helped him establish valuable relationships and business building blocks along the way. Two of those valuable relationships were found in Jon Moroney and Tim Sporte, who eventually partnered with Philip to start the company Pretch.

INVENTING A BETTER WAY TO BRAINSTORM

Pretch is a technology-based startup that is committed to helping professionals around the world reach their goals through a more efficient approach to brainstorming. The inspiration for the technology came from the idea that collaboration is key to any team’s success.

The Pretch team was able to discover inefficiencies in current workflow processes and created Pretch to introduce a more streamlined collaboration method that enhances the way people brainstorm today.

Founded in Michigan, Pretch provides the education and professional services industries with visual communication tools that help them bring ideas to life, together. Pretch has developed innovative whiteboard panels that are lightweight and portable, so that they can be moved from wall-to-wall and room-to-room. The panels can also be stacked on top of each other to create more whiteboard space. In tandem with the whiteboards, Pretch has also created a mobile application that lets users capture content from a brainstorm by simply snapping a picture of the whiteboard. The app will automatically convert the photo into content pages in a mobile-optimized presentation—allowing collaborators to easily collect notes and share ideas before they leave their brainstorming session.

GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE LTU COLLABORATORY

Pretch CEO Philip Holmes graduated from Lawrence Technological University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Keeping up with his alma mater, he discovered the LTU Collaboratory’s mission to help accelerate new business ideas. He jumped at the opportunity.

Joining the LTU Collaboratory was the catalyst that helped Philip and his partners grow their business plan and launch Pretch into existence. Through education, resources, networking, mentoring and connections to funding sources, the team was exposed to new opportunities that would help them thrive. The state-of-the-art collaborative environment for innovation gave the Pretch team the perfect space to test and develop their technology.

The Collaboratory connected them to 40 potential customers who provided valuable feedback concerning the problem we were solving. This allowed them to validate their business model and build a solution with customer input and involvement. Additionally, the LTU Collaboratory played a key role in helping the company obtain almost $15,000 of entrepreneurial support services, funded by the State of Michigan.

Check out some of the promotional marketing material Pretch has developed to help launch their products:

PRETCH’S 4 P’S OF BUSINESS

As a startup entrepreneur, Philip Holmes has discovered and defined a path to success. He calls it the 4P’s of business: Prayer, Passion, Participation and Persistence.

He believes if startup companies implement these four principles in their business, they will find great success. Pray for the best, be passionate about the problem you are ultimately trying to solve, seek the participation of potential customers and stay persistent no matter how hard things may seem.

Today, Pretch is bringing their product to market through two major partner networks, and is continually looking for additional partners who are interested in including Pretch alongside their offerings. Pretch was also recently awarded $5,000 in the Greenlight Business Model Competition.

To learn more about the company visit pretch.com or contact philip@pretch.com.