Fueling Growth Through Connection
The Garage San Francisco is on a mission to mobilize Northwestern’s 16,000+ alumni in the Bay Area to fuel community-driven innovation, The Northwestern Way.
That’s why we’re piloting Ignite, a six-month accelerator designed to help early-stage alumni founders scale faster by connecting them with the right alumni—the ‘Who’ that fuels the ‘How’ of entrepreneurship.
You’ve done the hard part—launched your product, gained early traction, and maybe even closed a round of funding. Now you’re staring down the real challenge: how to scale.
That means building a world-class team, landing your next customers, refining your product, and securing the capital to grow.
Too often, founders try to do it all alone. But growth doesn’t come from doing more—it comes from doing it with the right people. You go further, faster when you stop asking "How do I do this?" and start asking "Who can help me do this better?"
That’s where Ignite comes in.
Inspired by the Who Not How philosophy, Ignite connects Founders- in-Residence (FIRs), select alumni founders, with seasoned mentors, investors, operators, and early adopters——each playing a strategic role in helping you unlock opportunities, accelerate growth, and turn traction into scalable success.
You bring the “What” and the “Why.” Ignite helps you find the “Who” to unlock the “How.”
After years struggling with expensive, fragmented data systems as Interim CEO at All Raise and other major workforce development initiatives, I started Campground in 2023. Campground is the critical infrastructure to help programs scale and report on their impact, loved by our customers ranging from the State of CA, place-based initiatives like Rise East and World Business Chicago, accelerators like SEED Spot, and career-connected learning initiatives.
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Stride Soles offers custom orthotic insoles designed by doctors and delivered through an easy-to-use app—no office visit required. By scanning your feet at home, you get medically backed support tailored to your needs, helping relieve foot pain and improve everyday comfort.
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Song Lab is a Korean science–inspired, ultra-hypoallergenic skincare brand for sensitive pediatric skin. Founded by a Korean-American mom and her MIT-trained skincare scientist sister after her baby developed eczema, Song Lab followed the science. Formulas are designed without ACDS core allergens and use research-backed, skin-native ingredients—like essential skin vitamins and natural moisturizing factors. Launching winter 2025.
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Empwr.ai is the AI integration layer for cross-org work. One calendar connection begins self-onboarding of a team Assistant that takes the complexity out of collaborating across orgs. Teams stay aligned with proactive briefs, a shared memory, and automatic follow-ups—turning “talk” into aligned action.
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We automate sales analytics for consumer brands. Our platform allows brands to 1) harmonize their sales data and 2) find insights from their data using AI, saving them time and identifying new opportunities for them.
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"SelfActualize.AI is an AI-native vertical B2B SaaS startup focused on accelerating revenue by putting a coach in every employee’s pocket—starting with sales teams. Each rep gets a 24/7 AI coach based on the persona of a real-world expert - fully trained on their company, products, goals, and calendars. For sales teams, the AI coach joins every call, gives instant feedback and coaching, and creates deliverables and follow-ups to deliver real-time impact and improvement, so each call is better than the last - leading to sales and revenue acceleration."
"Narrable is the AI-native platform for home health. Our intelligent clinical solutions and automated financial systems save providers up to 60% in inefficiencies per year."
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Skali Inc. is a leading provider of Emergency Medicine as a Service (EMaaS), combining cutting-edge software, integrated medical kits, and real-time telemedicine support to manage in-flight and remote medical events. Designed for aviation, defense, and travel industries, Skali ensures fast, informed medical decision-making anywhere in the world. Its platform empowers crew and operators with AI-driven tools, 24/7 physician access, and streamlined compliance and training.
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Latitude Health is transforming Utilization Management and Prior Authorization for health plans with an AI-native platform that automates 75% of manual work, doubles review throughput, and improves care decisions—reducing costs and clinician burnout at scale.
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Crreo is an AI-powered platform for long-form video creation. We help creators and teams turn ideas into publish-ready videos in minutes, without technical skills.
FIRs are early-stage Northwestern alumni founders who’ve already achieved traction—through PreSeed or Seed funding, or significant customer revenue—and are now focused on scaling. As a FIR, you’ll gain access to curated connections, 1:1 mentorship, strategic programming, and a dynamic community of fellow founders.
You’ll also participate in monthly peer-led Founder Circles, matched accountability pods, and high-impact events that support growth across four pillars: team, customer, investor, and leadership development.
📅 Applications Open: March 31 – May 9, 2025 (Rolling)
📅 Program Begins: June 2, 2025
📅 Mentorship Begins: July 11, 2025 (at the Ignite Retreat)
MIRs are experienced Northwestern alumni operators, investors, and domain experts who want to help shape the next generation of alumni-led startups. As a MIR, you’ll be paired with a FIR (or small group of founders) and offer support through 1:1 mentorship, warm introductions, strategic guidance, and ongoing collaboration throughout the program.
The formal mentor-mentee relationship begins at the Ignite Retreat on July 11, 2025, where we kick off team-building, founder development, and personalized matching.
📅 Applications Open: May 19 – June 22, 2025 (Rolling)
📅 Mentorship Begins: July 11, 2025 (at the Ignite Retreat)
2311 Campus Drive Suite 2300
Evanston, IL 60208
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