Big Dreams Grant
Helping Small Business Dreams Take Flight
About the Competition
Our latest research revealed a stark reality for small business owners: 87% are forced to use personal funds to stay afloat, while 80% are losing critical growth hours to administrative burdens. We know they have the drive to grow; they just lack the resources to do it.
So Simply Business committed $25,000 and teamed up with Sky’s the Limit to provide the capital, mentorship, and tools five small business needed to turn ambition into reality. After nearly 7,000 incredible applicants, meet our Big Dreams Grant winners!
The Winners
Birdie Blue, Vermont
Re-engineering the wasteful outdoor gear industry.
BirdieBlue upcycles notoriously hard-to-recycle technical outdoor fabrics (like old ski pants and tents) into premium, American-made bags, having already diverted over 20,000 pieces of gear from landfills to date.
Founder Kate Harvey is utilizing the grant to purchase custom steel cutting dies for her hydraulic clicker press, reducing manual fabric-preparation times by 90% (from three days down to three hours) and instantly tripling production capacity.
KneadED NEO, Ohio
Feeding local culinary dreams through cooperative ownership.
Based in Shaker Heights, KneadED is a worker-owned cooperative bakery and shared commercial kitchen space. They empower aspiring local food entrepreneurs and at-risk youth with affordable workspace and hands-on mentorship.
After unexpected municipal architect fees ate into their initial startup budget, Chefs Adenike Harper & Saidah Farrell are using the grant to buy a double commercial oven. This investment ensures multiple co-op members can bake simultaneously, dramatically increasing daily rental revenue.
Rise & Ritual, Pennsylvania
Returning communities to their roots through plant medicine.
As West Philadelphia’s first tea house and apothecary, Rise & Ritual blends preventative care with immersive wellness experiences. In just four months of operation, they’ve served over 4,500 customers.
To keep pace with massive retail demand, founder Taylor Nickens is deploying the grant to fund the initial production run of branded tea bag and pouch packaging and secure bulk herb inventory needed to fulfill their operations.
Select Auto Parts and Sales, Wisconsin
Keeping communities moving with affordable, eco-friendly auto parts.
Founder Natasha Broxton operates one of the country’s few Black woman-owned auto recyclers and Milwaukee’s only indoor salvage facility, keeping auto parts out of landfills and affordable for over 455 local repair shops, while also partnering with local vocational programs to provide workforce training.
Despite running a massive 125,000-square-foot facility on a high-traffic corridor, commuter drive-bys represent a massive untapped market due to a total lack of signage. Natasha will fund the design and installation of professional, highly visible exterior signage to convert commuters into walk-in customers.
Stereotype Co, New York
Teaching entrepreneurship through real-world creative design.
Operating out of Staten Island, the School Spirit Enterprise (SSE) program helps NYC public school students start merchandise-driven businesses where they design, manufacture, and sell apparel straight from their classrooms.
David A. Nudelman is investing the funds into outreach to school administrators and DOE decision-makers, production kits and program materials for new classrooms, and printing a book on the SSE methods to triple the number of schools reached through the program.
The Big Dreams Project
This competition forms part of Simply Business’s social impact strategy – The Big Dreams Project—and our long term commitment to helping 10,000 small businesses start or grow by 2030. To read more about our work in this space, click here.
Simply Business is dedicated to making small business insurance simple and accessible. The company’s robust digital marketplace allows small business owners to find and buy the insurance they need online, matching them with coverage from multiple top carriers to offer transparency, choice, and value. Simply Business’s product offering includes general liability, professional liability, business owner’s policy, workers’ compensation, cyber insurance, and more.
An insurtech pioneer, Simply Business has over 20 years of experience supporting the needs of small businesses, with over one million active customers. Founded in the UK in 2005, Simply Business launched its U.S. operations in 2017 and has offices in London and Northampton in the UK and Boston in the U.S.
Sky’s The Limit’s Launchpad Program
In addition to the five winners, twenty finalists will receive access to Sky’s the Limit’s Launchpad, a structured business accelerator program. This includes 1:1 mentorship and an all-in-one digital platform designed to streamline operations, automate workflows, and empower business owners to move past the daily grind, sharpen their long-term strategy and drive revenue growth.
Sky’s the Limit is a digital business accelerator and mentoring platform that provides earliest-stage, underrepresented entrepreneurs with mentoring from peers and volunteer professionals, as well as entrepreneurship training and startup grants.
Meet our Judging Panel
Samantha Roady
U.S. CEO of Simply Business
Samantha is responsible for leading the strategic growth and overall operations of Simply Business U.S., driving the company’s mission to empower small business owners through a simple and accessible insurance shopping experience.
Bo Ghirardelli
Sky’s the Limit Co-founder
Bo Ghirardelli is the Founder and CEO of Sky’s the Limit, an innovative nonprofit that operates as a digital platform helping underrepresented entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses, and supporting more than 100,000 entrepreneurs,
Nic Cary
Sky’s the Limit Co-founder, Co-Founder of Blockchain
Nic Cary is an entrepreneur, investor, and technology leader committed to expanding access to opportunity through innovation, financial technology, and artificial intelligence. In addition to Sky’s the Limit, Nic is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Blockchain.com.
About Simply Business
Simply Business helps small businesses compare quotes and buy insurance from leading carriers in minutes, and manage their coverage all in one place. The company is dedicated to making small business insurance simple and accessible by offering transparency, choice and value. Simply Business’s product offerings include general liability, professional liability, business owner’s policies, workers compensation, cyber insurance and more.
An insurtech pioneer, Simply Business has 20 years of experience supporting the needs of small businesses, with over one million active customers. Founded in the UK in 2005, Simply Business launched its U.S. operations in 2017. Simply Business is a subsidiary of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV).
About Sky’s the Limit
Sky’s the Limit is a digital business accelerator and mentoring platform that provides earliest-stage, underrepresented entrepreneurs with mentoring from peers and volunteer professionals, as well as entrepreneurship training and startup grants.