Founder Spotlight: Jon Harlem, Loris

By: THG Accelerator Staff

Applications for THG Accelerator’s 2022 cohort are open! To reflect on how the Indy-based hardtech innovation program transforms startups, we caught up with 2020 cohort alum, Jon Harlem, COO and Co-Founder of Loris, a hardware-enabled software company building the future of data capture on industrial job sites. Jon explains how the program’s mentorship and guidance helped him land a $2.5M Series Seed.

Tell us a bit about your background and what led you to join THG Accelerator program??

Before co-founding Loris I helped friends and acquaintances in Silicon Valley bring their business ideas to life. That’s how I met my co-founder, Mike Filippakis, who had a vision for a company that replaced string lights on construction job sites—the idea that evolved into what Loris is today. We teamed up and built the financial model and pitch deck to launch in June 2019. I officially joined as co-founder and then it was time to hustle.?

I connected with THG Accelerator mentor Scott Kraege, who later became a Loris board member, and he thought we’d be a fit for the program. We were considering another accelerator at the time but ultimately thought THG Accelerator would be the right fit for us because of the depth of industry expertise, smaller cohort size, 1:1 access to mentor advice, and technical resources it offered.?

What was the most impactful part of the program for you and Loris?

The mentors pushed us to think beyond the ‘bootstrapping’ mentality that we had at the time—being scrappy and conservative with our money, estimates, and plans. We were encouraged to instead dream beyond our immediate needs to make a plan for how we’d grow and accelerate if money wasn’t a limiting factor. This mindset shift was huge. It allowed us to move past the “safe” story we were telling, and start painting our vision of what Loris would be in 5 years and 10 years. This was what got investors really excited about our company. As a startup founder, you’re always focused on the immediate fires and sometimes you lose sight of the real vision and THG Accelerator helped us see and articulate it.?

The workshops were really impactful—we were able to refine our story through a quasi speed-dating and speed-storytelling session. We spoke to 80 people rapid-fire, to sell our idea. Kip Frey, the program’s Mentor-in-Residence and now a Loris board member, helped us paint a bigger picture. He pushed us to reach beyond a conservative 50-100 unit strategy and had us design our story and strategy around a loftier target of blanketing the entire US with 2,000-3,000 units.?

Tell us about the relationships you formed during the program with other founders?

Being a founder means you’re a bit delusional. You’re trying to sell people on something that doesn’t exist yet… while also trying to make that vision a reality. Surrounding yourself with people who have that same element of delusion and are going through the same hardships is incredible. When you build a startup, you hear “no” all the time. Being able to communicate openly with other founders to share tips of the trade in an honest and open way is crucial to our success. Our smaller cohort size gave us the opportunity to build meaningful connections with other founders. We still keep in touch and support one another.?

Tell us what’s happened at Loris since the program? How are things?!?

THG Accelerator got us into fighting shape. After 13 weeks on campus in Indianapolis, we had the opportunity to pitch to the investors at HG Ventures, the corporate venture arm of The Heritage Group. We went into it thinking it would just be good pitching practice, and bracing ourselves for fundraising roadshows following the program. But they gave us a term sheet. We could not believe it. HG Ventures wanted to lead the round at $2.5M, and we were essentially done fundraising in about a week. We also were able to add Kip and Scott to the board.

Since the program ended in fall of 2020, we’ve grown a talented team of 10 employees and recruited a full board of directors. We’ve continued to refine our sales strategy, product development and storytelling arc with their help.

We went out to Indy a few months ago to visit and speak with the last cohort prior to Demo Day. We’re still involved and connected to THG Accelerator and all the good folks there. I love to help other founders where I can, and everyone we’ve met at the program is the same way. That’s part of what brings this group together.

Applications for the 2022 Mid August - Mid November session are due May 6th. Interested applicants can find more information, get in touch with the team, and apply at https://www.hgaccelerator.com/.