Kinective Annual Report

2019 was the pilot year for Kinective by SecondMuse, a community-sourced incubator created in partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation to build a more prosperous, connected local economy. Over six months, the program brought together an inaugural cohort of 11 entrepreneurs across six industry sectors and all five SWFL counties, connecting them to mentors, workshops, and one another at no cost and with no equity taken. The results were tangible: the cohort employed 46 people and contributed an estimated $1.573 million to the 2019 Southwest Florida economy, with 55% of participants women and 64% people of color. Twenty-six mentors gave more than 100 hours of one-on-one time, valued at roughly $26,000.

The program ran in five stages, from application and selection through a kickoff summit, workshops, mentorship, and a December celebration summit that drew more than 100 community leaders. Beyond the cohort, Kinective engaged the wider region through nine events, reaching 510,000 readers in print and online and welcoming more than 500 visitors to its home base at the Collaboratory in Fort Myers. The pilot also surfaced clear lessons: a cohort diverse in sector and stage produced unexpected peer learning, progress came from helping founders reach near-term goals, and creating space for vulnerability consistently unlocked growth. Looking ahead, Kinective plans to grow to between 24 and 36 entrepreneurs and reach all five counties by 2023.

About Kinective

Kinective by SecondMuse is a community-sourced incubator built in partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. It supports entrepreneurs across Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, and Glades counties, with a focus on founders who are women, people of color, and others traditionally underserved by the startup ecosystem. The program connects local founders to mentorship, tools, knowledge-building workshops, and access to capital, helping them build profitable, scalable, and sustainable businesses while strengthening the wider Southwest Florida community.