Maybe it’s time to stop calling it Start Garden.
Not literally, of course. But after announcing a sweeping redesign of its signature entrepreneur competition, the Grand Rapids nonprofit seems less focused on helping people start businesses and more interested in helping them grow them.
For years, The 100 competition was largely aimed at entrepreneurs with ideas. Contestants pitched concepts, competed for relatively modest grants, and hoped the infusion of cash would help transform a dream into a company.
The problem is that ideas are plentiful. Sustainable businesses are not.
Many entrepreneurs discover what investors often call the “valley of death”—the difficult stretch between proving an idea and building a viable business. It is where promising ventures often stall, not because they lack vision, but because they lack the capital, customers, equipment, inventory, or infrastructure needed to keep moving forward.
That’s what makes Start Garden’s newly announced overhaul of The 100 so significant.
The biggest change isn’t simply that more than $500,000 in funding opportunities will now be available through the program. It’s that Start Garden is fundamentally changing what kind of businesses the competition is designed to serve.
Under the new model, existing businesses are not merely eligible—they are a central part of the vision.
That means the entrepreneur looking to add another kiln to a handcrafted tile operation may have a place in the competition. So might the food producer trying to scale beyond farmers markets. The owner of a pizza counter hoping to expand into a full-service restaurant. Or a growing company generating revenue but struggling to secure the financing needed for its next phase.
In many ways, The 100 is becoming less of a startup competition and more of a capital marketplace.
Joining Start Garden as funding partners are GROW, which offers small-business loans; Opportunity Ventures, which provides shared revenue agreements; Union Heritage, which offers venture capital; and Meijer, which will provide first-customer contracts for food and consumer product companies. Start Garden will continue offering grants as part of the program.
The addition of Meijer may be the most intriguing development of all.
For many entrepreneurs, especially those making food or consumer products, landing a retail contract can be more transformative than winning a grant. A grant provides capital. A customer provides revenue.
That distinction speaks directly to the logic behind the redesign.
“Entrepreneurs were using the 100 to connect to capital, so we decided to bring as much capital from as many partners right into the beginning,” said Laurie Supinski, Co-Director, Start Garden. “Now the 100 is not just about winning a small cash award, but can be where you land your first major contract or investor.”
The organization is also restructuring the competition itself around what it calls entrepreneurial “sprints.” Participants will identify a specific milestone they hope to achieve and spend several weeks focused on proving it. Rather than simply pitching an idea, entrepreneurs will be challenged to demonstrate progress.
The shift reflects an acknowledgment that not all businesses need the same type of support.
“Our original 100 design was catalytic in getting 100 entrepreneurs to drive their business ideas forward, but always resulted in us comparing apples to oranges,” said Paul Moore, Co-Director, Start Garden. “How do you compare a startup that needs $400,000 in venture investment to a small business making $50,000 that needs a grant to buy equipment? We had to accept that although some businesses need a catalytic grant, many of our participants just needed a way to connect to other types of capital. Our new competition still includes Start Garden’s grants, but as just one form of capital available to meet them where they are.”
That may be the most important sentence in the entire announcement.
For years, economic development programs have often operated as though every entrepreneur was following the same path. The reality is far messier. A technology startup seeking venture investment has little in common with a small manufacturer needing equipment financing. A food company trying to secure shelf space faces different challenges than a software founder searching for investors.
The redesigned 100 acknowledges those differences and attempts to bring multiple forms of capital under one roof.
“The 100 has always been about meeting entrepreneurs where they are,” said Darel Ross II, Co-Director, Start Garden. “This new format expands that commitment — bringing together a community of partners that can offer the right opportunity at the right time, whether that’s testing an idea or an investment to scale.”
The old version of The 100 helped entrepreneurs get started.
The new version appears designed to help them survive the valley between starting and scaling—a place where many promising businesses have historically run out of road.
And if Start Garden succeeds, the winners may not simply walk away with a check. They may leave with a lender, an investor, a revenue-sharing partner, or even their first major customer.
That’s a very different competition.
2026 ‘Start Garden’ Key Dates
- June 1 — Applications open at 100.startgarden.com
- July 12 — Submissions close (11:59 PM)
- July 21 — 100 semi-finalists announced
- August 7–9 — Mandatory Bootcamp at Start Garden, Grand Rapids
- August 10 — 50 finalists announced, sprint begins
- October 8 — Sprint ends, Executive Summaries due
- October 22 — Demo Day at Start Garden, Grand Rapids
