Local entrepreneurs meet and network at an event in Atlanta

Business owners from Atlanta and beyond came together to share ideas, connect and collaborate at the quarterly Accelerate event hosted by What Now Media Group in West Midtown.

The free event hosted more than 30 business representatives who were featured on And now Atlantaincluding restaurants and retail concepts, as well as more than 20 industry-leading experts in What Now Media Group’s preferred partner network.

Attendees mingled while enjoying bites and drinks from Postino West Midtown. The wine café located at Brickworks Atlanta serves a unique array of savory bruschetta, charcuterie boards and more.

Throughout a presentation by the founder and CEO of What Now Media Group Caleb Spivakbusiness owners took turns presenting their concepts, providing updates on their progress and sharing their stories. Attendees also heard from leading industry experts, including Easy ice creamwho have shared more information about the essential services they can provide to existing and future businesses.

This was the first Acceleration event for Frederica Gaddisthe owner of It’s a busy cafea recently opened restaurant in south Atlanta.

She connected with Tomika Joycethe owner of On Da Spot BBQ and morea local food truck opening a new location in Grayson, as well as franchisees from Mike jersey who gave him advice on how to expand to additional locations.

Gaddis made connections not only regarding It’s A Vibe Cafe, but also on other projects she had been thinking about. Meeting other business owners and people with different areas of expertise showed her that her dreams were perhaps more achievable than she thought.

“It seemed like four or five different things that I wanted to do were here,” Gaddis said. “I was collecting cards, I got to talk to a few people. I networked not only on my business here, but also on a few new businesses that I had thought about before and had kind of avoided or hadn’t put as much effort into researching because I thought it was too much. They told me it wasn’t. If I had never met them, I never would have known.”

Gaddis said her favorite aspects of the event were the diversity of people in attendance and the opportunity to spotlight local business owners.

“The fact that someone has checked out different companies and different concepts that are coming is amazing,” she said. “It’s one of the best things we can have is someone else marketing us, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. And now Atlanta do.”

What Now Media Group shares restaurant opening news in 31 cities across the United States, delivering breaking news and providing up-to-the-minute updates on brick-and-mortar businesses that have yet to open. Across all 31 cities, the platform shares information on thousands of openings per year.

What Now Media Group’s industry-leading Preferred Partner Network experts help new businesses launch and existing businesses grow.

Stay tuned for future What Now Media Group Accelerate events in 2024. Visit the Accelerate page here for more details.