The executive director of Augusta’s microenterprise center can not only teach—he can do. By day, he helps budding entrepreneurs and small business owners. Sometimes, at night, he shows off his pitching skills.
Shaun Andrews has led Accelerate Augusta since it opened in October 2025. The center, a partnership between Augusta Technical College and the Downtown Development Authority, is at 600 Broad Street.
Andrews told ABD that a May 28 pitch competition sponsored by the SCORE Charlotte office was particularly timely.
“On Friday (May 29), we had our networking event, which was called Local Grind, but we were doing pitching,” he said. “I was taking people through why we pitch, how we pitch, and I said, ‘You know what, if I got into this pitch competition the night before, and show people, hey, I really know what I’m talking about,’ kind of gives me some validation. So, that’s what I did.”
More than 150 competitors from 14 counties in North Carolina and three in South Carolina entered the competition. Seventy of the applicants were selected to compete. Andrews was one of the 10 finalists.
“I relaunched my app in North Carolina, and we already had interest from a university up there wanting to do some research with us to kind of deploy our app across the campus,” he explained. “They have kids who have been diagnosed with autism, and so it is a way to get from the living room to the boardroom and get your business out into the world.”
Prior to being hired for Accelerate Augusta, Andrews was a native of North Carolina. He competed in the Innovate Augusta 2025 program and was the Vinea Capital Entrepreneur winner.
He said pitch competitions are especially beneficial to entrepreneurs and small businesses who are not as bankable as others, who may not have 10% up front seed money, and are not in a position for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan.
“They’re kind of in between a rock and a hard place, but there is an option, and it’s a pitch, and if you learn how to do it well, it can be really substantial for you,” he said. “I taught someone here in Augusta how to pitch back in November, and she’s won about $31,000 since then, of non-diluted funding.”
The winner in Charlotte was Anaiyah Barker, founder of TheLocPharmacy LLC, a luxury loc care and scalp health brand.
Andrews was awarded $2,500 as one of the runners-up for his company, Mind HAC Inc. He said it combines artificial intelligence, music, therapy, data, and sound waves to redirect the thoughts and behaviors of kids who are diagnosed with autism.
“It’s like a Spotify for autism,” he said. “Individuals will log on, we ask a few different questions around the child’s behavior, and then in the background, we create playlists specific to those behaviors to help not only with the maladaptive behaviors but also for skill acquisition for those children as well.”
The cash award is the tangible award for pitch competition winners, but there is also an intangible benefit: boosting self-confidence.
“When you decide to become an entrepreneur, it’s a very, very lonely thing, and the confidence for a lot of individuals is not there, so that’s why we create community here at Accelerate Augusta,” said Andrews. “We have entrepreneurs that come in, and they know that here, not only can they get the information, but they can get the kind of the helping hand, the community. Folks just feel at home here, and I’m just so thankful that I’m able to serve in their capacity.”
Learn more about Accelerate Augusta at: www.accelerateaugusta.org/. The center is also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/accelerateaugusta.
