CHARLOTTE – The Entrepreneurs’ Organization of Charlotte, EO Charlotte, announced this week that seven companies recently graduated from the organization’s business accelerator program.

In order to graduate, the company must reach or surpass $1 million in business revenue, the organization said in a statement.

In the Triangle, surpassing $1 million in annual revenue—or employing 10 or more full-time workers—would qualify a company to join the Triangle Tweeners List, the 2021 edition which was released earlier this morning.

The seven Charlotte entrepreneurs who lead companies that have reached that $1 million in revenue milestone are:

Charlotte accelerator program graduates 2 entrepreneurs after reaching $1M in revenue

Revenue growth is meaningful

Bukolt said in a statement released by the organization that graduating the program felt amazing, after four years of participating in the program to grow her business.

“I don’t believe I would have been able to scale without the support of my EOA coaches and colleagues,” said Bukolt.  “Because of the extensive learning and accountability, my business revenue grew nearly 10x from the time I started the program.”

Brian Delaney, the co-founder of Skookum, which was acquired by GlobalLogic in 2019 (which proceeded to be acquired by Japanese conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. for $9.6 billion in 2021), now chairs the Entrepreneurs’ Organization of Charlotte.

“It is incredibly rewarding to see these businesses take off as they navigate the high-pressure world of entrepreneurship,” said Delaney in a statement released by the organization.  “This program has been created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, which gives participants a unique perspective from personal experience you don’t see in other programs.”

The chapter’s website notes that there are 100 members of the organization.  The organization elected new board members last year.  An additional two entrepreneur members graduated last fall.