fired up
Matchstick Lab helps local entrepreneurs launch their dream ventures
Words by Jennifer Dorothy
Photo by Brittany Kelley
When you think of Kitsap County, many things come to mind—beautiful shoreline, small town charm, miles of serene parks and trails. Could it also be a haven for entrepreneurs seeking to launch new business ventures? Alanna Imbach thinks so.
The founder of Vibe Coworks, a buzzy coworking community in Poulsbo, also oversees Matchstick Lab Micro Business Accelerator. The five-month free program, which emerged from Vibe Coworks in 2023, selects an annual cohort of small business owners, empowering them to take their ventures to the next level.
While running Vibe Coworks, Imbach saw the need for education, networking and access to capital to build a stronger innovation ecosystem in the region. Kitsap Bank was the program’s first corporate partner, sponsoring office space at Vibe and matching funding to support the inaugural Matchstick Lab cohort. Other sponsors and collaborators, including Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, soon followed.
Key components of the program include eight weeks of intensive business plan training, hands-on workshops on storytelling, public speaking and building strong business credit, as well as personalized mentoring and technical guidance. In 2024, Matchstick Lab selected 14 participants from a competitive pool of 50 applications representing a range of industries across the Kitsap Peninsula.
Among them is branding consultant and photographer Leah Thompson, who owns Scandia Studio in Poulsbo. Sitting on a couch surrounded by red pillows in her bright and welcoming space, Thompson recounts the benefits of the eight-week intensive portion of the Matchstick Lab program. “My kids were little, but because I got through it, I felt accomplished,” she recalls. “When I completed my pitch and presented it, I felt emboldened. I put my dream out there, and then I felt excited to actually pull it off.”
Sandra Rocha Evanoff, a graduate of the inaugural cohort, credits the Matchstick Lab program with giving her the confidence and “entrepreneurial twist” to pursue her vision of offering authentic Brazilian private dinner experiences and cooking classes while supporting global causes. Born in Northern Brazil, Evanoff launched Brasil Comes to You in 2008, introducing traditional Brazilian dishes like cassava, plantain and okra to dinner goers while raising money for the local Kitsap community.
Imbach anticipates continuing the Micro Business Accelerator program in 2025. She expects the selection cycle and criteria will mirror previous cohorts, with applications due in February, and the new cohort announced in early March. The program has historically focused on local businesses with fewer than five employees that don’t yet have a business plan or are ready to revise the one they have.
In the meantime, Matchstick Lab is organizing the first annual Firebrand Unconference, a one-day forum for entrepreneurs at Vibe Coworks during Global Entrepreneurship Month in November, and Kitsap Community Foundation recently became the organization’s legal fiscal sponsor, providing financial and administrative support and leveraging its 501c3 tax-exempt status.