About Us.ReStart-up Academy brings start-ups, investors and community resources together to educate, inspire, and empower inmates. Participants learn how to take their natural hustle skills and transform them into business plans for small businesses and large scale start-ups.
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Leo Novsky.
Co-Founder & President
Going to prison, was never my idea of a good time… until I set my foot at the Monroe Correctional Complex in September of 2013 as a volunteer and sponsor of Toastmasters clubs. Since then, I have had a first-hand experience at seeing the untapped potential of many men.
As a serial entrepreneur, pitch coach and instructor of entrepreneurship at University of Washington and Edmond Community College, I have had a chance to hear thousands of pitches and assess hundreds of entrepreneurs to speak with power and grow their businesses. Yet it is in prison that I have found my mission - to help the incarcerated tap their startup potential, to start their own companies or make other companies successful as gifted members of their teams. This is my BIG Idea.
Join me to make this dream a reality!
As a serial entrepreneur, pitch coach and instructor of entrepreneurship at University of Washington and Edmond Community College, I have had a chance to hear thousands of pitches and assess hundreds of entrepreneurs to speak with power and grow their businesses. Yet it is in prison that I have found my mission - to help the incarcerated tap their startup potential, to start their own companies or make other companies successful as gifted members of their teams. This is my BIG Idea.
Join me to make this dream a reality!
The Team.
Our Graduates
Spencer Oberg, 2017
I am a driven entrepreneur. I am an impact leader. I have been my whole life. Yet, it took nearly 7 year in prison for me to realize it. Prior to this prison term, my ventures were less-than legal; my followers were close behind me on a drug-infused path of destruction. Now, after years of self-analysis, hard-won personal growth, and the support and guidance of great people, I have the privilege of leading people in a positive direction. I am now transitioning from prison to the outside world. The work I put in behind bars is paying off, largely thanks to the support of incredible people. I am now working with one of my mentors, David Israel, in food-based entrepreneurial ventures, as well as social ventures. The vision I spent so many years crafting is now coming into focus. ReStartup Academy is the vehicle through which other men can achieve the same thing for themselves. |
Michael Darrington, 2017
I am the first graduate of ReStartup Academy. After my release I was successfully placed in a job within my "Big Idea" field, the coffee business. I understand the necessity of a program like this at the Minimum Security Unit and have joined the incubator portion of ReStartup. |
Our Partners
Prison Voices Count is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that has worked within Monroe Correctional Facility, a prison twenty miles north of Seattle for the past 10 years. This program helps inmates become leaders who enrich their communities as neighbors, coworkers, and citizens.
