--- title: "CREATE accelerator at Miami Dade College, 2017 | NDA" description: "Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas completed CREATE at Miami Dade College's Idea Center in 2017." url: https://newdiscovery.agency/news/create-demo-day-idea-center-miami-dade-college-2017/ language: en --- Accelerator 2 min read # The founders finished CREATE at Miami Dade College Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas went through CREATE, The Idea Center's accelerator, and closed it at Demo Day in August 2017. Article Details Category Accelerator Published August 2017 Read Time 2 min Author New Discovery Agency Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas went through CREATE, The Idea Center's accelerator, and closed it at Demo Day in August 2017. [Back to News](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/) Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas stood at the front of a room at The Idea Center in Miami on August 2, 2017, certificates in hand. It was Demo Day for CREATE, the venture accelerator Miami Dade College runs out of its entrepreneurship hub, and theirs was its first cohort. CREATE stands for the Center for Research and Transformative Entrepreneurship. When the [Knight Foundation](https://knightfoundation.org/articles/business-accelerator-idea-center-miami-dade-college-nurtures-student-entrepreneurs), which helped fund it, described the program in 2015, it ran for sixteen weeks: weekly group sessions, one-to-one meetings with the director, and a closing day where each founder had five minutes to present the business and the story behind it. The director at the time called that day "a celebration", not a pitch competition. The Idea Center later posted a photograph of that first 2017 cohort, and Pasillas answered as "an alumna of the 2017's generation". Jonalex Herrera has credited Gustavo Grande with leading the program they went through. ## The accelerator came _when the company needed rethinking._ In June 2017 Herrera was presenting New Discovery Media's model to his cohort, pointing at the slide projected behind him. The company was still a Miami production house then, making music videos and branded content and starting to shoot in 360°, as [VoyageMIA](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/voyagemia-jonalex-herrera-liz-pasillas-new-discovery-media-miami/) described it that September. Pasillas later described that year from the stage at [TEDx Ciudad Juárez](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/liz-pasillas-at-tedx-ciudad-juarez/): a professional crisis, and an accelerator that opened the door to rethinking everything and building a new prototype. The same thread runs into what came next, when she took New Discovery Media to [the Startup Nation Conference](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/startup-nation-conference-miami-2018/) at Miami Dade College in February 2018. What came out of the sixteen weeks was Mersyv, the prototype the company built inside the programme. It is the thing that gave the founders something to pitch rather than a portfolio to show, and it went on the road twice: to the [Female Founders Startup Challenge at unbound Miami](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/female-founders-startup-challenge-unbound-miami-2017/) that November, and to the [Startup Nation Conference](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/startup-nation-conference-miami-2018/) the following February. And the programme did more than produce the prototype — it opened both of those doors. The Idea Center is what put the company inside Miami's startup circuit, and the Startup Nation Conference was The Idea Center's own event, which is how a production house from Juárez by way of New York ended up on an AR and VR panel next to founders flown in from Tel Aviv. Demo Day - ![Jonalex Herrera and Liz Pasillas holding CREATE certificates at The Idea Center](https://newdiscovery.agency/assets/press-kits/news-images/create-demo-day-2017-1.jpg) CREATE Demo Day at The Idea Center, Miami Dade College, August 2, 2017. - ![The CREATE cohort with their certificates on Demo Day](https://newdiscovery.agency/assets/press-kits/news-images/create-demo-day-2017-2.jpg) The cohort on Demo Day, August 2, 2017. - ![Jonalex Herrera presenting to the CREATE cohort](https://newdiscovery.agency/assets/press-kits/news-images/create-demo-day-2017-3.jpg) Jonalex Herrera presenting to the cohort, June 2017. Slide 1 of 3 More News [ Award Technology HUB covered the Bridge Accelerator win Technology HUB reported the win, the $10,000 seed award, and Liz Pasillas on why the team stopped selling one-off VR builds. Read ](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/gana-agencia-local-de-vr-en-the-bridge-accelerator/) [ Partnership BRP backed Ruta Norte at its virtual reality opening BRP attended the inauguration of Ruta Norte's VR documentary and supported it through its community and cultural programme. Read ](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/brp-apoya-las-actividades-artisticas-de-ciudad-juarez/) [ Market Shift El Diario on the year New Discovery moved to Juárez El Diario found a Miami production company selling immersive training, positioning and virtual tours to Juárez firms in 2020. Read ](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/apuestan-negocios-por-nuevas-tecnologias/) From news to proof ## The coverage tells the story. _The case studies show the work._ Each case study shows the system, the technology, and the impact behind what makes the news. [See case studies](https://newdiscovery.agency/case-studies/)