The Reimagined Classroom: Growing in the Government Market

Company Assisted by Government Contracting Expert The Florida APEX Accelerator at UCF

December 2, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or HThayer@ucf.edu

Steven South, Program Manager, Florida APEX Accelerator at UCF, 407.420.4859 or Steve.South@ucf.edu

Orlando, FL – Doing business with the government is different from working with the private sector. Winning government contracts – whether at the federal, state, or local level – requires learning a new vocabulary, adopting particular strategies, and applying specialized processes and procedures. Though it can be a complex process, selling to the government can open doors to a huge new market and growth opportunity for small businesses, offering a path to new customers and fresh revenue streams.

For Michael Heyman and Brett Meyers, co-founders of The Reimagined Classroom, a one-stop shop for custom educational content, the potential to win a Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA) contract looked promising. They even had the request-for-proposal (RFP) writers on staff to prepare a bid. What they did not have was experience with the government as their customer. It was then that they turned for assistance to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida’s (FSBDC at UCF) government contracting affiliate, the Florida APEX Accelerator at UCF.

The Reimagined Classroom has built a very successful business serving the corporate community. “We can take a concept from ideation and brainstorming and bring it all the way to print and web ready content,” Heyman explains. The team at The Reimagined Classroom subcontracts and works with large companies by producing and bringing to life engaging textbooks and educational resources for K-thru-12 students. Interestingly, before starting the company, Heyman and Meyers were third grade teachers and this background informs their corporate strategy, with every one of their content creators being or having been an educator. “We are a people-first organization creating things with a teacher’s mindset considering all learners and all educators,” Heyman highlights proudly.

“We first reached out to the APEX Accelerator and the FSBDC because we were interested in government contracting,” Heyman recalls. They had identified the DoDEA contract and had begun writing up their bid. “We were already about 75% of the way through when we realized that we could contact Steve South, the APEX Accelerator at UCF program manager, for assistance. Our RFP specialist worked with him and the APEX Accelerator to help us really go after our first contract. We learned so much through the process, even though we lost that one. We took APEX’s feedback and applied it to our next opportunity and wound up winning the very next DoD contract we bid on.” And that $400,000 contact was just the beginning.

“Our journey with APEX has been incredible. We’re just thrilled to be multi-award winners now and we attribute that, not solely but largely to our work with APEX and our SBDC here in Florida,” Heyman continued. “It’s been an amazing learning experience. When my co-founder Brett and I had the opportunity to initially meet Steve South we were just blown away at the value of the free resources offered, and the value of the experience and insight. It was almost like Government Contracting for Dummies but working with an insider who would explain it like you were five. It was incredibly valuable.”

Though pursuing government contracts may not be like chasing commercial business opportunities, as Heyman and The Reimagined Classroom will attest, the APEX Accelerator at the University of Central Florida can help a company learn the ropes and be successful.

For information about The Reimagined Classroom, please visit https://www.reimaginedclassroom.com.

— FSBDC —

About the Florida APEX Accelerator

The Florida APEX Accelerator (formerly the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center) is part of a national network of APEX Accelerators working to help businesses compete successfully in the government marketplace. The Florida APEX Accelerator is powered statewide by the University of West Florida and funded in part by the State of Florida and local partners. This APEX Accelerator is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense. In 2022, the Florida APEX Accelerator network served 1,387 new clients, resulting in businesses creating and retaining 25,919 jobs and helping businesses secure $246 million in government contracts. For more information, please visit www.flapex.org.

About the FSBDC at UCF

Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.

The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 10 service centers across Central Florida.

In 2020, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,800 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,000 jobs created, retained or saved; $1.2 billion in sales growth; $92.4 million in capital formation; $92.7 million in government contract awards; and 86 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com.

About the Florida SBDC Network

For more than 45 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.

In 2023, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 11,720 hours of consulting to 14,808 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $346 million in capital, $576 million in government contracting, impacting 19,2635 jobs, increasing sales by over $3.9 billion, and creating 1,058 businesses.

With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.

FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com