Thursday night was the culmination of weeks of preparation and years of hoping.
Five presenters took the spotlight at the Castle Venue to pitch their dream idea as the final event of the 2025 Business Builders workshop series.
Kellie Beadle won the $2,500 grand prize for her paint-your-own pottery studio, The Pottery Castle.
Matt Malek took the People’s Choice with his Malek Coffee Roasters plan. The prize was $1,000.
Ultimately, though, the prize money is not the “prize” of Business Builders. The real takeaway is the seven weeks of deep diving and one-on-one training each entrepreneur gets from the East Central Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
The SBDC helped participants developed personalized business plans, including a hard look at their financials, market research and how to prepare their three-minute business pitch.
Business Builders program is facilitated each year by New Castle Main Street. The 2025 funding partner and presenting sponsor was the New Castle/Henry County Economic Development Corporation (EDC).
Each presenter was given three minutes Thursday to sell the panel of judges on their idea. The judges were then given the chance to ask one question of each entrepreneur
This year’s judge panel included Penny York of the New Castle/Henry County EDC and Duke Hamm and Cindy Brooks of New Castle Main Street.
Main Street Director Emily Hurst was the emcee of the evening.
MiCROWEgreens
The first presentation came from Trish Crowe with her company MiCROWEgreens.
“We have to start eating better and doing better,” Crowe said.
Microgreens are sprouts of more mature vegetables, offering a dense source of vitamins and less chances of contamination, Crowe said.
She planned to use the grant funding to upgrade her greenhouse.
Crowe told the judges she hoped to set up MiCROWEgreens at local farmers’ markets and use social media to spread the word of her company.
Her dream would be include children in the process so they could grow their own microgreens and start good habits early. Crowes hopes to continue learning and growing as her greenhouse grows.
“It would look like a greenhouse of fun” she said.
Twisted Holidays
Mary Nicholson-Tait wants to bring Twisted Holidays to life. Her company will be “where horror meets holidays all year long.”
Nicholson-Tait said the horror industry is booming and there is a huge audience for her horror-themed holiday decorations. Things like candles that melt blood-red, a skeletal cupid and an undead Easter bunny.
She envisions pop-up holiday events, partnerships with online horror influencers and subscription holiday boxes through an online market.
“Why settle for the ordinary when you can embrace the extraordinary?” she asked the judges.
Nicholson-Tait told the judges she hopes to keep the operation small, with limited runs of products. She wants Twisted Holidays to create exclusive products rather than mass-market items.
The Pottery Castle
Kellie Beadle and her husband have been looking for a quieter pace of life than their home in Fishers. They believe they’ve found that here in Henry County.
Beadle hopes to open a paint-your-own pottery studio in New Castle. She said The Pottery Castle will give local families an activity to do together without driving to Muncie or Noblesville.
Beadle’s said the Business Builders prize will help her purchase start up glazes and a kiln. She hopes to open a shop and expand to the point where customers can make their own clay items to paint.
Beadle sees the potential of partnering with other local businesses for dinner-and-paint nights. She’d like to see the business be self-supporting in five years.
Malek Coffee Roasters
Matt Malek has been roasting his own coffee for 14 years. At first, he just wanted free coffee. Now, he wants to be the supplier of every coffee shop in New Castle.
Malek told the judges he’d originally wanted a storefront, but realized he could keep overhead down if Malek Coffee Roasters focused instead on supplying.
Malek started selling his small-batch Malek Coffee Roasters beans at the Henry County Farmers Market in 2023. His goal is to upgrade his roaster to accommodate bulk quantities.
With more growth, Malek Coffee Roasters would eventually need its own facility, he said.
Magee’s Marlin Music by Melinda Magee
Melinda Magee has made an online following from singing and recording others singing karaoke.
She hopes to turn that passion into a karaoke recording studio in Knightstown.
“It’s where you come to be your own star,” Magee told the Business Builders judges.
Magee would like to partner with local schools as a way to show young musicians how to produce music and videos.
“I want to be my own recording label,” she said of her five-year plan.
Her goal with the prize money was to build her own website so she could move away from Facebook.
– Story by Travis Weik (Editor@TheCourierTimes.com) of The Courier-Times. Read more local stories at TheCourierTimes.com.