Louisville accelerator deploys AI coach to support underrepresented founders
Stephen P. Schmidt , Reporter - Louisville Business First
Feb 27, 2026, 8:35am EST
From Louisville Business First.
A Louisville-based accelerator is deploying a proprietary AI business coach to extend its work with founders beyond its traditional footprint.
Earlier this month the Wild Accelerator announced the launch of the Wild Academy, a virtual platform designed for founders from “historically marginalized communities at scale,” according to a news release.
The program is seeking founders in the female, Black, Latinx and LGBTQ+ populations — a combined demographic that accounts for 2% of venture capital funding, according to the release, despite being the fastest rising segment of founders.
“We’re not just teaching business fundamentals — we’re reimagining what entrepreneurship support looks like when it’s built for and by people who’ve been historically excluded from these spaces,” Story Louisville Founder Natalia Bishop said in the release. “I came to the United States from Colombia when I was 17 years old with my family, a suitcase and about $400. Like many entrepreneurs, I had ambition and drive, but very little access. I didn’t always know who to ask for help, or how to navigate the systems and networks that make growth possible.”
Bishop also serves as the board chair for Wild Accelerator. In 2025, she was named as one of our Nonprofit Visionary Leader Awards honorees.
The academy is powered by WILLA, which is short for Wild Intelligent Learning & Leadership Assistant. Through the platform, academy participants can receive personalized guidance any time of day. WILLA can also offer strategic thinking support and pressure-test decisions, according to the release.
In addition, academy participants will have access to the AI Path Generator, which can create roadmaps that can fit each founder’s business stage, as well as her goals and learning style. It does so through such tools as video modules and work guides on a variety of topics such as product-market fit and customer discovery.
“Wild Academy meets founders where they are," Bishop said in the release. “Whether that’s idea stage or ready to scale, urban or rural, with or without traditional credentials.”
Bishop first mentioned Wild Academy in March, when the Confetti conference at Story was announced (which was later postponed).
At the time, a pilot program of Wild Academy had recently concluded at Simmons College of Kentucky and the University of Memphis.
The co-founder of Confetti is Tarik Nally, the founder and creative principal at Kale & Flax — the company that founded the Wild Accelerator in 2018 before selling it to Bishop and Story Louisville in 2019.
Since its founding, the Wild Accelerator has supported more than 100 founders, according to the release, 70% of whom identify as women or nonbinary and 80% of whom identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).
