One Year Later: IMMAD Reflects on Receiving Workbar’s 2024 Small Business Grant

When small businesses win, we all win. 

Small businesses strengthen our community by keeping spaces vibrant, expanding local networks, and fueling the economy. In short, small businesses run the world. (Now strike a pose like Beyonce ✨)

That’s why Workbar believes so strongly in supporting small businesses — and it’s the inspiration behind our annual Small Business Grant. In case you missed it, every year for the past four years, Workbar has awarded grants to support early-stage companies grow and scale in Massachusetts. During this time, we have watched grant winners hire their first employees, bring new products to market, and hit new milestones. 

Reflecting on a year at Workbar with IMMAD

Last year, the grant was awarded to Denise Valenti, CEO of Impairment Measurement Marijuana and Driving (IMMAD), which offers an objective technology to help officers identify and remove impaired drivers from our roads. Denise founded IMMAD after losing her son, Mark, because of another's irresponsible and selfish decision. A loss that connected her with families whose children were taken by impaired driving fatalities — an all too prevalent, and preventable, problem. IMMAD’s work is deeply important and solves a timely and growing need for increased safety around cannabis consumption. 

We checked in with Denise one year later to find out what IMMAD has accomplished over the past twelve months – here’s what she shared:

What was happening with IMMAD at the time you applied for the grant?

I was so grateful to have been selected to receive the space and the funding, and the timing could not have been better. IMMAD had been looking into a space across the street from UMass Boston with future work in mind — the future ability to burn actual marijuana products on site. But that’s not something we ever expected to do as long as marijuana is considered federally illegal. We were also getting excellent traction with federal grants and expecting to receive a large, essential grant.

How did receiving the grant help with your growth or upcoming milestones?

Shortly after  we were notified of the Workbar award, my primary research partner of fifteen years, Marc Pomplun, Chair of Computational Sciences at UMass Boston, had passed away unexpectedly. He had been integral in identifying talented interns and securing federal grants, and his expertise and credibility were essential to IMMAD’s operations. Being in an office space with other people around proved to be important as I mourned the loss of my colleague. Without access to Workbar, I would have been navigating that period totally isolated.  

The downtown location was ideal for future volunteer recruitment, and the location is convenient for public transportation. (I use the red line daily.) The flexibility of space is cost-effective, as we only see about fifty clients twice per funded federal project, which means for our next grant, we would have fewer than 100 visits over two years. This lends itself to working in a flexible office space. 

Right now, IMMAD is in the unique position of applying to the State of Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission for a research license. There is only one granted license for research, and this is to a business growing marijuana. IMMAD is the only applicant that does not touch any marijuana, does NOT require a license to do the research we do, and does not require any changes, adaptations, or security to existing space — and Workbar fits our needs.  

How has having a year of coworking at Workbar supported your work or helped your business move forward?

Having a year of coworking at Workbar has created better opportunities for the company, and I can honestly say it has helped the company to continue our important work. We’re even considering using the Workbar network for our long-term plans for the upcoming five years because of the convenience.

I appreciate that we were given this amazing space.

Workbar Works for Innovation in Boston

Past Small Business Grant winners span industries from healthtech to consumer products to education — all using Workbar as a place to build community, accelerate momentum, and access resources that go beyond just the physical space.

Sarah Travers, Workbar CEO, said it best: “One of the greatest perks of being part of Workbar is getting to witness companies’ journeys, from concept to launch to sometimes even exit. We’re proud to offer not just financial support, but a community and workspace that help entrepreneurs stay focused, stay local, and keep building what’s next.”