Orlando, Fla. (November 8, 2021) – As Mylestones prepares to launch its new design and publishing platform on November 15, 2021 — where groups can publish collective, collaborative and crowd-fundable Memorybooks that celebrate big life moments – the company has joined the UCF Business Incubation Program.

Mylestones is part of the UCF Business Incubator in Orlando.

“After only a short time, we’re already seeing the advantages of being part of this program to really help our business take off and succeed,” says CEO Keren Peters Atkinson. “It’s an exciting time for our company and we truly believe that being a part of the UCF Business Incubation Program will help us make smart decisions and grow substantially.”

Mylestones was founded by combining the best features of photobooks, scrapbooks, greeting cards and social media posts into an easy-to-use platform catering to groups.  The books can either be print, video or virtual books.

The Mylestones team developed every aspect of the business from its impactful brand to the website with all its unique features including:

  • a private mailbox for each book so that contributors can submit materials directly to the platform,
  • a whiteboard design space so that groups can design a book together,
  • video conferencing tools so that they can see and hear one another as they work together on the design in real time, and
  • a crowd funding payment system so that each contributor can help pay for the cost of the gift, making it affordable for everyone to participate.

Every feature of the Mylestones platform was designed to strengthen relationships.

“We know 80 percent of all photobooks are made by and sold to women, and we know women like to collaborate on creative projects, from knitting circles and quilting bees to book clubs and paint parties,” explained Peters Atkinson.  “As a woman creating a company primarily catering to women, I’m offering not only an easy way to create a group gift to commemorate a special occasion, but also a fun way to bond with those who contribute to and design the book.”

Peters Atkinson has had a lengthy career in marketing, working as CMO for Madison Commercial Real Estate Services and previously for Bayview 1031 in South Florida. She decided to focus her efforts on Mylestones and relocate to Orlando when her daughter chose to attend college at the University of Central Florida.

“Across our program, we see businesses come to us in such a wide range of ways, but one thing always seems to be similar – a connection to the University of Central Florida,” says Rob Panepinto, director, Innovation Districts Strategy and Partnerships and senior strategic advisor, Partnerships and Innovation, University of Central Florida. “While the end product might be a traditional print book or a cutting-edge video book, the technology and strategy behind Mylestones is completely new and shows how Central Florida is a hub for all types of technology innovations.”

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For more information, please contact:

Mylestones: Keren Peters Atkinson, 877-692-6655, keren@mylestones.com

UCF Business Incubation Program: Michael Weiss, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407-408-4297, Michael.Weiss@ucf.edu

or Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com

About Mylestones: Mylestones is an online design and publishing platform that allows a community to mark someone’s big life moment by contributing to and crafting a Memorybook. Each book is one-of-a-kind… capturing and presenting the personal and meaningful messages, photos and mementos shared by that person’s ‘inner circle’.  The group can then work on the design of the book together on a shared Whiteboard design space where they can add not only the materials contributed but also embellishments from the platform’s Media Library.  Everyone working on the book can see and hear one another using the site’s videoconferencing system, and all can share in paying for the book with the platform’s unique crowd-funding tool. Not only can customers make a deeply meaningful gift book, making the book is easy and fun.  For more information, please visit Mylestones.com.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy.

With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2017/2018 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped to sustain more than 6,725 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of over $725 million on regional GDP and over $1.3 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned more than $12.00 in state and local taxes for every $1.00 invested in the program. In addition, for every $1.00 of public investment the firms also produced $118 of additional regional GDP and $226 of regional sales. For more information, visit  www.incubator.ucf.edu.