Greater Spokane Inc. (GSI) and Spokane Public Library (SPL) have partnered to provide shared programming for StartUp Spokane (SUS) beginning May 1, 2021. The partnership features new entrepreneurship support programs, resources, and collaboration within the region’s start-up ecosystem, with SUS serving as the connecting hub for entrepreneurs throughout the region.
SUS and SPL assist businesses in three areas:
- Entrepreneur Assistance: Provide referrals, resource guides, metrics, financing assistance, and more. Includes free one-on-one counseling and access to business resources – including SPL’s award-winning set of business support tools – for all entrepreneurs who want to launch or grow a business. Services are available to all interested entrepreneurs with a particular focus on providing assistance to underserved and underrepresented segments of our business community.
- TeamUp: Entrepreneurs have access to a team of community subject matter experts and can ask questions during free, 1-hour consultations. A new TeamUp resources page and ecosystem map is coming soon on StartUpSpokane.com.
- Jumpstart: Targeted towards entrepreneurs and small business owners, the new Jumpstart lunch-and-learn educational series focuses on marketing, business evaluation, development of a business plan, registering and licensing your business, location, access to capital, how to pitch for funding, and more.
SUS will continue to support ecosystem partners Mind to Market and Ignite Northwest. Mind to Market is a pre-seed investment fund for the inland northwest earliest stage startups with high-growth potential at the very earliest stage. It invests $25,000 to $50,000 toward creating a minimally viable product, assembling a team, and preparing a company for traditional seed financing. Ignite Northwest funds, enlightens, and mentors explosively growing companies ensuring a vibrant entrepreneurial core that is essential to the vitality of our region. It invests in growing companies through its Technology Growth and Emerging Growth funds, and provides access to other sources of capital, such as Mind to Market pre-seed funds, Kick-Start angel funds and the Spokane Angel Alliance, as well as through relationships with other investors and regional venture capital funds.
In collaboration with these efforts, SUS and SPL will develop a Knowledge Network to support the work of resource partners and the ecosystem. The Knowledge Network is comprised of 30+ business owners, angel investors, business assistance organizations, and high-level entrepreneurs that meet six times per year to ensure collaboration, organizational participation, and economic entrepreneurial growth across the region. SUS is committed to connecting the region’s entrepreneurs with expert assistance through a variety of Knowledge Network partners, including MEBA, SNAP, SBDC, SBA/SCORE, SIMBA, and others.
For shared programming, the partnership is visually presented with this logo:
For more information and to get involved, contact Jessica Kirk at GSI/StartUp Spokane or Mark Pond at Spokane Public Library.
