Grow Cedar Valley Launches CO.STARTERS Program for Entrepreneurs

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Grow Cedar Valley Launches CO.STARTERS Program for Entrepreneurs

Grow Cedar Valley will soon offer CO.STARTERS, a 10-session, cohort-based program that equips entrepreneurs of all kinds with the insights, relationships, and tools needed to turn business ideas into action. Read more from the Grow CV Press Release, below.

Drawing from the experience of successful entrepreneurs and startup veterans from around the globe, CO.STARTERS walks creative small business owners through lean, effective business modeling methods in a simple and intuitive way, while connecting them to a supportive community of peers and mentors. Rather than treating a venture like a large corporation and writing a detailed business plan, CO.STARTERS participants are encouraged to build and test small models first. In the process, participants receive real-time customer feedback, update their models to meet customer needs and avoid creating businesses based on incorrect assumptions.

In the Cedar Valley, CO.STARTERS will be implemented by Grow Cedar Valley, including facilitators, guest speakers, support, and expertise from successful entrepreneurs across the community.  The ten-week CO.STARTERS program will kick off on April 19, 2022, and will be limited to 10 participants for the first cohort.

Grow Cedar Valley’s mission is to elevate the economic vitality of our businesses and communities and supporting entrepreneurs early on as they launch new businesses and new products is a key part of that mission.

“Entrepreneurs really are a cornerstone of the Cedar Valley’s quality of life,” said Danny Laudick, Senior Program Director at Grow Cedar Valley and one of the CO.STARTERS facilitators.  “They create new opportunities for people to live and work in the community, they bring new vibrancy to our cities and towns through new places to eat, shop and take our families, and they create new services to help make our lives a little better one need at a time.  But it’s not an easy path to walk alone”

Small business remains one of the fundamental economic drivers for local economies and job creation, and CO.STARTERS joins several other programs including the SBDC, the Black Business & Entrepreneur Accelerator, and the UNI john Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in supporting Cedar Valley-based entrepreneurs.

“If you look beyond Silicon Valley and New York, there are countless communities that are full of talented entrepreneurs, but they lack the organized community support they need to thrive,” said Enoch Elwell, CO.STARTERS Founder. “CO.STARTERS provides a structure for these communities to achieve their economic growth goals and gives them an easy way build the connections they are already trying to grow.”

For more information on CO.STARTERS, visit costarters.co. To learn about CO.STARTERS in the Cedar Valley and submit an application, visit https://www.growcedarvalley.com/co-starters/.

 

About Grow Cedar Valley

Grow Cedar Valley, formerly known as The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber, is the economic and community development leader responsible for bringing business and community together to grow opportunities for the Cedar Valley. Learn more at www.GrowCedarValley.com.

About CO.STARTERS

CO.STARTERS helps individuals and communities thrive through entrepreneurship by equipping them with strategy, tools, and relationships. Building on initial grassroots efforts with small business starters in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the CO.STARTERS network now has an international reach with thousands participating in its programs annually. Since 2008, CO.STARTERS has equipped more than 690 local leaders across 200+ communities, helping more than 12,000 starters move forward with their ventures. The hallmarks of the CO.STARTERS approach to entrepreneur support are investment in the individual, peer learning in a community context, and simple and relatable tools. From the beginning, CO.STARTERS has pioneered a community-based approach to economic development, and has played a leading national role in increasing small business success and growing entrepreneurial ecosystems.

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