Orienting Entrepreneurship
Hi everyone, this is the first blog for the E for All Winter 2016–2017 accelerator. This blog is about our first class, which was held on 12/6. This first class was an orientation and overview of what we should expect from the class.
To start we started by introducing ourselves with a short thirty second pitch about our businesses. The students and businesses in the Winter accelerator are:
Clarity Wellness- Caroline: Caroline’s business will focus on Reiki and Meditation. She plans on doing her Meditation with corporate businesses as well as other groups.
Just One More- Brittany and Charlie: Just One More is a bakery focusing on custom desserts for all, including those with food allergies and sensitivities.
Got Chew- Justin, Will and Ryan: Got Chew is a food delivery service for those local restaurants that do not currently offer this to their clients. Their goal is to connect the community to their favorite local cuisine.
Amy’s Herbs- Amy: Amy plans on opening her own herb shop that sells locally grown and dried herbs as well as medicinal body products made with these herbs.
Tachyon Electrics- Dustin: Dustin is developing electric batteries for motorcycles as well as kits so that people can transform their own bikes to electric.
TAG Technologies- Todd: Todd has developed an anti-texting device that disables user’s phones while the motor vehicle is moving. All text messages and voicemails are sent to a cloud based retrieval system.
Teaching Through Textiles- Rhonda: Rhonda is planning on bringing a program to schools that will teach students how to work with textiles, something that has a long history in the South Coast.
The Collective- Kevin and Joanna: The Collective is a theatre group that puts on local productions and classes.
Bite Me Bouquet- Alicia: Alicia makes custom bouquets, using fresh fruits and flowers, for all occasions.
AquaXi- Shauna: AquaXi does water testing and records the data in an effort to solve the global water crisis.
No Joke Smoke BBQ- Ryan and Sharon: NJS BBQ makes seasonal, locally sourced, organic barbeque sauces.
Unplugged Float Center- LaMont and Kevin: Unplugged is a company that offers flotation therapy to help everyone from overworked athletes to stressed out professionals.
TBD- Christin: Although the name is not known yet, the idea behind the business is that they would offer adult summer camps.
After introducing ourselves we met an E for All graduate. Her name is Latonia and her business is “Let’s Write Life”. Latonia provided us with insight into the class, how we can make the most of our mentors and most importantly she gave us a list of 5 things to never forget. These were work hard, change happens, know YOUR why, protect your energy, and confidence will take you anywhere.
Next, we got into the details of the class. Classes meet Tuesdays 5:30–8:30 at Groundwork in New Bedford, Thursdays 11–1 at CIE in Fall River and then a weekly 90-minute session with our mentors. Each business is paired with three mentors, which we were previously matched with. At our weekly mentor meetings, we will discuss what we’ve been working on in class and work on whatever we feel appropriate, keeping in mind to use our mentors’ areas of expertise and taking advantage of the time we have with them. Our classes and meetings will last for three months, through March. At the end of the three months, E for All will award cash prizes to select businesses. After the three month intensive we will continue to meet on a quarterly basis. At these meetings we will discuss what we have made progress on, what we are currently working on, and E for All will award smaller cash prizes to select businesses at these meetings. All the cash awards will be decided on by the E for All using the following criteria. They will evaluate our progress towards our goals, our presentations, participation, attendance, peer evaluations and quarterly evaluations.
Over the next twelve weeks we will dive into business essentials to help further our businesses. These topics will include Business Model Canvas, customer segmentation, pricing, accounting, bookkeeping, creating goals, social media, crafting the perfect pitch, social impact, and sales.
This was an overwhelming three hour introduction with a lot of information but I feel everyone left feeling energized and excited to start this year long journey with E for All and this life long journey into entrepreneurship.
