Building up the next generation of entrepreneurs

Chris Rugowski

Contributor

January 26, 2023

GREEN BAY – The Greater Green Bay Chamber is doing what it can to help foster the next generation of entrepreneurs with the launch of its new 10-week tech accelerator program “Build Up.”

Lamarr Banks, Urban Hub Community manager, said the program aims to fill a gap in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. 
“We see a gap in the ecosystem where a lot of early-stage companies that use technology to build a company don’t have the support they need,” he said. “So, we wanted to create a program that can offer them some support.”

Banks said the program will focus on a broad range of verticals.

“So, you could be in any industry,” he said. “However, technology has to be the main differentiator to what generates value for the company.”

Banks said the accelerator will provide technology-led entrepreneurial training, mentorship and a framework meant to create a local community of founders to learn from and support each other.

In doing so, he said it will help grow the region’s pool of startups, help retain those home-grown startups and increase the development of innovative ventures.

Technology differentiator
Banks said good examples of technology being a differentiator for a business are Uber and Airbnb. 

“Uber utilizes technology to send taxis out to people,” he said. “Airbnb uses its platform to allow people to book homes. You wouldn’t think of those as traditional technology companies because it’s not like they have some special type of software or hardware. However, because of the tech they use, and the implementation of that tech, they are considered ‘tech’ companies.”

Banks said the Build Up program is tailored to startups in the Idea or Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage – offering a wide range of benefits, such as industry-specific workshops, one-on-one coaching sessions and connections to a vast network of successful entrepreneurs and industry leaders. 

“The goal for the program is to get the startups connected to a network, help them validate business models and then get them started on building a team,” he said.

Banks said the idea stage is as the name suggests – it’s purely an idea, without a tangible product to show customers.
He said MVP is one step beyond the idea stage, where you have the earliest iteration of what a product is.

Banks said at the MVP stage, entrepreneurs have validated their idea and have a product they can take to customers.
Banks said the product/service may not be perfect and may be missing some key components or features, but it will provide participants the opportunity to receive live feedback.

“If I had to put an analogy to it, if you had an app like Facebook, you can only have a certain amount of friends or you can only post certain things,” he said. “You will be missing a lot of different features. But it will have enough features to where a customer could try it, and they can tell you if they liked it or not.”

Banks said the MVP stage is where beta testing begins.

The program
Banks said the program will be offered in a virtual format for two to four hours a week, which includes coaching from experienced entrepreneurs.

He said Build Up will help validate business models, accelerate innovation and build strong teams.

Over a 10-week period, tech startup entrepreneurs will receive:
 Individualized coaching from experienced entrepreneurs.Weekly office hours with industry leaders in product development, law, finance, intellectual property and marketing.Guidance and accountability from the Venture Home network of entrepreneurs and industry experts.Virtual/in-person Lunch & Learns.Six months of free shared-space membership at The Urban Hub, which includes access to co-working space and special events.The opportunity to practice and pitch to investors and key partners.Ongoing post-program support through the Greater Green Bay Chamber’s offerings.A free laptop.
Banks said the program’s roster of experienced entrepreneurs and mentors is still being compiled, but stressed they will be locally sourced as much as possible.

He also said the Lunch & Learn opportunities will be open to the public as well as program participants and will include an expert speaker.

Banks said the program’s ongoing post-program support is an important component to continued success after the program wraps up.

“Connecting them to a network is not enough,” he said. “We don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, here you go. You could go talk to this person and this person’ – it’s not always that easy. It takes time to build those relationships. Ten weeks is hardly enough time to submit, build an MVP or validate business models.”

The opportunity to practice pitching to investors, Banks said, is another important aspect of the Build Up program.

“They’re looking for funding at this point because most of the companies will likely be pre-revenue,” he said. “Many of them might not even have an MVP built. However, we still want them to get the opportunity to know where they have to be in order to even get in front of investors, and what they’re looking for. So, we’ll give them that opportunity.”

Banks said knowing where a startup needs to be in order to attract investors is a key component of the overall encompassing educational element of the program.

“The pitch they’ll be focusing on with the investors is their business model, their revenue model, their total addressable market, the market size things, like that,” he said.

At the end of the 10-week program, Banks said there is a showcase where all participating companies will be able to speak about their newly learned concepts.

He said details about the final showcase – which is scheduled for May 4 – will be determined as the companies progress through the program.

“I do think the Northeast Wisconsin region can become a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said. “I believe in time it will attract more investment dollars, and with that, innovative companies. The people who have these ideas will stay in the area, instead of taking the idea out to a Silicon Valley ecosystem.”

Lamarr Banks

Applications for the program are now being accepted until 11:59 p.m. Feb. 19.

More information on the program and the application process can be found at greatergbc.org/economic-development/build-up-tech-accelerator.

Why now?
Banks said the chamber decided this was the right time to launch the Build Up pilot program because The Blueprint Green Bay – an accelerator program that provided entrepreneurs of color, female and veteran-owned businesses and startups in the Greater Green Bay region with mentorship, technology training and the opportunity to secure seed funding – has been paused for the time being.

He said it also helps the chamber determine how it, the Urban Hub and the Startup Hub can help tech entrepreneurs in the area.

“Following the Blueprint program, we found there is a big value with having an accelerator program in our area,” he said. “We were able to help seven different startups get funding and help them grow their companies. However (for Build Up), we definitely want to focus on the tech component because the Blueprint program had a lot of companies that didn’t fall within ‘tech.’ We felt specializing this program to be tech would do a better job at assisting those startups.”

Banks said with the wind-down of The Blueprint Green Bay program, the chamber determined it still needed something to fill an accelerator role.

“There were no resources for a company that’s trying to be highly scalable,” he said. “Ultimately, this is why we decided to create it and cater to that group of people.”