Starting a new small business is, well, risky business. The percentage of startups that fail in the first year or two is huge, and it can be difficult for entrepreneurs to know what to do.
A new program being offered by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, in partnership with REV Birmingham and MAKEbhm, is designed to give advice to would-be business owners, those in the early stages of developing a business or owners who are considering a change in their business plan.
CO.STARTERS is a nine-week program that will equip small business owners and would-be entrepreneurs with knowledge and tools that can help them turn their concepts into workable business plans.
The idea of offering CO.STARTERS grew out of an ongoing project at the Cultural Alliance, which is better known for its involvement in the arts community. “The Cultural Alliance has since 2013 been working on a creative industries project that has been about researching and canvassing the Jefferson County creative sector,” says Buddy Palmer, Cultural Alliance president and chief executive officer. “The report takes a snapshot of where Birmingham is now.”
The report, which looks at businesses, employees, industries, potential business growth, projects, initiatives and programs that would provide infrastructure for supporting growth, will not be made public until October, Palmer says.
“One of our creative industries steering committee members became aware of the [CO.STARTERS] program, which was created in Chattanooga. We went to see it…[and] thought it was right for Birmingham. We just didn’t want to wait,” Palmer says.
The first cohort of entrepreneurs will begin the CO.STARTERS program Sept. 15, and the deadline for enrolling is Sept. 12. Palmer says six to eight businesses have signed up out of the maximum 16 that can be involved in the first round.
“We have someone who has a baking business. We have someone involved in early stages of a textile business. We have someone who is involved in 3D printing. We’ve got somebody involved in looking at a distillery concept,” he says. “It’s an interesting variety so far.”
Palmer does not believe CO.STARTERS will compete with the services offered by the Innovation Depot incubator that houses mainly technology businesses in its downtown facility. “It actually is a program that would work for anyone who has an idea or a service that they want to explore or a business that is already in development in early stages that wants to tighten the business plan,” he says.
“This is a program that Chattanooga has worked on. It’s in about its fifth or sixth year now. They’ve been tweaking this all along,” Palmer says. “It’s been tested and it’s been tracked.”
He is especially impressed that 75 percent of businesses in Chattanooga that have gone through CO.STARTERS have been successful three years later.
That statistic also impressed Elizabeth Barbaree-Tasker, chief operating officer of REV Birmingham, who says that less than half of new businesses generally survive. “It’s a big difference,” she says.
Palmer adds, “We believe that Birmingham’s future is in small business. I think that the best investment a community can make in its people is to offer a broad range of business planning products.”
Many people who have ideas for businesses do not have business backgrounds. Palmer says CO.STARTERS is good in such situations. “This is very intuitive. … It’s very plain-spoken for people who don’t operate from that side of their brain. It’s built around the fact that a group of people go through this process together,” he says.
Members of the cohort hold each other accountable and bounce things off each other. Plus, he says, facilitators will have “office hours” at least once a week to allow participants to get advice beyond what can be provided in the weekly three-hour sessions.
CO.STARTERS was developed by the Company Lab, which began in 2008. The Company Lab has honed traditional business training techniques and met with thousands of entrepreneurs. More than 700 people have gone through the program and more than 350 successful businesses have been launched.
The CO.STARTERS program has been adopted by more than a dozen organizations in cities around the country, including Phoenix, Cincinnati, Nashville, Lakeland, Fla., and Fort Wayne, Ind.
Barbaree-Tasker says CO.STARTERS will dovetail nicely with other efforts to assist businesses, including the Biz 1.0 program REV launched in the last year. That program includes four two-hour sessions that give participants an overview with good foundational information, she says. “We are excited to be offering it as a more in-depth educational opportunity for people who are interested,” she says.
For example, CO.STARTERS can help would-be business owners determine what their market would be. “Are their customers really all women in general or are they women from 25 to 40 who really like this sport?” Barbaree-Tasker says.
She says REV is involved in CO.STARTERS because it can help “lead to a stronger entrepreneurial culture in Birmingham.” And, she says, the program fits into REV’s goals.
“One of the primary ways we fulfill our mission is…to build sustainable, active businesses. That means more customers are coming, more people are working in the businesses,” Barbaree-Tasker says. “There’s more opportunity to have neighborhood events. Filling vacant store fronts is a key strategy that we rely on to accomplish our mission.”
Palmer says CO.STARTERS helps people look at their plans realistically. He says it takes “a broad canvas approach. Any kind of entrepreneur could benefit from this. It’s not targeted at any single sector.”
Staff from the Company Lab recently came to Birmingham and trained facilitators, all of whom are local entrepreneurs who have been through the process of opening a business. Guest speakers will be people who have opened businesses in the community.
“The program then takes on a very local flavor,” Palmer says.
There is a charge of $450 plus a materials fee of $125 for the program, but Palmer says there are some scholarships available.
This fall’s program will not be the only opportunity for Birmingham-area entrepreneurs to participate. “Our intent is to do a minimum of three annually and possibly more, depending on how we see the demand going forward,” Palmer says. The next one is planned for February.
For more information on CO.STARTERS, click here.