THE SHOALS – The Shoals Chamber of Commerce will offer CO.STARTERS, a nationally renowned platform that helps communities grow local business beginning Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The nine-week program equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the insights, relationships, and tools needed to turn business ideas into action. Unlike traditional platforms, CO.STARTERS applies the lean business modeling methods popular among high-growth startups to businesses of all kinds.
The CO.STARTERS program has been adopted by more than a dozen entrepreneurial organizations in cities around the country, including: Phoenix; Cincinnati; Nashville, Tenn; Lakeland, Fla.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Chattanooga.
CO.STARTERS came out of The Company Lab, a Chattanooga, Tennessee organization that offers programs and events to support local startups and innovators, acting as a catalyst for a healthy entrepreneurial community. This new program takes the lessons learned from
working with thousands of local creative entrepreneurs and combines that knowledge with the lean business modeling methods used by high-growth startups. The CO.STARTERS model has been tested for years in Chattanooga, Cincinnati and Detroit, and it’s now helping other emerging startup communities across the nation.
Small business remains one of the fundamental economic drivers for local economies and job creation, but these smaller-scale startups have not received the same level of support as their high-growth counterparts. CO.STARTERS aims to narrow that gap.
Enoch Elwell
“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 Director. “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 www.costarters.co. To learn about CO.STARTERS in the Shoals, contact Caitlin Holland at (256) 764-4661 or cholland@shoalschamber.com.
