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Classes & Workshops

Start Up

Start Up is our signature business program. This supportive, inclusive 15-week course is a deep dive into business planning.

Start Up is our signature business program. This supportive, inclusive 15-week course is a deep dive into business planning. Start Up is for you if you:

Have a solid business idea that you'd like to pursue
Are serious about learning and taking action
Can make the time commitment to fit this into your busy life
Welcome active participation in a small-group environment
Are ready to make positive change and take control of your future
Identify as a woman, female, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming

The Women’s Small Business Program (WSBP) has provided business education to entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs since 1989. This semester-long course helps women gain knowledge and build skills critical to having a successful business. Using the framework of writing a business plan, students learn the language of business and graduate armed with the knowledge they need to launch or expand their businesses.

The curriculum covers the fundamentals of three content areas in depth: Marketing, Finance, and Business Operations, and is taught by a team of instructors who are also business owners. You’ll graduate knowing how to start and operate a successful business, and you’ll have completed a comprehensive, realistic business plan that you can use to guide you and to take to a lender for funding. This course is also designed for women+ who are already in business and want to reinvent their business or take it to the next level.

Class size is intentionally small, so you’ll get lots of personal attention and form lasting bonds with your classmates. This small-group experience has been referred to as “life-changing” by many of our previous graduates.

The next 15-week session begins August 22nd!

We are a VSAC-approved provider so this program qualifies for VSAC's Advancement Grant Program.

Start Up

Monday, Aug 22, 2022