Small Business Intensive
Growing Your Business
The Small Business Intensive is a four-month, cohort-based program designed for growth-minded entrepreneurs, who still want to remain a small business or stay local. These ‘non-scalable’ businesses need a different type of support than what traditional entrepreneurship programs, like incubators or accelerators, can offer. Small Business Intensive will coach you through the tools and skills you need to grow your small business.
Small business owners need to know how to grow their business SMARTLY. They need to understand how to hire the right people, create systems and processes to maximize their time, use their finances to project into the future and help develop a company culture that will attract and retain strong workers. The Small Business Intensive will cover these topics that are more pertinent to business owners actively running a business, and looking for sustainable growth or expansion.
Each month will consist of one 3-hour in-person work session facilitated by a topic expert. Throughout the month, participants are expected to take what they've learned during the work session and begin applying their new tools/skills to their business. To support you through this process, we will have virtual meetings with the cohort, office hours with our topic experts, and accountability checks from the SCCF team. Participants should expect to spend about seven hours a month in "class time" with the cohort, in addition to working on their business challenges outside of class.
2025 Topics:
February- Brand Strategy
March - Financial Projections and Sustainable Growth
April - Operations, Systems, and Delegation
May - Human Resources, Hiring and Leading a Team
Program Structure:
SBI sessions will follow the same format each month
Week 1: One 3-hour, in-person facilitated topic session
Week 2: One 2-hour, virtual office hours/working session
Week 3: Progress check-ins via Slack
Week 4: One 1-hour, virtual check-in with the SCCF team
The Small Business Intensive is made possible by a grant from the City of Staunton and additional support from City National Bank.
WHO is this program for?
In its pilot phase, the Small Business Intensive will be for STAUNTON business owners who have launched their small businesses and are looking for additional support as their business continues to grow. The best-fit businesses are those that are established, running, and earning revenue. We suggest they be at least 3-5 years old, but younger businesses will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
There will be a maximum of 8 businesses admitted to the program.
HOW much does Small Business Intensive cost?
Small Business Intensive has a value of $750 ($250/month investment into your business). Thanks to a grant from the City of Staunton and the generous support of City National Bank, we can offer this program to participants for just $200 TOTAL during its pilot phase.
WHEN does Small Business Intensive happen?
Applications are NOW OPEN and are due by December 31st, 2024. You will receive a notification from the SCCF team by January 16th, 2025 on whether or not you have been admitted.
If you are admitted to SBI, you will also receive an invoice that will be due before the first class begins on February 3rd, 2025.
