Business Coaching Cohort Launches: New Series Offers Support for Local Entrepreneurs
Christophe Gagné. Photo Credit Little Pond Digital
Business Coaching Cohort Launches
New Series Offers Support for Local Entrepreneurs
Brattleboro – Longtime entrepreneur and business coach Christophe Gagné will be offering an 8-week group consulting series to a small cohort of local businesses this summer. This course is part of Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s business services, which offers startup, growth and general entrepreneurial support to the Windham region.
The “Launch Pad” series will cover business fundamentals – from planning and managing to exiting – as well as strategies for capitalizing on our southern Vermont location, effective branding and messaging, building systems and SOPs, risk management, and financial controls. Each session will include a mix of instruction, group discussion, and optional homework, and is designed to be accessible to entrepreneurs who are just beginning their business plan while also offering longtime business owners additional tools and efficiencies.
“It makes such a huge difference for small businesses to have this kind of peer support and coaching, and supporting access to that is at the core of this service,” Gagné says. “It’s easy to become isolated and focused on immediate problems as a small business owner. Hearing from others in similar situations, while taking time to step back and discuss things from a long-term perspective, can really help the health of the business, and the mental health of the business owner!”
Adam Grinold, executive director of BDCC, works with business leaders on a daily basis. “Often, entrepreneurs get into business knowing their industry, but not always knowing how to run and manage a business,” he says. “Having the kind of tools that Chris is offering in the Launch Pad cohort can head off a lot of common, easily addressed problems that I see many businesses struggling with.”
Gagné has been consulting with small business owners for over a decade, and has recently exited his successful 10-year venture at Hermit Thrush Brewery.
Launch Pad classes take place Tuesdays at 6pm at BDCC’s offices at 76 Cotton Mill Hill, beginning June 18. The cohort is free to participants, but spots are limited and registration is required. Learn more and sign up at brattleborodevelopment.com/instig8.
About Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) is a private, nonprofit economic development organization with the mission of investing in the drivers of the regional economy so that people, businesses, and communities in Southern Vermont can thrive. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area (including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, Winhall and Weston). BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont. BDCC activity is made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com.
About INSTIG8
INSTIG8 is a suite of services, technical assistance and ecosystem development activities at BDCC focused on small and emerging businesses, based on the SeVEDS strategic priorities centered on fostering an entrepreneurial environment and supporting small businesses. INSTIG8 benefits the region because, 1.) entrepreneurship and innovation leads to new business and job creation, 2.) higher levels of regional entrepreneurship gives people employment choices, and 3.) new ideas and collaborations lead to new combinations which lead to business creation. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/instig8.
Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) is an affiliate of BDCC that grew from a 2008 grassroots effort, initiated by BDCC, to understand and create long term strategies needed to reverse the economic decline of the Windham Region and plan for the economic impacts from the closure of the Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant. In 2014, after multiple years of regional input, education and data gathering, SeVEDS received federal approval for the Windham Region’s federally recognized S.M.A.R.T. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). SeVEDS partnered with Bennington’s Regional Economic Development Group in 2018 to develop the 2019 Southern Vermont Zone CEDS. For more information visit www.seveds.com.
