Every community is uniquely built, with a common blueprint

Fellowship Overview

Purpose: The Make Startups Fellowship increases the impact potential and operational capacity of executives in entrepreneurship support, ecosystem building, and economic development organizations.

Key Components: Six-month program with 2 in-person immersions, bi-weekly online training, one-on-one advising, peer coaching, and local field building initiatives. 

Goals: Equip executives with skills in strategic partnership building, accessing WIOA funding, delivering AI-enabled training, economic impact reporting, and entrepreneurial advocacy.

Fellowship Pillars

• Sustainable Ecosystem Building: Enabling increased funding and better measurement of outcomes by entrepreneurial support programs at the local, state, and national level. 

• Inclusive Entrepreneurial Training, Support, & Connections: Emphasis on the role of ecosystem builders and economic developers creating opportunities for disadvantaged and underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship.

• Long Term Economic Impact: Center the potential for job creation, inclusive growth, and generational wealth through entrepreneurship training programs that lead to business success.

The Fellowship Experience

Unlocking workforce development funding for entrepreneurial skills training requires a specific credentialing approach and the technical capacity to capture and report impact metrics . Make Startups is an approved entrepreneurial skill development credential by workforce boards in 4 states. The Fellowship exists to provide capacity building support and advocacy strategies to ensure workforce development funding for entrepreneurial training programs is accessed nationally.

Participants can expect the following as a result of the Fellowship: