Five Local Entrepreneurs Complete First Ever Startup Boot Camp in Ada
Five local entrepreneurs participated in and successfully completed all six-weeks of the first ever Startup Boot Camp in Ada offered by the Ada Jobs Foundation (AJF). The Startup Ada Boot Camp (SABC) is a 6-week program designed to equip entrepreneurs with the education and resources needed to take their business from an idea stage to a pitch ready stage. The Boot Camp began on October 8, 2019 and brought together a group of passionate early-stage startups and small businesses for six consecutive Tuesday afternoons leading into The Big Pitch Ada event, which took place on November 12 at LegalShield.
Expert speakers and entrepreneurs from around the state were invited to lead each session of the Boot Camp series to address important topics significant to starting up a business, including Customer Discovery, Legal Basics, Intellectual Property, Startup Financing, Marketing & Branding, and learning how to ‘Pitch’. In addition to receiving a comprehensive curriculum, participants of the Boot Camp were given the opportunity to benefit from peer-to-peer interaction, active work periods for hands-on learning, and networking with established entrepreneurs and potential mentors.
“The Startup Ada Boot Camp was a wonderful experience that allowed me to network and learn from successful entrepreneurs in my community. The classes were interactive and included hands on trainings.
The Boot Camp gave me a foundation that will help me further develop my business idea. I was able to learn from the customer aspect of starting a business to the legal and financial aspects. The speakers that were part of this boot Camp were very knowledgeable of their respective subjects and were able to provide us the participants with valuable information”.
– Flor Mendoza, Startup Ada Boot Camp 19’ participant.
“The best part about the Boot Camp was how it all led to getting us prepared for the Big Pitch competition; the sessions helped us generate ideas, formulate messaging and gain a better understanding of our proposed businesses. We received help from experts to put what we discovered and refined about our business ideas, ourselves and our business environment into the proper format we needed to do a professional pitch.
I would sign up for the boot camp again and hope I get the chance to do so. It was more than worth the time and effort to attend. I have told friends around Oklahoma and the US about this program and they couldn’t believe it was offered in a small town like Ada.”
– Pat Fountain, Startup Ada Boot Camp 19’ participant and The Big Pitch Ada 2019 ‘Idea-Stage Category’ 2nd Place Winner.
The first batch to complete the Boot Camp this year was representative of a diverse group of local entrepreneurs working on exciting new business ideas ranging from a water technology startup, to an art gallery/incubator to retain and attract talented artists in Ada. While the Boot Camp provided a platform to kick-start new business ideas, participants will continue to work on developing their businesses and making use of the resources and knowledge gained from the program.
Ada Jobs Foundation strives to continue offering programs, resources and expertise to support entrepreneurs and spur startup activity in Ada.