Entrepreneurs receive free mentoring, advice
Every Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m., aspiring entrepreneurs file into ABQid’s facility Downtown to take advantage of Entrepreneurial Office Hours.
Started last September by Albuquerque Economic Development Director Gary Oppedahl, the program allows any businessperson with an existing company, startup or great idea to drop in for free advice and mentoring from a network of experienced businesspeople and professionals.
Since it launched, some 400 people have sought assistance, said Kathleen Gardenswartz, marketing director for ABQid.
“We have a network of about 60 mentors, including lawyers, accountants and experienced businesspeople who are willing to sit down for free to talk with entrepreneurs,” Gardenswartz said. “It can be anyone — somebody who wants to start a small business or who already has one. We help them work through problems and challenges.”
That can be anything from writing a business plan to raising money.
“Say you need to hire your first employee, we can bring in someone who knows about personnel to assist with that,” said Vic Berniklau, a certified mentor with the national Service Corps of Retired Executives who volunteers at Entrepreneurial Office Hours. “We deal with issues from marketing and personnel to legal and regulatory challenges, right up to selling a business. We help with the whole spectrum.”
The program works because so many businesspeople are committed to help strengthen the local startup community, said Travis Kellerman, a serial entrepreneur and mentor in the program.
“Everyone here shares, and that’s critical,” Kellerman said. “People don’t hold back. They’re all thinking about how to help and give.”
Gordon Klein, a design engineer who built a device to replace expensive sports scoreboards with remote- controlled TV screens, has received ongoing mentoring through the program to commercialize his invention.
A first-time entrepreneur, Klein also audited the ABQid business accelerator program last fall as a nonofficial participant.
“It’s been great,” Klein said. “Trying to start a business is a constant up and down and a lot of us are struggling with the same types of questions and problems, so it’s really valuable to be able to bounce my ideas and all those questions off people who have already gone through it. With so many startup programs emerging in Albuquerque, I’m wondering if there’s a better city in the nation right now to start a business.”