STARTUP RESOURCES MAP

To quickly find the right startup resources for your venture or small business, download the Asheville Startup Resources map

We have created an inspiring coworking space in downtown Asheville, NC to make your work day the best it can be. We encourage you to visit us and see what we’re doing. Coffee is on us! https://www.hatchcoworking.com/

“Mojo Coworking has been serving remote workers, freelancers and small businesses in Asheville since 2011. The driving force behind Mojo has always been energy. Creative, social and entrepreneurial energy. Our goal is to bring the energetic minds and bodies from our community together to encourage and inspire cross pollination through ideas, stories, work and play.

People seem to like it here and our membership has grown steadily.”

Focal Point’s initiative is to provide:
Inspiring environment 
Community for support 
Increased productivity 
Life-work balance 
Flexibility 
Cost efficiency 

Focal Point offers full-service office space, collaborative spaces to meet and network with others or pitch ideas, and professional development workshops from experts in the field. When you grow, everyone grows.

Hatch Pitch Parties: A monthly event allowing entrepreneurs to practice one of the most important skills an entrepreneur needs to develop: their pitch! While there are several kinds of pitches, this event is an open event for anyone to give a 1-minute pitch. Just you, no slides! Let’s see you communicate your big idea. As an added benefit, pitchers will receive feedback from their peers.

This event is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to pitch, as opportunities to validate your ideas to an unbiased audience are rare!

Hatch This is a  mash-up of, a hackathon, an accelerator, and a weekend-long party, Hatch This matches attendees in teams with expert mentorship to craft a startup and compete for prizes including seed funding and office space at Hatch Asheville, located at 45 S. French Broad in downtown.

At each event, 3-4 startups pitch their companies to our panelists and the audience. Our standard format includes a 5-minute pitch with slides followed by 10 minutes of feedback from our expert panel and Q+A with the audience.

Based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and engage with their communities over a million cups of coffee, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation developed 1 Million Cups in 2012—a free program designed to educate, engage and inspire entrepreneurs around the country. Through the power of volunteers, 1 Million Cups has grown to more than 180 communities.

Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) – Asheville provides management counseling and educational services to small and mid-sized businesses. Most services are free of charge and all are confidential. The SBTDC has helped North Carolina businesses grow and create new jobs since 1984.

A mission-driven collaborative focused on solutions for climate change. Offering membership, cowork, office & event space in the heart of downtown Asheville, North Carolina. TheCollider.org

An 11,000-square-foot shared-use kitchen and natural products manufacturing facility, Blue Ridge Food Ventures offers support in product development, guidance through the maze of government regulations, equipment for bottling and packaging, advice on marketing and label design, and much more. Offers the best startup resources for entrepreneurs specializing in natural foods and products.

Outdoor Gear Builders of Western North Carolina is a network of outdoor gear-making companies that provides a creative, inclusive and supportive environment to encourage each other and new business. OGB stimulates communication, idea sharing, and crossover opportunities between member companies.

Connected to Catawba Valley Community College, the Manufacturing Solutions Center is a 30,000 sq. ft. facility where innovative concepts may be put through design, or the research and development processes; products and prototypes are tested; manufacturing processes are fine-tuned; and accurate cost and product studies are performed.

WCU’s Center for Rapid Product Realization product development center utilizes state-of-the-art rapid prototyping equipment and 3D printers to create product models faster for less cost. In addition to training some of its seniors (talent for hire), WCU helps businesses develop new products, refine existing ones, and work on process improvements.

Learn more about WCU’s Rapid Prototyping Center.

Formed in 2013, the Carolina Textile District is a network of textile related companies connecting entrepreneurs to a one-stop shop of resources across the Carolinas from development to production and distribution. If you have an idea for a new product or are looking for a new home for your production, the CTD can jumpstart your textile business.

As part of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), which is headquartered in Asheville, CICS-NC leads initiatives to promote private sector commercialization of climate data. Contact Jenny Dissen at CICS-NC to learn more.

Mountain BizWorks offers highly customized peer-to-peer business coaching by an extensive network of local, successful business owners. MBW’s coaching helps entrepreneurs overcome obstacles, grow strategically, and create jobs.

EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) is an interconnected, proven system designed to help entrepreneurial teams integrate proven tools and disciplines that drive clarity of vision, consistent traction and overall health. Contact local Implementer, Matthew Abrams.

Asheville SCORE  is a national non-profit, volunteer organization of successful executives who provide free business consulting services to entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals that want to start a company or expand an existing business.

Venture Asheville’s entrepreneurship development program, Elevate is designed to help high-growth, early-stage ventures scale more rapidly. It provides team mentorship modeled on the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, office hours with industry specialists (HR, patents, finance, etc.) to teach startup founders how to lead companies as CEOs. The program has had over 70 participating companies, raised over $10M for companies and created over 250 jobs.

Led by Mountain BizWorks, ScaleUp WNC offers mentorship, management training, growth capital connections and other valuable startup resources for entrepreneurs, helping young companies achieve sustained growth. As one of only eight selected SBA ScaleUp communities in America, this highly competitive program will provide intensive growth strategy development and implementation assistance to a total of 150 small businesses in cohorts of 15 over the course of five years.

AB Tech Small Business Incubator offers entrepreneurial development designed to increase business success through consultation services, coaching, access to shared resources, and either office, wet lab or manufacturing facilities.

NC IDEA provides micro-grants for up to $10,000 and SEED grants fo up to $50,000 to North Carolina-based, startups that need help crossing the chasm between initial product development and venture capital funding.

The Innovation Fund North Carolina takes applications from startups in agricultural technology, advanced manufacturing technology, healthcare technology or IT/communications for either a $25,000 Proof-of-Concept grant or an Early Launch Loan (non-collateral) up to $100,000.

Founded in 1990, the Carolina Small Business Development Fund (previously known as The Support Center) is a statewide, nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides small business loans, financial training to businesses, and lending services to community-based organizations. Since 2010, the CSBDF has invested $32.7 million in 458 small businesses across North Carolina helping to create or retain more than 1,018 jobs.

Self-Help’s mission is creating and protecting ownership and economic opportunity for all, especially people of color, women, rural residents and low-wealth families and communities. Since 1980, Self-Help has made more than $1.5 billion in commercial loans to businesses, nonprofits and community development projects. We focus our impact and expertise on green businesses, childcare centers, sustainable food systems, and businesses owned by women and people of color.

Loans guaranteed by the SBA range from small to large and can be used for most business purposes, including long-term fixed assets and operating capital. Some loan programs set restrictions on how you can use the funds, so check with an SBA-approved lender when requesting a loan. Your lender can match you with the right loan for your business needs.

• the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to help small business owners and entrepreneurs pursue the American dream to start, grow and expand their small business.
• SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business
• Provides small business counseling
• Access to capital from $500 to $5M
• Provides Federal contracting expertise
• Voice for small businesses.

The North Carolina BioTechnology Center – Western Office has a Business and Technology Development Program focused on driving the start-up and growth of life science companies throughout North Carolina. Its programs include:

• Company Inception Loan. Loans up to $50,000 to start-up life science companies to support business inception and related activities intended to help the company position itself for start-up and early-stage funding or partnering.
• Small Business Research Loan. Loans up to $250,000 to fund research to advance development of commercially viable technologies/products and is intended to support companies in reaching specific and meaningful research milestones that would position them to obtain additional funding from private and public sources.
• Strategic Growth Loan. Loans up to $500,000 to life science companies, which must be matched by an equal investment from one or more organized angel funds or networks (“Angel Groups”) or venture capital funds (“VCs”).

WCU Asheville’s Department of Engineering program focuses on a foundation in mathematics, sciences, and engineering, augmented with engineering specializations. This program emphasizes the hands-on application of the theoretical and technical projects, as student work on
real-world assignments with companies through WCU’s Center for Rapid Product Realization.

UNC Asheville Department of Engineering offers courses in Mechatronics, a concentration of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. Mechatronics focuses on the precision control of mechanical and machine systems through the use of sensors, actuators, and microprocessors. Fosters new avenues of thinking and design to enhance the utility, performance, and efficiency of modern machinery.

At UNC Asheville’s Computer Science Department students learn the fundamental principles of computer science and experience the creativity inherent in the field. Core courses focus on the fundamentals of computing—data structures, computer architecture, system software and software engineering, database management and operating systems. Optional courses range from VLSI design and computer networking to graphical user interfaces and object technology.

Tech Talent South offers full-time and part-time coding programs to empower students with the skills to code, design, and ship dynamic web applications. Learn Ruby on Rails, Domain Modeling, HTTP and “RESTful” Design, HTML/CSS, Javsascript and AJAX, and Utilizing APIs, and more.

AB Tech Community College – Engineering & Applied Technology Division offers a wide variety of Associate in Applied Science degree programs in engineering technologies and applied technologies. Programs include computer engineering, computer-integrated machining, and sustainability technologies.