Hub LA New Year, New Programming, New Membership: Launching Hub LA Workbench and Hub Accelerate

New Year, New Programming, New Membership: Launching Hub LA Workbench and Hub Accelerate

By Elizabeth Stewart
CEO and Co-Founder, Hub Los Angeles

As 2013 begins, I’m excited to watch the success and momentum building at Hub LA. Several members are ready to close seed rounds of funding, structure their social enterprises, build boards of exceptional advisers, create value for their first set of clients, and launch crowdfunding campaigns. Each step in moving from idea to execution is no small feat and is celebrated here, which is why we are excited to announce our new program designed to help members access the tools and resources necessary for turning ideas for positive change into reality.

Workbench, our new business acceleration program, is designed for accessibility. Powered by our community of Hub LA members, staff, and partners, it is community-sourced versus crowd-sourced; highly curated; and designed for the entrepreneur instead of the VC. It includes start-up tools accessed through workshops, one-on-one sessions, office hours, and business hack-a-thons covering branding, financing, legal structures, tax accounting, and organizational design. This will provide members with access to invaluable expertise and a community of peers. In the weeks to come, it is our hope that Hub LA members use Workbench events, series, and discounts with partner firms as a means to move from idea to impact more quickly.

To go along with Workbench, we are launching a new Hub Membership Package for start-up social enterprises that want to take their ideas to the next level. Separate from Hub Productive (which includes shared workspace hours), Hub Accelerate will allow start-up teams access to all partner discounts, members-only programming, and office hours for roughly the cost of a nice dinner each month. The goal is to make critical business resources and support accessible to everyone who has the drive to make ideas for good a reality. We are pre-selling Hub Accelerate memberships and have limited slots, so contact us soon if you are interested.

Why do this? We see a huge gap in the resources and relationships accessible to great, early-stage start-ups dedicated to making positive change in the world who are not “accelerator-ready” based on traditional VC criteria. We believe Workbench has the potential to fill this resource gap and grow great companies that may not be able to provide VC-type returns, but that are still creating great value for our communities and environment along with generating profit. We believe there is a place, somewhere between the private and non-for-profit sector, for these companies to exist. Hub LA is dedicated to figuring out sustainable ways to seed this movement of social entrepreneurs and Profit+ business models in the region, and contribute the scaffolding needed to grow a new wave of entrepreneurs that are using business to address some of our most pressing social and environmental issues.

Feedback, comments, and ideas? Leave me a message in the comments below!