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Guest: Clair Whitmer, Deputy Director, California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) In this episode, David sits down with Clair Whitmer, Deputy Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate, to unpack SCALE, the state's network connecting small business support providers funded through SSBCI federal dollars and state appropriations. Clair came to public service through a Fuse Corp executive fellowship, landing in the City of Fresno's economic development office just as the pandemic hit, and has spent the years since building what she calls one of the signature accomplishments of the Newsom administration. Clair and David dig into how CalOSBA turned a fragmented, siloed network of over 160 providers into a true ecosystem: one where competitors for the same funding learned to make warm handoffs instead of guarding their turf. They talk candidly about the "carrot and stick" of using both funding and convening power, the shift to requiring client-level (not just aggregate) data, and why that shift was a bigger mind-shift than anyone anticipated. Clair also shares why she believes a product management mindset, not just program administration, is the missing skill set in most government ecosystem-building efforts. The conversation ranges from the coming "silver tsunami" of retiring small business owners and the opportunity in succession planning and employee ownership, to Gen Z choosing entrepreneurship over homeownership, to the $3.1 billion in capital and $4 billion in equity unlocked through the program to date. Clair closes with a story from Humboldt County that still grounds her work today. In this episode: What SCALE stands for and why CalOSBA built a consumer-facing brand instead of leading with program acronymsThe unified data model: moving providers from aggregate self-reporting to client-level dataHow CalOSBA used both funding and convening power to get 160+ competing providers to cooperateThe annual tension of spreading limited dollars across more providers vs. fewer, better-funded onesThe coming wave of retiring small business owners and the case for succession planning and employee ownershipWhy Gen Z is choosing entrepreneurship over homeownership as a path to wealthThe migration to Catalyzer and what's next for SCALE under a new governorClair's advice for emerging ecosystem builders: hire for product management skills, not just program administrationA story from Humboldt County that Clair calls her "North Star" Links: SCALE / CalOSBA: https://calosba.ca.gov/Connect with Clair Whitmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairwhit/

In this episode of Breaking Down Barriers, McKenzie sits down with Becky McCray to unpack why the old lines between "business" and "community project" don't hold up anymore, especially in rural America. Becky has spent nearly two decades at the intersection of entrepreneurship and small-town community building, and she brings that experience to life through real examples: an engineer wrestling with whether a timber festival makes him a "greedy capitalist" or a "community do-gooder," a divided building in Colfax, WA that became home to microbusinesses, and a beautification project in Freedom, Oklahoma (population under 200) that's using duct tape and cardboard mockups to let residents co-design their own downtown before a single dollar is spent. Becky and McKenzie talk about: Why the for-profit/nonprofit divide is a legal classification, not a reflection of how communities actually think about valueHow Freedom, Oklahoma is blending history, public space, and economic development into one active-living and beautification projectThe "idea-friendly method": gather your crowd, build connections, take small stepsWhy bigger towns tend toward silos and how smaller towns can model a better wayWhy standardized entrepreneurship curriculums fail, and what happens when programs start with intake instead of a lecture outlineThe new cohort model Becky and Deb Brown (SaveYour.Town) are building with Andrew Button of Mashup Lab, bringing entrepreneurial and community-minded participants into the same room Becky's closing advice: Start looking around your own community. The blending of business and community thinking is already happening. You just have to go find it and start the conversation. Connect with Becky: SaveYour.TownLinkedIn: Becky McCrayBeckyMcCray.comSmall Biz Survival newsletter2026 Rural Challenges Survey

In this episode of Breaking Down Barriers, David sits down with Marci Goodwin, co-founder of SmartStart Business Development and creator of the SmartStart Navigator, to talk about the "hidden entrepreneurs" quietly reshaping small-town economies across the country. Marci shares how a SaaS platform originally built for high-growth tech startups found its real audience in microbusinesses—the makers, side-hustlers, and mom-and-pop owners who make up the vast majority of U.S. businesses but rarely walk through the doors of an SBDC or chamber of commerce. She and David dig into why these owner-operated businesses (fewer than 10 employees, many with just one) are the true engine of local economic activity, especially as rural Main Streets lose their traditional employer businesses. The conversation covers a lot of ground: how SmartStart's bootstrapped, community-embedded model works; the baby-steps approach to getting microbusinesses "bankable"; real stories of downtown revitalization sparked by a single entrepreneur pulling others up behind her; and why traditional KPIs like jobs created and tax revenue don't capture the real impact of this work. Marci introduces the concept of KIIs—Key Impact Indicators—as a better way to measure success before the traditional metrics ever show up. In this episode: Why so many U.S. businesses are microbusinesses, and why that mattersHow SmartStart Navigator helps communities find entrepreneurs who don't yet see themselves that wayThe customer-development-first approach to getting a business "bank ready"Two Main Street revival stories—from a single-storefront herbalist to a six-vendor maker communityWhy traditional KPIs fail microbusinesses, and what Key Impact Indicators (KIIs) look like insteadAdvice for the next generation of economic development practitioners: get out from behind the desk Connect with Marci Goodwin: LinkedIn: Marci GoodwinSmartStart Business DevelopmentSmartStartNavigator.com

Guest: Deb Brown, rural economic development specialist and co-founder of SaveYour.Town Host: McKenzie Dial-Fritscher, SVP of People, Economic Impact Catalyst Episode Summary Deb Brown has spent over a decade working with rural communities across the country through keynotes, workshops, and site visits. As a former chamber director in a town of 7,800 in Iowa, she led an empty buildings tour that helped fill vacant downtown buildings in 18 months, and she's since built that experience into SaveYour.Town, a workbook, and network built around the "idea-friendly method." In this conversation, McKenzie and Deb talk about what actually moves the needle in small towns. Not big grants or outside investment, but small, community-owned steps that build trust, ownership, and momentum. In this episode: What "small town" really means, and why Deb lets communities self-identify rather than using population cutoffsThe five barriers that keep resurfacing across a decade of rural community surveysThe idea-friendly method: why gathering a willing crowd beats forming a committeeReframing setbacks as data instead of failure, with real examples from the fieldPractical ways to build trust with reluctant or resistant building ownersWhy storytelling and self-reliance are the through-line of every successful small-town projectThe empty buildings tour that turned around a town: how it started and what it producedAI as a capacity tool for overstretched rural leaders, not another thing to fear Resources Mentioned: SaveYour.Town free weekly newsletterDeb's speaker site and workbook

David Oliver sits down with Rhonda Ladig, Director of Entrepreneurship at the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), to challenge common assumptions about rural innovation. Rhonda shares how CORI's 43 member communities and 101+ tech startups span healthcare, aerospace, biotech, cybersecurity, and outdoor recreation with over 10% of ventures already AI-driven. The conversation digs into how CORI measures real impact beyond "butts in seats," how its new Rural Entrepreneurship Index is helping tell a data-backed story to funders, and why only 1% of venture capital reaches rural communities despite 12% of entrepreneurial activity happening there. What you'll learn: Why "if you've met one rural community, you've met one rural community" and why that matters for how we design supportThe three pillars of CORI's work: community experience, tech workforce development, and entrepreneurship/direct startup supportHow CORI's "train the trainer" model builds lasting capacity instead of dependencyMoving from outputs to outcomes: lessons from a 6-year longitudinal study in Emporia, KansasWhat the Rural Entrepreneurship Index measures and why business-creation data tells a different story in rural countiesThe capital gap: 1% of VC vs. 12% of entrepreneurial activity in rural AmericaRhonda's "magic wand" wish for funders, ESOs, and policymakers working in rural communities Resources & Links: Center on Rural InnovationRural Entrepreneurship IndexConnect with Rhonda Ladig on LinkedIn

Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the state's largest generalist farm and ranch organization, with a presence in all 77 counties, runs one of the most surprising and effective rural entrepreneurship programs in the country. What started with census data showing rural population decline turned into a state-designated rural business accelerator, a $5.75M rural venture fund, and a statewide technical assistance network. In this conversation, the team shares the origin story, the program structure, the wins, and the hard-won lessons about communicating economic development work to people who've never heard the jargon and don't need to. Topics Covered The origin story: how census data, a legislative RFP, and a visionary board turned Farm Bureau into a rural accelerator operatorResults to date: 42 startups, 36 rural communities, 129 jobs created, $20M+ raised, a 95% post-graduate survival rateOklahoma Grassroots Rural and Ag Business Accelerators: a six-month, hybrid (25% in-person) program built for people with farms, families, and full-time jobsSSBCI technical assistance: one-on-one coaching split across western (Sadie) and eastern (Garrett) OklahomaCurriculum work with Oklahoma FFA to support student-run "legacy businesses" and build an agribusiness pathway for the next generationLaunch Rural OK: the resource hub, interactive map, statewide conferences, and the "resource round robin" format that replaced traditional trade-show boothsHow the team finds entrepreneurs: not by going direct to founders, but by building relationships with the first people they call for help (chambers, colleges, legislators, lenders)The venture fund deep dive: how OKFB partnered with Generation Food Rural Partners Fund to become the first fund in USDA history permitted to operate this way, investing only in Oklahoma while giving LPs a return across a $48M national fundA founder story: how a health-tech air filtration startup pivoted into food processing through a single introduction made during the accelerator's boot camp stageWhy "we're on your team for the long haul" and what follow-on support looks like after the six-month program endsThe real barrier in rural economic development: not lack of resources, but communication and trust, and why repeating your story, over and over, in plain language, is the jobHow other states can get started: walk into your local Farm Bureau office, or call Oklahoma Farm Bureau directly Resources: Connect with AmarieLaunch Rural OK

In this landmark episode of Breaking Down Barriers, EIC CEO David Ponraj sits down with one of the most influential voices in economic development—Nathan Ohle, President & CEO of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). With 100 years of history and a pivotal centennial celebration on the horizon, Nathan shares what's driven him across two decades in the field, where the profession is headed, and what every economic developer needs to be thinking about right now. What we cover in this episode: How Nathan got into economic development — From serving as trip director for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to running three economic development boards during one of the worst recessions in state history, Nathan's path into the field was anything but planned. He shares how the crisis of Michigan's recession actually forced the kind of innovative, community-first thinking that has shaped his entire career. System stewardship vs. transactional economic development — Nathan breaks down a concept that's generating real conversation across the field: the shift from deal-making to system connectors. Economic developers have always been natural conveners and catalyzers—but today, that means intentionally bridging workforce, housing, childcare, education, and community planning in ways the field has never formalized before. Technology, AI, and the communities getting left behind — AI is creating extraordinary efficiency gains, but it's also moving faster than communities can keep up. Nathan speaks candidly about what IEDC is doing to equip EDOs of all sizes—from those on the cutting edge to those still catching up—and why the data center conversation is one of the most complex, community-loaded issues economic developers are navigating right now. The federal funding landscape — With a generational wave of federal investment now giving way to significant uncertainty, Nathan identifies the programs that continue to hold bipartisan support (CDBG, EDA, USDA Rural Development) and gives practical guidance on diversifying beyond federal resources. Advocacy as a core economic development function — IEDC has been deepening its advocacy work in Washington, and Nathan explains why the time to build relationships with congressional offices is before a crisis hits. He talks about storytelling, data, and why raising the profile of economic development in policymakers' minds is mission-critical. IEDC's Centennial and the Annual Conference in New Orleans — 1,700–1,800 attendees. 45+ breakout sessions. A centennial celebration at Mardi Gras World. Richard Florida as a keynote. Nathan walks through what makes the Annual Conference special (and why David calls it his favorite conference of the year). What Nathan would do differently — If he could go back, Nathan says he would have started the storytelling conversation much earlier. Because if you don't tell your story, someone else will. and it won't be the story you want told. Resources & Links: IEDC WebsiteIEDC Annual Conference — New Orleans Economic Development Research Partners (EDRP) Breaking Down Barriers is produced by Economic Impact Catalyst (EIC). Learn more at economicimpactcatalyst.com

In this episode, EIC CEO David Ponraj, VP of Clients Molly King, and Associate Product Owner David Oliver break down what it actually takes to build a technical assistance (TA) program that serves entrepreneurs well and produces the data story your funders need to see. From intake form design to impact tracking, this is a practical, field-tested guide for economic development organizations, SBDCs, and small business program managers. What You'll Learn: Designing your program structure — How to clarify whether you're delivering one-on-one coaching, cohort-based TA, or a hybrid model, and why getting this right from the start prevents burnout for coaches and abandonment by business ownersMinimum viable intake — Why collecting the right data at intake is critical (and why it's nearly impossible to get after the fact), plus how to reduce friction with two- or three-question interest forms and range-based demographic fieldsThe no-wrong-door approach — How to build a referral network so that every business owner who comes to you gets connected to the right resource, even if they don't qualify for your programSetting advisor expectations — How to structure coach/provider relationships, ensure clarity on hours, payment, and case logging, and build in bi-monthly feedback loops that keep advisors engaged and sharing best practicesGetting out into the community — Why a website and newsletter aren't enough, and how to activate minority chambers, Main Street organizations, CDFIs, and community partners to reach underrepresented entrepreneursTracking what matters — Key metrics including capital accessed, jobs created or retained, revenue growth, business survival rates, session volume by advisor, and time-to-first-contactHandling mismatches — Practical strategies for identifying and resolving mentor/mentee misalignment before it becomes a problem, including CSAT surveys and monthly feedback forms for both partiesHow Catalyzer automates all of this — A live walkthrough of how milestone properties, intake forms, and session logging work together so advisors never have to leave a session to update economic impact data Key Quote: "What gets measured, gets managed—and gets told as a story." — Molly King Try Catalyzer: 👉 catalyzerapp.com/start — set up a free account and see how it works for your community.

What separates a truly impactful cohort program from one that's just filling seats? In this episode, hosts Taylor Sherbine and David Oliver sit down with Karen Collins, Director of Programs at LAUNCH Chattanooga, to explore what it actually takes to build, run, and sustain cohort-based entrepreneurship programs that meet real community needs. Karen brings a rare perspective: she's sat on both sides of the table as a funder, a grant writer, a participant, and now a program director. She shares candidly about Launch Chattanooga's evolution, including their bold pivot to launch the Kitchen Incubator of Chattanooga—the only freestanding kitchen incubator in Southeast Tennessee—and the board pushback they had to overcome to make it happen. In this episode, you'll hear: How to design a cohort that actually fits your community: why community discovery and stakeholder mapping must come before program designBuilding an application process with purpose: how to align intake questions with funder requirements and participant fit, without closing the door on anyone's entrepreneurial dreamThe "whole entrepreneur" approach: why what happens in someone's personal life affects their business, and how to build wrap-around referral systems into your program designData strategy from day one: why waiting until after the cohort to think about outcomes is already too late, and how Launch Chattanooga is rebuilding their data infrastructure with CatalyzerDrop-out recovery and waitlist engagement: the relationship-first protocols that keep doors open and bring participants backFunding alignment and when to walk away: all money is not good money; how to stay mission-focused even when grant funding doesn't fit your populationAI in cohort curriculum: an honest take on where AI tools help, and where they fall short in serving community-specific needs Featured Guest: Karen Collins, Director of Programs, LAUNCH Chattanooga Karen is a former executive director, federal grant writer, and city government leader who went through LAUNCH Chattanooga as an entrepreneur herself before joining the team. She brings deep expertise in data-driven service delivery, community advocacy, and cohort-based program design. Resources Mentioned: LAUNCH ChattanoogaKitchen Incubator of ChattanoogaCatalyzer (EIC's platform for tracking client outcomes and business coaching)StartSpark (national network co-founded by Hal Bowling)

In this episode of Breaking Down Barriers, host David sits down with LeSean Shaw, co-founder of Empowered AI and Actual Reality Technologies, and a Toledo, Ohio native on a mission to make artificial intelligence accessible, equitable, and community-centered. LeSean shares the powerful "bean in a bowl of rice" lesson passed down from his great-grandmother—a metaphor that shaped his drive to create safe spaces for underserved communities in tech. A self-made entrepreneur, LeSean brings a grounded, honest perspective on what it actually takes to build something meaningful from the ground up. In this conversation, LeSean and David explore: Why LeSean left a corporate path to build AI education nonprofits in his hometownHow AI can unlock a "creative renaissance" for communities that have long had the talent but not the opportunityThe difference between AI fluency and AI transformation, and why meeting people where they are matters more than buzzwordsThe brain drain problem facing Midwest "flyover cities" like Toledo, and how to stop losing homegrown talent to coastal citiesHow LeSean pulled off the largest AI conference in the Midwest—Great Lakes AI Week—with 2,300+ attendees, 150+ speakers, and guests from Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Wendy's, and the White HouseThe role of MADD Poets Society, a literary arts nonprofit, in building confidence and oratory skills in the communityHis message to the next generation: "Those who stay ready don't have to get ready." Connect with LeSean Shaw & his work: Empowered AIActual Reality TechnologiesGreat Lakes AI Week

What does it actually take to run a high-tech incubator in a public-private partnership — and make it work at scale? In this episode, Molly King is joined by Taylor Sherbine from the EIC team, plus Paula Macpherson, Executive Director of Velocity in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Meghan Hubbs, Velocity's Small Business Program Manager, for a candid conversation about what it looks like to build, fund, and grow a thriving innovation ecosystem. Velocity is one of 21 Michigan Economic Development Corporation-designated Smart Zones and one of three international landing zones in the state. In just a few years, they've gone from half a building being dark to 100% occupancy with a 12-business waiting list, and grown their investment attraction numbers from $19.2 million to $68 million in a single year. Paula and Meghan share exactly how they got there. In this episode, you'll hear: How Velocity serves businesses from "idea on a napkin" all the way through their high-tech, medtech, and small business accelerator tracksWhy they built one unified intake instead of multiple forms and how that decision transformed their data qualityWhat it means to collect data for your organization, not just for your funders and why that distinction changes everythingHow signature programs like Donuts in Defense, Founders First Friday, CEO Roundtables, and Coffee and Conversation were born out of real community gapsThe challenge of tracking investments and follow-on funding when entrepreneurs are too busy (or too private) to self-reportWhat happened when they stopped trying to be everything for everyone and what that focus unlockedPractical tips for attracting businesses in defense, aerospace, hard tech, and manufacturing sectors Paula's lesson on scaling is one you'll want to write down: "We can't be everything for everyone. Get really good at what you do well [and] find partners for the rest. The growth follows." Whether you're an economic developer, incubator manager, SBDC director, or community builder, this episode is packed with real-world insight from practitioners who've done the work. Connect with Velocity: https://www.mivelocity.com/ Connect with EIC: https://www.economicimpactcatalyst.com/

In honor of National Small Business Week and Economic Development Week 2026, David Ponraj sits down with Tarsha Hearns of Economic Growth Strategies for a candid, practical conversation about what it really means to put entrepreneurs at the center of economic development strategy. Tarsha brings over two decades of ecosystem-building experience in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond, and she doesn't hold back from calling out copy-paste program design to naming the trust problem that quietly fractures ecosystems from the inside. In this episode, we cover: What entrepreneurship-led economic development actually means and how it differs from the traditional playbook of chasing big corporate relocations, including a look at programs and resources dedicated to entrepreneurship-led ED that Tarsha has tapped intoThe Dallas Collaborative for Capital Access and how a JP Morgan Chase-funded initiative brought together CDFIs, city officials, and ESOs to tackle a capital desert in South Dallas without launching yet another loan fundWhy speed of capital matters more than amount or cost and how EIC's Catalyzer platform is implementing automated underwriting to help CDFIs say yes fasterThe "copy-paste" trap and why importing a program that worked in another city without assessing your own ecosystem is a recipe for duplication, not impactThe trust problem nobody talks about—how broken referral loops, siloed data, and lack of follow-through erode confidence across the ecosystem, and what to do about itData collection done right—practical tips for capturing client outcomes at every touchpoint, including how to build incentives into your grant structureRapid-fire advice—what communities should start doing (quarterly convenings), stop doing (operating in silos), and the free C-Cube Toolkit to help get those ecosystem conversations started Resources mentioned: Economic Growth Strategies Ecosystem Assessment — start here to identify gaps in your ecosystem's infrastructure, data strategy, and capital access programsIEDC — the leading professional organization for economic developers, with programs and resources dedicated to entrepreneurship-led economic developmentC-Cube Toolkit — a free resource for starting ecosystem coordination conversationsCalifornia SCALE Network — statewide referral network model connecting SBDCs, CDFIs, chambers, and more

In this episode of Breaking Down Barriers, host David Ponraj sits down with Erik Reader of Reader Area Development to celebrate National Small Business Week, Economic Development Week, and the 100th anniversary of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). Erik brings 15+ years of on-the-ground experience in community and economic development— from running a chamber/tourism hybrid organization and leading the Illinois Main Street statewide network, to working with CDFIs and SBA CDCs. He joins David to talk candidly about the state of small towns across America, what it really takes to bring a Main Street back to life, and why the human side of entrepreneurship matters more than any metric. In this episode, you'll hear: Why remote work and post-COVID migration are reshaping small towns and creating new opportunities for communities under 50,000Whether brick-and-mortar businesses on Main Street can still thrive (spoiler: never say never)Erik's AREA framework—Assistance, Retention, Expansion, and Attraction—and why attraction should always come lastDavid's addition to the model: Succession and why protecting existing businesses is more valuable than funding new onesWhat Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) is and why it may be the safest path into business ownershipReal-world examples from Havana, Illinois and Geneva, Illinois on what deep community engagement can unlockWhy the best downtowns lean into their quirks instead of copying what worked somewhere elseThe art of community storytelling—from placards and visitor guides to AR/VR preservation (like Dunedin's Kellogg Mansion) Connect with Erik Reader: LinkedIn: Erik ReaderWeb: readerareadevelopment.com

What if the real problem with small business lending isn't the banks, but that nobody's actually built the system around the business owner? In this conversation, David sits down with Charles Kollo, Head of Innovation at BBIF, a Florida-based CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution), for a candid conversation about why the $200 billion community lending ecosystem is ripe for disruption, why CDFIs have been slow to modernize, and what it will actually take to put capital access back in the hands of business owners. Charles brings a rare global lens to the conversation: he's built a digital bank in Sub-Saharan Africa, worked with major banking groups across Côte d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and beyond, and now applies those lessons to the U.S. CDFI space. In this episode: Why CDFIs were created (and why they've been slow to innovate)The outdated 1970s credit scoring system that's still running the showWhy high interest rates from alternative lenders are essentially a "laziness fee" (and what accurate risk prediction could change)The real victim in the lending ecosystem: the small business ownerWhat mobile money in Africa can teach us about capital deployment in the U.S.The three ingredients needed to actually solve this problem: clarity of thought, tools, and distributionWhy EIC may be positioned to bridge the gap Links & Resources: Rethinking Capital Access for Small Businesses with Charles KolloLearn more about CDFIs: cdfi.orgLearn more about BBIF: bbif.com

What does it actually take to build a pitch competition that changes lives and keeps founders in their hometown? In this episode, Molly King, VP of Clients at Economic Impact Catalyst, sits down with Cenzo Caronna and Shivang Thakor of STartUP Northshore to pull back the curtain on the Inspire Startup Slam, one of the Gulf South's largest pitch competitions, running out of a 100-year-old theater in Hammond, Louisiana. Cenzo and Shiv share how they've built a $100K prize ecosystem (combining $50K in non-dilutive grant cash with in-kind services) serving a three-parish rural region north of New Orleans, and why the event they designed for "the person who got dragged there" has become the cornerstone of their startup ecosystem. In this episode: How STartUP Northshore came together across St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington Parishes, and why trust-building in rural communities requires a boots-on-the-ground, not broadcast, approachThe full founder journey: from the ID Institute 12-week accelerator → Launchpad ($5K competition) → Inspire Startup Slam ($50K)Why they scrapped winner-take-all after year one and what they changedThe six judging criteria, including one most competitions miss: commitment to and potential impact for the North ShoreHow they built a $100K prize pool starting with their own money, a Chevron partnership, and a cold call from Capital OneThe pro tip that saved them $28,000 (hint: book a theater, not a conference room)Why in-kind services like accountants, marketing firms, and coworking space may matter more than the cash prizeLeading vs. lagging indicators: why business formation is a "vanity metric" and what STartUP Northshore actually tracksPractical advice for other program managers: expect the unexpected, do non-scalable things, and text your founders This year's winner didn't make the finals the previous year. He kept building with STartUP Northshore's support and came back to win the whole thing. Guests: Cenzo Caronna, Executive Director, STartUP NorthshoreShivang Thakor, Program Manager, STartUP Northshore Host: Molly King, VP of Clients, Economic Impact Catalyst