Resources for Entrepreneurs
Wyoming Support Agencies
Small Business Development Center
No-cost, confidential advising and technical assistance to help entrepreneurs start, grow, reinvent, or exit their business.
StartUp Wyoming is a collaborative initiative between The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) and Silicon Couloir designed to enhance entrepreneurial services and support for communities statewide.
The Business Council offers infrastructure development grants to accommodate new and expanding businesses; recruits new companies to the state; provides small capital grants to startups; delivers expertise to small businesses; assists in the redevelopment of downtowns; participates with banks to fill the gap in business financing; and partners with nonprofits, local governments and local economic development organizations to assist in community and business projects around the state.
Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Workforce Development Training Fund
The WDTF is a unique Wyoming-based program connecting employers with professional development opportunities to increase employee skill attainment. These funding opportunities include: business training grants, pre-hire grants, internship grants, apprenticeship grants.
Wyoming Women’s Business Center
The Wyoming Women’s Business Center (WWBC) mission is to enable and empower Wyoming entrepreneurs. The WWBC assists entrepreneurs, especially women who are economically or socially disadvantaged, through our counseling, training, and micro-finance programs to start or expand small businesses in the state of Wyoming. We strive to advance financial self-sufficiency by promoting economic justice and equality throughout the state.
Books, Articles, & Publications
A consolidation of of videos, podcasts, and essays created by Y Combinator.
Paul Graham’s Website and Essays
Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferriss
Granting Agencies & Angel Groups
At Silicon Couloir, we know one of the most important needs for a start-up is access to capital. We’d like to help you seek the funding you need.
Breakthrough 307 is an angel investment group that provides early-stage seed capital to high-growth potential companies in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West.
IMPACT 307 is a network of innovation-driven business incubators committed to growing and strengthening Wyoming’s entrepreneurial community by providing resources and support for founders to thrive.
Kiva uses crowdfunded microloans as a force for good, creating a space where people can have one-to-one impact, and together, expand financial access for all.
For 40 years, America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF has helped startups and small businesses transform their ideas into marketable products and services. NSF focuses on high-risk, high-impact technologies — those that show promise but whose success hasn’t yet been validated — and each year, NSF awards $200 million in funding to entrepreneurs across the country and takes zero equity.
Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association
The Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association represents entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and the service providers who support them in the Rocky Mountain Region.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with communities in education and entrepreneurship to increase opportunities that allow all people to learn, to take risks, and to own their success.
Wyoming Venture Capital (WYVC) is an equity financing option for Wyoming high-growth companies “with an eye toward future exit.” It utilizes $58.4 million in federal funding allocated through the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI).
The SBA connects entrepreneurs with lenders and funding to help them plan, start and grow their business.
MoFi is primarily a small business lender, providing loans to disadvantaged entrepreneurs and business owners. MoFi helps people who lack the assets, income, experience, and/or credit history to qualify for bank financing. MoFi provides clients with access to capital through its small business loan program, then pairs each loan with free, comprehensive business training to help them build successful businesses, achieve financial sustainability, and establish a long-term relationship with a bank.MoFi operates across Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon with offices in Missoula, Bozeman, Boise and Salt Lake City.
Rocky Mountain Business Accelerators
gBETA is a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor. gBETA is a free, seven-week accelerator for early-stage companies with local roots. Each program is capped at five teams, and requires no fees and no equity.
Founded in 2007, this program is the original Techstars accelerator and has helped over 150 companies (who have raised over $1B) take their business to the next level.
TVA is a bootcamp driven accelerator program for established startup ventures.
Templates & Guides
How to Write a Business Plan from SBA
Silicon Couloir’s Cashflow Management Guide
“How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting” from Harvard Business Review
Free legal document generator from Cooley, LLP
5 Tips for building an early-stage fundraising deck
Startup Venture Advisors created this playbook as a foundational resource to address some of the most common legal and fundraising questions they’ve heard over the years.
Liftoff With Legal 101 for Entrepreneurs
A helpful guide from Cornell and WilmerHale on the legal basics that every entrepreneurs should know as they set up a company.
Techstars Entreprneur’s Toolkit
Videos on all things entrepreneurial from understanding your customers to building an investor pipeline.