[Finance] startup help from Govt

[Jerry Isdale]

I'm not sure how applicable this is to other areas, but out here in Maui, the county and state govt has several programs to help small businesses and non-profits get started and better themselves.   The Maui County Business Resource Center and the state Small Business Dev Center have a lot of services and resources.  The Maui Economic Opportunities and Maui Econ Dev Board are two other orgs that offer classes, space, etc to startups and non-profits.   We are an economically depressed area with very little industry (tech is actually #2 behind tourism, followed by agriculture).

I urge other spaces to dig around your county/city/state resources on the web and find these.  They can be a big help.  Also SCORE (http://www.score.org) offers workshops and local advisors as well as online resources for small biz consulting for very low cost/free.   Score advisors are generally executives and other successful managers from industry trying to give back to community.  Note they are already biz/tech/community/active minded people.  Just the sort that might find a hacker/maker space of *personal* interest and become a member.

jerry isdale
http://mauiMakers.com