type of meeting: administrative matters name of requestor ... · cost trainings in areas of...

Type of Meeting: Administrative Matters Name of requestor: Jacob Castillo: 498-6605 Department: Economic Development Preferred appearance date: 9/12/2017 Time required: 15 minutes Date decision needed: 9/12/2017 Objective: Larimer Small Business Development Center 2016 Performance Report and 2017 Funding Request Situation: The Larimer Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is a key partner with the County's Economic Development Department and the Workforce Center. The SBDC provides critical business support and training to new start-up companies and existing firms throughout Larimer County. In 2017 they served 646 clients resulting in 39 new business starts, hundreds of jobs retained or created and nearly $28M in sales growth. Proposal: The Economic Development Department is recommending that $20,000 from the Economic Development Partnership Fund- an established fund with $60,000 to support economic development efforts in Larimer County- be granted to the Larimer SBDC to deliver and grow services in Larimer County. Additional funds required: No Advantages: Supports an economic development effort that the Larimer SBDC is uniquely qualified to address. Supports a start-up environment in Larimer County, while helping small businesses to increase revenue, resulting in greater economic activity in Larimer County and new job creation for our residents. Leverages other federal, state, and local economic development investments. Disadvantages: Opportunity cost of investing in other projects/programs. Requested action: The Economic Development Department is recommending that $20,000 from the Economic Development Partnership Fund - an established fund with $60,000 to support economic development efforts in Larimer County - be granted to the Larimer SBDC to deliver and grow services in Larimer County. Potentially Affected Interest: Small businesses and entrepreneurs Minority, woman and/or veteran owned businesses Businesses impacted by 2013 flood Job seekers and those working in Larimer County Local and regional economic development practitioners Level of Public Interest and Participations: Low Audio/Visual/Computer Needs: Computer, projector, screen

Larimer County 2017 Economic Development - Scope of Work, Larimer SBDC June 22nd, 2017.

Larimer County desires to proactively support local economic development. A key part of this process is continuing Larimer County’s financial sponsorship of the Larimer SBDC into 2017. The sponsorship request is $20,000 to the local SBDC organization, so we can continue to initiate, organize, and execute activities to benefit the small business community within Larimer County. As shown on our attached 2016 Annual Report, actual performance over prior year was very strong, and merits funding continuation through 2017. Our federal SBA grant and matching Front Range Community College grant account for only 45% of our operating budget, so we rely on our strategic county, municipal, and private industry partners for the 55% balance. The Larimer County Workforce Center and the Larimer SBDC have much in common, and have built a solid working relationship. We are responsible for the same geography. We mutually developed an MOU specifying the services each organization is going to perform (and not perform), in order to maximize benefit and minimize duplication to the business community. We collaborated on business recovery in the Estes Valley from the September 2013 flood and related recent Highway 34 road closure, and the Larimer SBDC is a strategic partner and contributor to the Larimer County “Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan”. LCWC has supported the SBDC as an Enterprise Zone awardee. I currently serve as a co-chair on the Larimer WDB committee, and Jacob Castillo, Larimer County Economic Development Director, serves on the Larimer SBDC advisory board. Larimer County Economic Development specialist Doug Cannon is an accredited SBDC consultant, assisting local restaurant/food products entrepreneurs. At the direction of Jacob, this scope of work was prepared to explain and specify the deliverables that Larimer County can expect from the Larimer SBDC, in return for its $20K investment. The Larimer SBDC’s basic function is to educate business owners, and individuals considering business ownership, via a wide range of low-cost business trainings/workshops and free confidential one-on-one consulting. Positive measurable economic impact from Larimer County businesses will “flow” to the County from these SBDC functions. This Scope of Work is categorized in three main areas – Business Education, Economic Impact, and Outreach/Networking. Under these three main areas are specific action items, including some discussion about why each action item is important. The accompanying spreadsheet shows

the performance commitment for each quarter. As the year proceeds, we will fill-in the “actual” performance, and Larimer County/Larimer SBDC meetings will be conducted quarterly to discuss overall performance, including opportunities and issues:

1) Business Education- The SBDC’s mission is to help businesses start, grow, and prosper. We do this primarily by helping individuals and business owners become more knowledgeable about critical business processes. The two main components we accomplish this through are trainings/workshops and free one-on-one confidential consulting. Many of these services are held at our offices at the Innosphere in Fort Collins, or at the Loveland Business Development Center (LBDC). We plan and conduct many low-cost trainings in areas of sales/marketing, finance/accounting, business planning, and starting a business. The classes are designed to run generally 2-3 hours and let the attendees take home a couple of nuggets of knowledge they can apply to their business. The one-on-one consulting is always free per SBA mandate, and matches up an experienced industry or skill-set consultant, with a client who needs help in the area of the consultant’s strength. The Larimer SBDC engages approximately 35 consultants, who are paid $30 per hour as independent contractors, to perform these client advisory services. The consulting sessions usually run 60-75 minutes, and provide more individualized help than the larger training classes. We consider these two tasks to be “leading indicators”, meaning that as our performance here grows, it will produce tangible economic impact and other benefits.

The first deliverable of “free consulting” is probably the SBDC’s most valuable tool. We will execute at least 3500 hours of free confidential consulting to Larimer County clients in 2017, about even with the 3481 consulting hours done in 2016. The 3500 consulting hours goal is a 43% increase over 2015’s 2440 consulting hours. Per past direction from Commissioner Gaiter, the second deliverable will measure training classes/workshops conducted OUTSIDE the Fort Collins metro area, and we are committing to hold at least twenty of these classes.

SBDC Advanced - The third deliverable under the umbrella of Business Education is a new initiative called SBDC Advanced. This is an “economic gardening” program, and all fourteen Colorado SBDC Directors, including myself, have completed a 3-day training class conducted by Chris Gibbons (founder of economic gardening) and the Edward Lowe Foundation. In summary, the SBDC identifies a limited number of high-growth-opportunity existing companies, and supports this growth by providing them strategic direction assistance, through a combination of specialized market/industry research, and search engine optimization (SEO) and competitive analysis, for a nominal cost. My deliverable is that we will support six Larimer County businesses with this program in 2017.

Small Manufacturers AdvantEDGE (SMA) program - This fourth deliverable reflects a new joint program between Manufacturers Edge and the Colorado SBDC. Local qualifying manufacturers can receive manufacturing efficiency and process improvement assistance through the SMA program. We commit to bringing on 3 SMA clients in 2017. Business Education - $10,000 allocation, or 50%

2) Economic Impact- The Larimer SBDC, and the State of Colorado SBDC network has historically measured economic impact from our clients through 1) Sales/Revenue Growth (sales INCREASE, not total client sales), 2) Jobs Created and Retained, 3) Capital Formation, and 4) New Business Starts. The tracking and awareness of these numbers is critical, because it provides “linkage” between the Business Education work above that consumes the bulk of our time and efforts, to the real-world economic benefits that our work provides to our Larimer County economic community. We exceeded our 2016 economic impact goals by a wide margin ! The 2017 goals are slightly lower than the 2016 actual results, due to some non-repeating events, but significantly higher than 2015 results. Our 2016 and 2015 actual economic impacts results are shown in our 2016 Annual Report. These metrics are heavily weighted in the fourth quarter, because that’s when businesses report their year-end results.

I am particularly pleased with the “market share” we have taken, as a percentage of the State SBDC economic impact total. In 2013, the Larimer SBDC was about 4% of the State’s total, and at the end of 2016, we are about 10-12% of the State’s total. We were #1 in the State in client sales growth, #2 in the State for jobs retained and total # of consulting clients ! Economic Impact - $8,000 allocation, or 40%

3) Outreach and Networking- I’ve assigned some “values” to continued outreach and publicity, to make Larimer small businesses aware of our services. The three tasks under this heading are : 1) The Larimer SBDC will write and publicize three SBDC success stories in 2017 about our Larimer clients, 2) A SBDC person will participate in three “remote” outreach and/or listening sessions designed to communicate SBDC services. “Remote” is defined as locations other than Fort Collins, Loveland, and Estes Park, and 3) The Larimer SBDC , SBDC East (Weld County ), and our Denver-based “lead center” will be co-producing the 2nd annual Northern Colorado Womens Business Conference, at The Ranch November 2nd 2017, with speakers, classes, and resources to help local women entrepreneurs.

Outreach and Networking - $2,000 allocation, or 10% All of the “plan/actual” metrics are shown on the accompanying spreadsheet. The spreadsheet also shows a proposed percent and dollar budget allocation for the purpose of breaking out a relative value for the SBDC services. There are recommended amounts allocated for the important services the SBDC has provided to the business community for years, and other amounts allocated for areas of emphasis. Finally, I would like to mention that the Larimer SBDC has been a vital on-going contributor to business disaster recovery from the Summer 2012 wildfires and the September 2013 flood. Through the “Recover Colorado” disaster grant program, we have helped 59 county businesses receive over $2.1M of grant funding, which is almost 50% of the total award statewide. Phase Two of this program is underway now, and will reimburse businesses for negative “unmet needs”, including impact from the Highway 34 road closure. The metrics from our disaster recovery work is reflected in our “capital formation” and “jobs retained” economic impact metrics. Jacob, this scope of work is submitted to you for your comment and approval. Thank you, for your consistent support of the SBDC, including your participation on our Advisory Board, and for helping us be a part of the County’s 2017 budget. Please let me know if you have any questions, and what you need from me regarding the next steps. Sincerely, Mike O’Connell Larimer SBDC Director 970-215-2300 [email protected] CC: Terri Donovan-Keirns, SBDC Program Coordinator Attachments:

1) 2017 Scope of Work spreadsheet 2) Larimer SBDC 2016 Annual Report

mailto:[email protected]

Larimer County - 2017 Scope of Work, Larimer Small Business Development Center (SBDC)June 22nd, 2017 2017 Budget - $20,000

How Budget % Budget $$$

Performance Description measured: 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 1st Half 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter 2017 Total Allocation: Allocation:

Conduct Business Education:

Free Consulting Hours-Plan No. of consult 900 1000 1900 950 650 3500 15.0% $3,000

Actual Results hours 1025 1025 2050 0 0 2050

Performance to Plan % 107.9% 58.6%

Train./Workshops OUTSIDE FC-Plan Training 4 7 11 6 3 20 15.0% $3,000

Actual Results Classes Held 4 10 14 0 0 14


Recruit Targeted Clients for Client 0 1 1 3 2 6 10.0% $2,000

SBDC Advanced program Participants 0 1 1 0 0 1


Recruit Manufacturing Clients Client 0 0 0 2 1 3 10.0% $2,000

for SMA program Participants 0 1 1 0 0 1


Business Education Total 50.0% 10,000$

Trainings/workshops OUTSIDE FC - Mostly in Loveland at the Loveland chamber, also in Estes Park.

Note - 2017 Estes Park classes co-produced with Larimer County Workforce Center. Loveland classes co-produced with the Loveland Business Development Center (LBDC)

SBDC Advanced Program (strategic direction/marketing for existing businesses) - Ace Hardware Harmony Rd-FC,

Small Manufacturers AdvantEDGE (SMA) Program (process improvement for Colorado manufacturers with less than 20 employees)

SMA is a statewide joint program between Manufacturers Edge and the Colorado SBDC.

SMA - Crosstac - Loveland in June

How Budget % Budget $$$

Performance Description measured: 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 1st Half 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter 2017 Total Allocation: Allocation:

Economic Impact:

New Client Businesses Started New 6 7 13 7 5 25 10.0% $2,000

Actual Starts Businesses 7 7 14 0 0 14


Capital Formation Assistance $$$ 800,000$ 1,750,000$ 2,550,000$ 1,550,000$ 2,900,000$ 7,000,000$ 10.0% $2,000

Actual 191,000$ 191,000$ 382,000$ -$ -$ 382,000$


Client Sales/Revenue Growth $$$ 600,000$ 2,500,000$ 3,100,000$ 2,500,000$ 9,400,000$ 15,000,000$ 10.0% $2,000

Actual 302,000$ 302,000$ 604,000$ -$ -$ 604,000$


Client Jobs Created/Retained individual 25 70 95 130 175 400 10.0% $2,000

Actual jobs 24 24 48 0 0 48


Economic Impact Total 40.0% $8,000

Outreach and Networking:

Lar. Co. Small Biz Success Story completed 0 1 1 1 1 3 3.0% $600

Actual success story 0 1 1 0 0 1


Execute Womens Business Scheduled ? 0 0 0 0 1 1 2.0% $400

Conference Nov 3rd Embassy Mtg Held? 0 0 0 0 0 -

Suites % #DIV/0! 0.0%

Attend Remote Outreach Mtgs. Meetings 1 0 1 1 1 3 5.0% $1,000

Actual SBDC attended 0 1 1 0 0 1


Outreach and Networking Total 10.0% $2,000

Success Story - 1) Beau and Belle Littles, Loveland - May.

Remote Outreach - 1) Oconnell SBDC presentation at Red Feather Lakes planning committee, May 2017

Grand Total 100.0% $20,000

Notes:

1) All of the above plan targets and actual results are for businesses / individuals in Larimer County, unless noted otherwise.

2) SBDC Advanced metric, and SMA metric, will be based on participants STARTING the program.

3) "Remote" outreach is defined as communication/informational meetings at locations other than FC, Loveland, or EP.

High Quality Training

Free Confidential Consulting

Connection to

Resources

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Who We Are & What We Do

Helping local businesses start, grow and prosper

through street-smart

business education and

assistance.

www.LarimerSBDC.org

www.LarimerSBDC.org

2013 to 2016Consulting

2013 2015 2016

Client Count 383 605 646

Consulting Hours 1738 2440 3481

# of Consultants 10 20 25

Target Demographic 60 111 104

Statewide SBDC consulting clients, as a % of area businesses:

6155 / 575K = 1.1%

Larimer SBDC:

646 / 30K = 2.2%

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Strong outreach to our small businesses:

www.LarimerSBDC.org

2013 to 2016Economic Impact

2013 2015 2016

New Biz Starts 18 23 39

Jobs Retained 45 430 502

Jobs Created 85 128 346

Capital Formation $1.3M $6.6M $8.4M

Sales Growth $3.8M $9.1M $27.9M

Terri Donovan-Keirns

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Program Coordinatorat Larimer SBDC

Mary Ann Huffines

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Program Coordinator at Loveland Business Development Center

• Phase 1 - 59 businesses, $2.3M total awards. 50% of state total.

• Phase 2 – Covers Highway 34 road closure impact. 8 businesses received $163K in ‘17. 34 applications under review.

www.LarimerSBDC.org

“Recover Colorado”, disaster recovery grant:

Owners: Ginger & Brett Rosenbauer

• Started a bike company devoted to kids and small adults.

• SBDC consultations consisting of inventory management, cash flow analysis, lending and loan options, business accounting advice and general business best practices.

Trailcraft Cycles

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Owners: Paul & Rachelle Baron

• High-quality reusable swim diaper.

• SBDC consultations consisting of accounting, financial, inventory planning assistance

• Rachel Ray Show

Beau & Belle Littles

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Owners: Tim & Julie Kenney

• SBDC Advanced –Strategic Direction Program

• SBDC consultations consisting of acquisition/transition support, franchise advice

Ace Hardware –Harmony Road

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Owner: Thom Kingston

• Off-road vehicle products

• Moved to Loveland in 2014

• SBDC assistance with financials and budgeting

Spidertrax

www.LarimerSBDC.org

• Launch “ScaleUp Smart” program to assist local existing growth businesses.

• Womens Business Conference, Thursday Nov 2nd at The Ranch!

• Execute Larimer County SOW

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Major 2017 Initiatives:

Mike O’Connell will present:

“My Top 6 Ways That Businesses Get Into Trouble.”

Mike O’Connell

www.LarimerSBDC.org

• 2016 Actual - $20K

• 2017 Request - $20K

Thanks for your consideration!

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Larimer County - SBDC Sponsorship Request

www.LarimerSBDC.org

Thanks to FRCC !

30 Years of Hosting the Larimer and North Metro Denver

SBDCs !!!

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