So I am a recent graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. Other than being part of the alumni I have no other affiliation with the program, but I thought I would share my thoughts on it for those that are interested.
This program takes companies that have been in business for at least 2 years, have 2 or more employees, and have $150,000 or more in sales. They want you to have a pitch for growing your business and it does not have to be just doing what you already do, it can be expanding into a related field that your current business can help support.
The class commitment time was reasonable as they understand that you have a business to run. Each module was on a Friday or Saturday and you were there from 8am until 5pm. The clinics/workshops were on Wednesdays from 6-9pm.
Here was my whole class schedule:
- Mod 1 - You and Your Business
- Mod 2 - Growth and Opportunities
- Financial Statement Workshop I
- Financial Statement Workshop II
- Mod 3 - Money and Metrics
- You are the Lender Clinic
- Mod 4 - You are the Leader
- Mod 5 - It’s the People
- Leadership Clinic
- Mod 6 - Marketing & Selling
- Negotiations Clinic
- Legal Clinic: HR and Employment Matters
- Mod 7 - Strategic Growth through Operations
- Mod 8 - Being Bankable
- Mod 9 - Putting it All Together, Part I
- Mod 9 - Putting it All Together, Part II
So they put about 30 or so business owners in each cohort and when they selected the businesses there are not any two companies that compete in the same market. Only one real estate agent, one IT service company, one engineering company etc.. They have a team of business advisors that are there during class and we were assigned one that was available for bi-weekly meetings to assist us in developing our growth plan. The classes are taught by people from the industry. Some of the people teaching the classes had worked or were currently working for fortune 500 companies and offered a lot of interesting insights. For the lending clinics and the being bankable modules, they brought in local bank executives and other alternative lenders such as CDFI's who offered a lot of insight into what lenders want to see along with how your ideas and numbers should be presented to them. Much of the class time is spent solving problems and discussing ideas with your fellow classmates which lead to a lot of insights into how other companies are doing things.
I was surprised that since graduating I still have not been marketed to by Goldman Sachs as I fully expected them to pitch to me some type of investment or retirement plan, but the only thing that I have received from them is some business referrals and some invites to alumni events. They do a good job of keeping us talking and having meetings once the class is finished. They do ask that will fill out simple business progress reports a couple times a year that ask how many new employees and revenue stats.
Overall I would highly recommend the program, I have been in business since 2003 and I gained a lot of knowledge from the classes and my classmates. The program only costs you your time, they cover everything else including food. I won't lie, most of the classes were good to great, but particularly the "Marketing & Selling" was very weak. They ask for a lot of honest feedback I gave it to them which included suggestions for improvement. (which they encourage)
If you are interested in the program you can see if they have one in your area here http://ift.tt/1ygbgH1
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