Meet our Client: Awesome Bars
The two sisters and owners of Awesome Bars, Leah and Stefanie Melnik, were inspired to start their business after getting awesome feedback about their tasty and wholesome snacks from their family and friends.
2019 New Year’s Resolutions: Attract New Customers
Attracting and retaining customers is critical to small business success. Here are some tips and resources to help your business get more effective at customer acquisition. Identify your ideal customers Who are your current customers and who do you want your new customers to be? Where are these folks (online and in person) and…
Resource for your Business: Start Small Think Big
Main Street Launch is proud to partner with organizations like Start Small Think Big, another San Francisco Economic Development Alliance (SFEDA) member organization. Start Small provides eligible entrepreneurs with free legal, financial, and marketing services through in-house experts and their extensive network of pro-bono partners. Legal services include: Corporate risk assessment Entity…
Meet our Clients: Manifesta
At the end of 2013, three entrepreneurs opened Manifesta. The entrepreneurs, Lindsay Barnhardt, K.C. Lutes, and Mireya Albarra, knew that they wanted to open a hair salon, but they also wanted to serve the community.
Celebrating 40 Years of Powering Dreams
Main Street Launch is celebrating 40 years of supporting entrepreneurs. Founded in Oakland in 1979, Main Street Launch has grown and changed over the last 40 years, learning from our communities about their needs and adapting with new programs and services. We are excited to celebrate our 40th anniversary throughout 2019. Check back to…
Base Your Business on Real Trends, Not Fads That Fizzle
This post was written by Andrew L. Wang and was originally published on Nerdwallet on September 11, 2017. It is reshared here with permission. For every story of an entrepreneur who was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on a fad, there are probably 10 more about the poor guy…
Meet Our Clients: The Storybook School
Founded by a partnership between Marianne Lam and Jacquelyn Coo, The Storybook School officially opened on October 23, 2017. Ever since then, their school grew from two to forty students, almost reaching max capacity within one year. The Storybook School is an all-inclusive, relationship and project-based school preparing 2-5 year olds to transition into grade…
6 Key Questions when Evaluating an Investment Opportunity
This post was written by Lucas Parker. Making a good investment opportunity can bring you a small fortune, while a bad one is something that could ruin you financially in no time unless you’re very careful. The problem with this notion lies in the fact that differentiating good investment opportunity from a bad one isn’t…
Meet Our Clients: Aburaya
Aburaya is a restaurant inspired by punk rock and a mission to provide affordable Japanese cuisine, such as the fried chicken and more to the local community. Originally, Aburaya started as a pop-up, but settled in a more permanent location on Oakland’s 17th St after popular demand for the chicken and other dishes. They are…
Resource for your business: Pacific Community Ventures
At Main Street Launch, our innovative partnerships enable us to provide small business owners with the capital, education, and relationships that allow them to thrive. One partner that supports this goal is Pacific Community Ventures. Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) is a nonprofit that engages small businesses, investors and policymakers to build an economy that…