Greensboro holds first ever Startup Week to help local entrepreneurs

GREENSBORO, N.C. — If you're a small business owner or dream of owning a small business, Greensboro has an event with you in mind.

This week, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce is hosting its first ever Startup Week, focused on helping anyone looking to expand their small business or learn more about what it takes to be a business owner.

Small business owners often face a range of challenges getting their businesses to the next level.

That's something Joey Cheek, Executive Vice President of Entrepreneurship with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, has firsthand experience dealing with.

“I started my first company right out of college," Cheek said. "And I made every dumb mistake a young entrepreneur could ever make... I didn’t get any help, I didn’t know how I was going to take my product to market, I didn’t have developers.”

But Cheek learned from his mistakes and surrounded himself with people he could learn from. He said that made him better prepared for the next business he began.

“It’s so tough when you’re starting your own business to know what not to do. There’s so much, there’s so much going on," Cheek said. "So, hearing from people who have been there before, it just saves that much more time.”

That's why he came up with Greensboro's first Startup Week, built just for people who are either starting their own business or wanting to start their own business.

“We have a great ecosystem here in Greensboro and great entrepreneurs, but we didn’t have a great way of tying them all together," Cheek explained. "I’ve seen in other cities that a startup week has been a real catalyzing event, and that’s what we hope to do here.”

Free sessions will be going on throughout the week and will cover a variety of topics, all centered around providing people with the information and skills they need to grow their business.

“We’ve got amazing sessions with people who are going to help you learn the law, learn how to raise money, learn how to go to banks if you need banking, learn how to grow big companies," Cheek said.

Tiffany Perrin-Cole is the owner and CEO of Tiff Tough Solutions, a small business featuring building inspections and retrofits. As a new business owner, she was excited to hear more about this week's events.

“I want to know how to properly structure my business. I want to do everything right," Perrin-Cole said. "I know this is a one-week process, so I also want to learn about the taxes, all the different ins-and-outs of business and ownership and stuff like that.”

With classes ranging from sales to banking to AI, Perrin-Cole is ready to take advantage of the resources.

“I am set up to have myself available for these classes," she said.

All 14 sessions this week are free, but attendance is limited, so Cheek recommends signing up as soon as you can.