Pitt Small Business Development Center to Extend “Latest, Greatest” Market Approaches to Area Businesses

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE), part of the Innovation Institute, announced that it is one of only five winners of the “Lean for Main Street Training Challenge” competition by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The competitive grant will enable IEE’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to provide free, proven “lean business” training programs to Main Street small businesses and entrepreneurs. Lean methodology—which involves increased consumer feedback and adaption to it—has long proven popular in technology start-ups, driving companies from a traditional business plan to a more simplified, step-by-step approach. Through their designation as an official National Science Foundation I-Corps site, Pitt has already been offering this methodology to businesses.

“Pitt’s I-Corps team has used lean methodology with over 100 teams on campus, helping lead to the commercialization of new technologies,” said Evan Facher, director of enterprise development at Pitt’s Innovation Institute. “Now, we will be able to transfer that knowledge to businesses throughout Western Pennsylvania and help them to target and expand their markets. It’s the latest and greatest approach to understanding how your company and its innovations fit into the marketplace.” 

Pitt was officially designated as an NSF I-Corps program site about a year ago. That curriculum provides a framework of principles and practices that challenge conventional notions about business model planning. As a winner of the “Lean for Main Street Training Challenge,” Pitt staff members will work with I-Corps master trainers to learn how to adapt the curriculum for Western Pennsylvania businesses.

“We’ll be rolling out a pilot program, after we adapt the curriculum, to these Main Street businesses in late summer or early fall,” said Ray Vargo, director of the SBDC. “With technology and globalization, a business that may just have had a retail model now can offer products and services throughout the world. What we’re trying to do is have them start thinking about new markets so that their business remains viable.”

Pitt was awarded $25,000 to support travel expenses associated with the I-Corps program, adaptation and development of curriculum, and delivery of that curriculum. The SBA plans to leverage the adapted curricula from the five centers by making them available to all members of the SBA’s resource partner network.

“We’ll show businesses how to look at customers first and then to create a product to fit the need, instead of spending time to develop a product or service without knowing whether anyone really wants it,” Facher said. “It’s customer discovery—what’s in the marketplace, the competitive landscape—and then company development. We’ll coach people through that.” 

Vargo said the pilot program will be geared toward a small number of businesses to start, possibly retail, construction, and service-based companies. 

“We’re hoping to be able to present these traditional businesses of Main Street with new innovations, new strategies to use within their traditional business,” Vargo said. “We’re excited. We feel that historically there has been a lack of focus on these Main Street businesses, but they’re so important to our local economy. We want to make sure they receive cutting-edge information and best practices initiatives as well.” 

SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet said the lean methodology is focused on helping entrepreneurs “get the right things to the right place at the right time, while minimizing waste and maintaining flexibility.” The partnerships between I-Corps and this program will enable Pitt and the other grant winners to become experts, she said. “We’ll work closely with them as they adapt and deliver new variations of the program to targeted audiences in their regions.”

In addition to Pitt, the other winners are: Community Business Partnership Small Business Development Center in Springfield, Va.; McLennan Small Business Development Center in Waco, Texas; Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center Women’s Business Center in San Francisco; and Mississippi State University’s Veterans Business Outreach Center in Starkville, Miss.

About the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence
The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE), part of Pitt’s Innovation Institute, offers small businesses a dynamic mix of consulting, education, and networking resources. It strives to be an innovative leader in connecting people, organizations, and resources in Southwestern Pennsylvania. In 2014 alone, the IEE served more than 900 businesses, resulting in the creation of 72 start-up businesses, the creation or retention of 543 jobs, and $14 million in capital raised. For more information, please visit http://entrepreneur.pitt.edu. 

About the Innovation Institute
Launched in 2013, the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute serves as the hub of innovation development, commercialization, and entrepreneurial activities on campus and leverages the University’s expertise to provide entrepreneurial education, support, and networking to the region’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. For more information, please visit http://innovation.pitt.edu.

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