Business Advising

business advising

what we do

The WV Hive offers business advising to entrepreneurs at any stage from ideation to acceleration! Our business advisors, through one-on-one advising, can help take your idea to market, build a business from the ground up, or propel your existing business to capture more of your target market. The Hive offers workshops, training, and networking. Our advisors are certified CO.STARTER facilitators. Our business advising services also include financial and market research reporting and interpretation. Your business advisor will guide you, help you set business goals and track your progress, listen and offer different perspectives, and most importantly be one of your biggest cheerleaders!

Ideation

Take a new idea to market.

Work with a business advisor to address pre-and early-seed stages of a business venture. Through deep mentoring, clients determine the potential and viability behind their innovative idea. At this stage, clients will validate ideas, recognize challenges and opportunities, identify customer segments, determine competitive advantages, and design a business strategy.

Incubation

Get your new startup off the ground.

Establish a customized approach to fill gaps and needs in early stages of development. Business advisors will work with you through four main focuses, including business concept, customer relations, operations, and organization.

Acceleration

Position your business for growth.

Unlock your business’ full potential and prepare for long-term market success. Clients will work with business advisors to learn about access to capital, exporting, and fulfillment strategies to help you push your venture to the next level.

Tools in our Toolbox

Upon submission of a WV Hive application, the applicant will meet with a business advisor to complete an assessment. This assessment allows the advisor to determine which tools in our toolbox can best serve the applicant’s needs.

The Hive has implemented a series of tools and programs to better equip our staff to serve clients throughout our region. Our business advisors our trained to use internationally recognized small business support training materials from CO. STARTERS and LivePlan.

CO.STARTERS

The WV Hive is one of two authorized member vendors for CO.STARTERS in West Virginia. The programming offered through CO.STARTERS focuses on entrepreneurs who are “starting” their businesses. The cohort-based programs are designed to aid entrepreneurs formulate their ideas into action. Our business advisors facilitate CO.STARTERS programming regularly and utilize all available tools provided by CO.STARTERS, including the business model canvas for starters.

Learn More About CO.STARTERS Training