Dan Mitchell has a full schedule most days. Between business classes, workshops and visiting Pasco County’s three entrepreneur centers, he stays busy as head of the Smart Start Incubator.
Last year, the Pasco County Economic Development Council’s incubator helped 24 new businesses launch. It focuses on an entrepreneur’s need for workspace, guidance, collaboration, education and funding.
“We help all types of entrepreneurs start businesses, from a sandwich shop to the next killer app,” Mitchell said.
One woman, who lost her job during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, dusted off an award-winning family recipe for shortbread and used the entrepreneur center’s commercial kitchen to bake, selling thousands of the Scottish biscuits online. Now she is about to open her own shop in Dade City.
“There are definitely a lot of people taking advantage of it,” Mitchell said. “For the roundtable we had last year, we had 72 participants.” More than 1,399 took classes and workshops in 2020.
For those who join an entrepreneur center, which costs anywhere from $100 to $600 per month for all services, there are opportunities for coaching, workspace, huddle space, a conference table, internet access and even free coffee. During the roundtable and at the centers, businesspeople help each other with best practices and ideas, no matter what type of business they are in.
“It is difficult to measure the success rate of the startups,” said Mitchell, “but we have a lot of success stories.”
To learn more, visit smartstartpasco.com.
