Lafayette-based co-working group offering entrepreneur training in Indianapolis

Maven Space at 433 N Capitol Ave. (IBJ photo/Eric Learned)

Lafayette-based MatchBOX Coworking Studio is extending its free startup accelerator program to Indianapolis, Kokomo and Vincennes next month with financial support from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

The Indianapolis program, which is being offered in partnership with the downtown co-working hub Maven Space, launches April 9. Similar programs launch April 2 in Vincennes and April 24 in Kokomo, in partnership with co-working sites in each of those cities.

The seven-week program, called MBXax, covers topics including sales and marketing, business models, product/market fit and go-to-market strategies. The Indianapolis sessions take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. each Tuesday from April 9 through May 21 at Maven Space, 433 N Capitol Ave., with a virtual learning option available.

Selected participants also receive a one-year membership to MatchBOX’s Lafayette facility and free access to business service professionals such as attorneys, accountants, technologists and human resources experts.

The program is open to entrepreneurs regardless of sector. It can be useful to early-stage entrepreneurs who still might be refining their business ideas, those who have recently launched a company, or even for companies that might be adding a new product or entering a new market, said MatchBOX Managing Director Amanda Findlay.

In October, MatchBOX was among 16 organizations statewide that received a combined $500,000 in grant funding from the IEDC’s new Community Collaboration Fund, which aims to promote entrepreneurship with a focus on underrepresented founders and underserved markets. MatchBOX received $39,833 in grant funding.

The programs in Indianapolis, Kokomo and Vincennes are an outgrowth of the programming that MatchBOX launched at its Lafayette facility in 2019, Findlay said.

Originally, the programming was aimed mostly at Tippecanoe County entrepreneurs. Then, last year, MatchBOX worked with the West Lafayette-based Wabash Heartland Innovation Network, or WHIN, to offer the programming to nine surrounding counties.

When the IEDC funding opportunity arose, Findlay said, MatchBOX saw the chance to go even bigger. “We thought, ‘How can we help other co-working spaces and entrepreneurship hubs and communities that kind of look and feel like Lafayette?’”

Maven Space co-founder Leslie Bailey said there is a need for the programming that MatchBOX is offering: “Through our work at Maven Space, we definitely know there is a demand for services like this.”

MatchBOX is accepting applications for the Indianapolis program until Tuesday. Limited spots are available, but Findlay said overflow applicants will have the chance to participate in virtual programming. “We won’t leave anyone out to dry.”

The application portal can be found here.

In addition to MatchBOX, two other programs aimed at Indianapolis-area entrepreneurs also received IEDC grants through the Community Collaboration Fund.

Launch Fishers and Muncie-based entrepreneurship center Innovation Connector received $28,000 for Improving Storytelling in Rural Indiana, a project to help entrepreneurs outside of urban areas tell their stories. Innovation Connector serves an 11-county area that includes Boone, Hamilton, Hancock and Marion counties.

Indianapolis-based Two Degrees received $30,000 to launch a new program, Two Degrees, to help underrepresented Marion County entrepreneurs get their business ideas off the ground.

In all, the IEDC says, the projects supported by the first round of Community Collaboration Fund awards have served more than 1,100 entrepreneurs around the state.

And another funding round is just around the corner.

Based on the success of last year’s funded projects, IEDC spokeswoman Erin Sweitzer said, the agency is planning to make another round of grants this year. Details on the second funding round, and the funding application, will be available Monday.