Finding the key partners to work with can make or break your venture. After thousands of conversations with aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s one of the most common obstacles and risks holding folks back from pursuing their idea. So – we asked some of the smartest, most resourceful entrepreneurs in the community to share their lessons and insights to help inspire and educate the next great set of entrepreneurs.

Carlee Kelly

Finding the right collaborators makes all the difference in whether an innovation concept will materialize. I’ve seen too many projects fail because the wrong “inputs” were brought into the mix.

Whether I am seeking a new manufacturer, R&D team, designer, or core team member- Here are the top 5 characteristics I look for when choosing a collaborator: Read more>>

Ken Onstad

I have managed a smaller record company called New Folk Records along with my business partner Bob McMenoman for the past 15 plus years. Our goal is to help creative musicians find a larger audience. One thing that I have learned over those years is that most of the musicians we work wth are talented musically but are far too often unaware or unprepared for all the operational aspects of the business and how they are needed to help them move their careers forward. Whether you are a local artist or Taylor Swift, you first need to understand all the spokes in the wheel of the music industry and you need people who can help you reach each of those spokes and make sure they are strong enough to support the wheel that is your career. Read more>>

Emily Smith

Before I could choose vendors, I had to define what “ethical fashion” meant to me. There are many interpretations and I wanted to make sure I was consistent in my vendor relationships and with how I communicated to my customers. I spent a year researching “ethical fashion”, “fair trade ethics” and “sustainability”. Once I decided that my definition of “ethical fashion” was to first treat the humans who make our things with dignity and respect, and second to care well for the world, I was able to start researching vendors whose manufacturing practices matched my definition. Read more>>