Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 S E P T E M B E R 7 , 2 0 2 0 F O C U S S TA R T U P S / E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P packages like "wine and pie," to market experiences rather than single products. "We had one woman who bought five of the wine-and-pies, and she and her friends had a Zoom happy hour and ate them together," O'Brien says. e company's evolution and its ability to pivot hark back to an essential lesson learned through Top Gun. "It's about not being afraid to ask others in the entrepreneur community for help and advice," she says. Continuum of care Eighteen twenty wines is one of over 240 startups that have gone through Top Gun since its founding in 2009. Companies enter the program at various stages of growth. Many are already generating revenue, most are in product and business model development, a handful are still in the research stage. Top Gun matches entrepreneurs with mentors and offers learning ses- sions to help them make decisions at pivotal junctures in the development of their startups, and to create and target specific pitches to potential customers, employees, partners and investors. Entrepreneurs credit the pro- gram for fostering an ecosystem that does exactly what O'Brien suggests — encouraging participants to ask for help and advice and thus helping them accelerate growth. Like O'Brien, many simply don't know what they don't know. ey find the classes and a deep bench of mentors key to their com- pany's growth. ey become part of an ecosystem that includes peers, mentors who are experienced entre- preneurs and professionals who donate time and expertise. ey also become part of a startup com- munity that includes programs such as MassChallenge, CleanTech Open, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and Scale Up America — some of which they enter. Possibly most importantly, they get increased access to funding. We are proud to have worked with Flowfold from the beginning, supporting them as they grew, and moving them into larger spaces when they were bulging at the seams. Call or Visit Us Online. Portland, ME dunhamgroup.com 207.773.7100 Local Knowledge. Regional Focus. Global Reach. So, they chose the Dunham Group to fold up the deal. Flowfold needed more space to manufacture minimalist gear... A Different Way of Looking at Things In business, you have a lot to keep your eye on. Sometimes it's hard to see the opportunities and the risks clearly. That's where Drummond Woodsum can help. We use a team approach – a small group of highly specialized attorneys focused on helping your business see what's ahead before you take that next step. It's extremely efficient and cost-effective, and an excellent way to get the legal insight you need when you need it. We practice law differently. Since 1965. dwmlaw.com | 800.727.1941 C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » I like to think of it as a continuum of care. — Tom Rainey Maine Center for Entrepreneurs

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