Mainebiz Special Editions

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 19 J U N E 2 7 , 2 0 2 2 e lead E-Resident is Matthew Hoffner, one of the original senior managers of the credit card com- pany that later became WEX Inc. and a former chairman of the Maine Venture Fund. He says one of the biggest pluses for startups working with MTI E-Residents is that it costs them nothing. "We have no axe to grind, and it's not like I'm trying to sell additional hours to you," he says. "All I want is the same thing you want, which is for your business to succeed. It's easy to gain alignment with these businesses and a level of trust." As a further service to Maine startups, this summer MTI will launch the Maine Entrepreneurial Resource Corps, or MERC. e goal is to direct companies seeking project-specific consulting services with potential providers from a new database of preferred contractors that meet MTI's quality assurance standards. After the company selects a partner, the agency will foot half the bill. e program is open to all Maine startups as long as they are active in MTI's targeted sectors, and for projects "we think have really good bang for the buck," Hoffner explains. "It's not meant to cover the cost of a bookkeeper coming in once a week, but if your books are screwed up and you need 10 hours to fix it, it's a MERC project." 'Gig economy' case study: Agency approach works for cleaning startup Less than a year after graduating from the University of Southern Maine, Brunswick resident Hussein Adan founded Cleaners Joy early this year. e 23-year-old immigrant tapped into the "gig economy" to get his cleaning business off the ground, working with independent contrac- tors rather than taking on employees. He currently works with three solo cleaners and a team of five to 10 peo- ple who clean homes and businesses C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » S TA R T U P S — M A R S H A L L I N G TA L E N T P H O T O / O LY M P I A D E M E T RO P O U L O S Hussein Adan, 23, founded Cleaners Joy in early 2022. Instead of hiring employees, the cleaning startup works with independent contractors F O C U S

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