The leaders of The Sphere Northampton.
Reminder Publishing file photo
NORTHAMPTON — The Sphere Northampton, in partnership with Living Local 413 and Common Capital, will host the 413 Entrepreneur Spotlight on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at Union Station from 4:30-7:30 p.m.
The event will shine a light on entrepreneurs in Western Mass. through a red carpet event, where guests will walk through the velvet ropes into an open-house, science-fair-style showcase and meet graduates of The Sphere’s Mindshift Accelerator program at their business table displays.
The entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to explore their products, services and big ideas. Organizers say attendees can expect energetic conversation, new community connections and a strong dose of inspiration among local leaders, investors and changemakers.
The event will celebrate 24 women and nonbinary-owned businesses who have completed The Sphere’s Mindshift Accelerator, made possible through a grant from MassDevelopment. This is the second cohort The Sphere has had for the program.
“When it comes to women and gender-expansive business owners, sometimes the biggest thing getting in our way is ourselves. This curriculum is different because it’s business skill, strategy and knowledge, but there’s also a mindset component and leadership development, so it’s really twofold,” said The Sphere Co-founder and Chief of Momentum Megan Allen. “We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders and resources, so if you can build a strong network of support, you’re already one step ahead.”
The program features an eight-week curriculum on business skill and leadership development, including beginning workshops and additional support for entrepreneurs in financial knowledge. After completing those, entrepreneurs then work with small business consultants on becoming more comfortable with data collection for their business.
Graduates also receive three months of free access to the coworking and networking space that is The Sphere Northampton.
“It starts off with lots of support and lots of technical assistance from us. Many times, that includes connecting them with our partners in the Pioneer Valley, whether that’s Valley CDC, or Common Capital, or one of our banking partners. We start with a lot of support, and what ends up happening is they build up a peer support network,” added Allen.
The evening of celebration and spotlighting will also feature a crowd-sourced competition for seed funding. Attendees will vote for their favorite business by purchasing voting stickers. Every dollar collected there will go directly to the winning entrepreneur as seed funding to help grow their venture. At the end of the night, the business with the most votes will be awarded a giant check in a celebratory reveal.
Guest can enjoy appetizes, a cash bar and lively networking as they explore the spirit of entrepreneurship during the 413 Entrepreneur Spotlight. The event is free but reservations are required and can be secured at www.livinglocal413.org/413-entrepreneur-spotlight/.
Allen said Common Capital and Living Local 413 have been great partners for The Sphere Northampton and are doing great things for the region at large in terms of supporting entrepreneurs.
“They started this entrepreneurial spotlight series, where every month they host an event where they spotlight entrepreneurs so we can hear their stories, learn from them and learn from each other,” Allen said. They wanted to host one in Northampton with The Sphere … so it happened to fall really nicely in line for what we wanted to do with our accelerator exhibition. The two events really dovetailed nicely into one, which are really just about highlighting and shining the spotlight on these amazing women and nonbinary entrepreneurs. So it all kind of folded in nicely together and with that.”
Bill Cole, founder and president of Living Local 413, told Reminder Publishing the 413 Entrepreneur Spotlight was created because he and co-founder of the event Roberto Nieves, from Common Capital, saw a gap in the many talented, creative founders in the region who were often working quietly and did not always have access to networks, capital or visibility.
“We wanted to change that,” said Cole. “The goal of the event is simple: shine a light on local entrepreneurs, especially those who might be overlooked, and connect them with the people and resources that can help them grow. It’s meant to be both a celebration and a launchpad.”
Cole added that in terms of exposure, the event has helped entrepreneurs in a few key ways. First and foremost, it gives them a literal platform and microphone to share their story — their “why,” as Cole further put it.
The event also connects the entrepreneurs directly with partners, lenders and support organizations in the room — including Common Capital and Living Local 413.
Third, the event creates a buzz around entrepreneurs thanks to the social media content, photos, word of mouth and press coverage that can be leveraged long after the event’s end, Cole added.
“For a lot of entrepreneurs, this is the first time they’ve had that level of visibility. And once people see them and believe in them, it becomes easier to open doors that were previously hard to find, let alone walk through,” said Cole.
In addition to spotlighting the accelerator graduates, the event will also feature the release of key findings from the Breaking Barriers Survey, a regional study funded by Liberty Bank, and conducted in partnership with Common Capital and Living Local 413. The study explores challenges and opportunities facing business owners in Western Mass., offering insights to guide future ecosystem support and investment.
“We’re really excited to share the survey results because they’re not just numbers — they’re the lived experiences of entrepreneurs in the 413. While we don’t want to prejudge the outcomes, we do expect to see some clear themes: challenges around access to capital, difficulties navigating support systems, and barriers related to race, gender, geography or income,” explained Cole.
He added, “What’s powerful is that this survey takes those individual stories and turns them into a regional picture. Instead of guessing what aspiring entrepreneurs need, we can point to concrete data and say, ‘here’s where the gaps are. Here’s where people are falling through the cracks. Here’s what’s working and what isn’t.’ For Common Capital and Living Local 413, that’s incredibly valuable.”
Cole said the overall study should help them better target resources more effectively for entrepreneurs, design better working programs that match what entrepreneurs actually say they need, and advocate for change using real data to talk with funders, partners and policymakers about what’s needed to reduce barriers in the region.
Allen added this study will directly help entrepreneurs that come through The Sphere as well as the regional network at large.
“We live in a place in the Pioneer Valley where there are such great resources and such heart-forward organizations that really do want to support entrepreneurship in small business, not just because it pays back dividends with the local economy, but because they’re so community-minded and it’s the right thing to do, and that’s one thing I really value with both of these partners,” said Allen.
The date of the event was chosen with intention as Dec. 10 marks an important milestone in women’s leadership. On that date in 1869, the Wyoming Territorial Legislature became the first in the nation to grant women full voting rights – more than 50 years before the 19th Amendment. Allen said hosting the 413 Entrepreneur Spotlight on the same week as this historic date honors the spirit of progress, equity and courage that continues to drive women and non-binary entrepreneurs today.
“We are at a time where people that we care deeply about in our community seem to be potentially losing rights with what’s happening with our federal government, and so we’re using this opportunity as a way to spotlight and lift up those populations that are traditionally underserved in the entrepreneurial community, such as women and gender expansive entrepreneurs,” Allen said. “So we’re doubling down on our work because it’s important. There are also people that, if you look at the research, put more money back into the local economy, source more locally, hire more locally; so if we’re thinking locally minded, as we should this time of year, these are the businesses that we want to be supporting.”
To learn more about The Sphere Northampton as well as more on the upcoming 413 Entrepreneurial Spotlight event, visit www.spherenorthampton.com/event/413-entrepreneurial-spotlight. To learn more about Living Local 413, visit www.livinglocal413.org. To learn more about Common Capital, visit www.commoncapitalma.org.
