Services

Small business technical assistance, delivered inside the programs that fund it.

AAHE provides business development consulting and technical assistance to entrepreneurs and established firms, most often as a funded component within an economic development, business development ecosystem, or small business support program.

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What AAHE delivers

Scope

Business planning

Business planning instruction and direct assistance, for firms at formation and for established firms formalizing a plan for a lender, an investor, or a funded program.

Growth and scaling

Support for firms that are past survival and are now facing the different problem of growing without breaking what works.

Strategic planning

Priorities, sequence, and owners, at a scale a small firm can actually execute.

Financial readiness

Getting the financial picture into the state a lender, a program, or a buyer will accept.

Access to capital preparation

Preparing a firm to approach capital, which is preparation, not brokering and not lending.

Contracting readiness

Getting a firm ready to compete for and perform on contracts: registrations, capability presentation, and understanding what a buyer will require.

Government and corporate contracting

Navigating how public and corporate buyers actually purchase, and what a small firm has to have in place before it is credible to them.

Capacity building

Building the internal capability a firm needs to sustain growth after the assistance ends, which is the outcome most funders are buying.

Technical assistance

Direct, hands on support against a defined gap, delivered one to one or to a cohort inside a program.

How it is delivered

Delivery formats

As a funded technical assistance component inside an economic development or small business support program, which is the most common route
As cohort instruction for entrepreneurs and small business owners
As one to one advisory against a defined gap
As curriculum development and train the trainer for a program operator delivering with its own staff

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Audience

Who this is for

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Economic development programs and business development ecosystem operators
Agencies and funders procuring small business technical assistance
Chambers, community lenders, and community organizations
Established and growing firms receiving assistance through a funded program
Prime contractors subcontracting a technical assistance scope

Past performance in this service area

Work performed in entrepreneurship and small business technical assistance

Orlando MBDA through 3D Strategic Management, Business Development Consulting and Technical Assistance. Consulting and technical assistance for minority owned businesses, including established firms pursuing growth and scale, spanning financial readiness, access to capital, contracting opportunities, growth strategy, business development, and capacity building.

City of Tampa and East Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency, Teen Leadership and Entrepreneurship Academy. Entrepreneurship and financial literacy delivered inside a multi-year academy.

Microsoft, Business Planning Education. Business planning instruction for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

See all entrepreneurship and technical assistance engagements

What the client receives

Deliverables

Instruction or advisory delivered against the agreed scope
Participant or firm level materials
Participant management and records where delivery sits inside a funded program
Reporting in the program’s required format and cadence
Closeout reporting

Management Consulting and Organizational Development
Digital Literacy, Cybersecurity and AI Readiness, for technology enabled entrepreneurship
Workforce Development

Next step

Start the conversation

Bring a scope, a population, a timeline, or a solicitation, and we will tell you directly whether AAHE is the right fit.