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December 17By Comments OffRead more...
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Launch and Grow Your Company with the Sparkyard Growth Circuit!

Sparkyard celebrated its one-year anniversary in November during Fort Worth’s third annual Global Entrepreneurship Week. In 2019, we were excited to become the central connection point between local entrepreneurs and the resources available to help them launch and grow their companies. We made great strides during our first year by providing one-on-one support to over 90 entrepreneurs, creating nearly 50 customized Spark Plans (action plans), making 260 referrals to our resource network of 50 partners, and hosting nearly 9,000 users on the website. Through trial and error and plenty of data analysis, we discovered that some of the most popular...

September 8By Comments OffRead more...

What I Learned This Summer

I will forever be grateful for all the experience I gained, the knowledge I attained, the connections I found, and the memories I made. In honor of my departure, I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned throughout my time the past few months.

June 3By Comments OffRead more...

How Do We Begin Restarting Fort Worth’s Economy?

As our cities begin to slowly re-open from the COVID pandemic, we are all concerned with the economic instability the lockdown placed on our hometowns. One of the most effective ways of pushing our local economy into rapid recovery is by supporting local small-businesses and startups.  In 2013, Forbes Magazine listed six ways to create economic growth. The number one way is through innovation and encouraging entrepreneurship. The article states that “innovation and start-ups fuel our economic growth” and that they are the “ultimate job creators who start with ingenious ideas, take risks and create value for the American consumer.” This approach to...

May 22By Comments OffRead more...

How can we help? Survey feedback informs Fort Worth’s business support efforts

Almost two months ago, when this whole COVID-19 situation started getting serious, there was a lot of work to be done – and done quickly.  Fort Worth is the thirteenth largest city in the country – it’s a lot to pivot. The flood of new challenges facing our city’s business owners, across every industry, was overwhelming. The situation was emotionally charged, constantly changing, and completely unprecedented.  The only way that the city and its community partners could begin to wrap our heads around the full scope of COVID-19’s impact on businesses, and start working together to find solutions, was through data. The Fort...

May 11By Comments OffRead more...

Funding the Fort: Local Support Efforts for Fort Worth Businesses

It’s an interesting time to work in local government.  On the one hand, the current COVID-19 pandemic is impacting everything on a massive scale, from business operations and the local economy to smaller things, like how we work, socialize, and shop for groceries. On the other hand, the stories of the innovative ways that Fort Worth’s businesses have pivoted their operations, come together to support each other, and rallied around the community have been nothing short of inspiring.  But our businesses can’t overcome this alone. And while many business owners might be looking to federal or state government for help, there are also...