CEO Start

Validate your business idea and get started in CEO Start

CEO Start is an 11-week, in-person cohort that prepares aspiring and new entrepreneurs with insights, relationships, and tools to help them turn their ideas into viable businesses.

Peer groups will work through a focused curriculum that empowers participants to test their ideas through interviews, peer-to-peer conversation, research, and business fundamentals. During the cohort, participants will learn from each other and business experts as they develop a community of support.

Participants who complete the program will walk away with a solid foundation of skills, access to resources, and a clear understanding of their next steps.

Hennepin County covers the full cost of participation for businesses, a $3,000 value. There is no cost to participate, other than time spent working through the curriculum and collaborating with peers.

Hennepin County invests in Get Started and Elevate Hennepin as part of our strategy to promote inclusive economic growth.

Registrations are now open for the next class of CEO Start that begins in March 2026. Space is limited. Apply here by February 4, 2026.

A framework for validating business ideas

Through this hands-on workshop, entrepreneurs will turn their passion into a tested concept ready to launch.

In this training, a group of entrepreneurs will:

Build community with peers and industry experts
Grow their business knowledge and learn how to apply it
Critically examine their ideas through real-time, in-person collaboration and expert feedback
Follow an intensive path to develop and fine-tune their ideas using the CO.STARTERS lean business model canvas

Participants will leave the program with a deeper understanding of how to create a sustainable venture, articulate their models, and repeat the process with their next great idea.

To be a part of CEO Start, participants must commit to one evening in person and one to two hours of independent work outside of course time each week.

Sessions are in person and will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays for the duration of the cohort.

“The cheerleading has helped me continue to move forward. Every entrepreneur knows every other day, you don’t want to do it. Knowing that there’s all these people backing me... It gives me a lot more energy and grit to go further.”

— Katie Ross, founder of The Arts Creative and CEO Start graduate

Who is eligible?

To qualify for CEO Start, participants must:

Be a resident of Hennepin County or have a business registered in Hennepin County
Have an idea or an existing business in an early stage
Be willing to question, shape, and fine-tune that idea
Be willing to talk about their idea with others
Have capacity to attend all classes and collaborate

Nonprofit ideas and organizations and franchised businesses are not currently eligible.

About the facilitation team

CEO Start utilizes the nationally recognized CO.STARTERS curriculum, a tool from the Finsync Entrepreneur Ecosystem. All facilitators are local business experts trained to deliver the CO.STARTERS curriculum and connect participants to local resources.

Apply

The next session of CEO Now will run from March to October 2026. Applications for the next CEO Start cohort are open now until February 4, 2026.

To apply, register here.