Growing Entrepreneurship in Chehalem Valley

The mission of the Chehalem Valley Innovation Accelerator (ChehalemVIA) is to accelerate success for regional startups and entrepreneurs. We provide:

  • Creative workspace with high-speed Internet at no charge – for full-time or transient occupancy
  • Prospective customers relationships
  • Industry partnerships
  • Coaching & mentoring
  • Funding assistance
  • Help getting products & services to market – locally & globally
  • Brand identity & website development

Our secondary mission is to provide leadership, tools, capacity, and processes for growing the regional economy. We work passionately with other organizations in areas such as workforce development and other purposeful innovation initiatives and projects to ensure the foundations are ready for regional businesses as the digital economy expands.

ChehalemVIA connections with regional industries such as advanced manufacturing, precision agriculture/viticulture, food/beverage/wine production, and healthcare provide opportunities for startups aligned with them. You may have products/services that fit a different industry. Let’s discuss.

Whether you are a startup or an established business looking for offsite project incubation resources, ChehalemVIA’s goal is to help bring your innovations to market in our local industries including: wine, agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and education. These industry segments are well-supported in Chehalem Valley with businesses willing to foster innovation and, more importantly, with the potential to purchase your products and services. As a distributed accelerator, if our facilities don’t meet your needs, we can help you find other local resources and maker-spaces to achieve your goals.

 

HOW TO GET STARTED

Come visit our facility, tour the community and experience the unique opportunity available to your startup here in the Chehalem Valley. You will have access to local mentors in the agriculture, manufacturing, education and medical technology industries, as well as to advisors who can help assure that your business plan, funding and implementation are following best practices for success.

LOCATION & FACILITIES

In the short-term, the Accelerator is housed in the Chehalem Parks and Recreation District administrative facilities in Newberg, Oregon. There are two accelerator pods with breakout rooms for meetings, collaborative discussions and ideation. Fully-wired with high-speed internet, each pod can comfortably accommodate 6-8 people, 1-3 tenant teams.

RESOURCES

The Accelerator partners with businesses, education centers, and other support organizations, with a focus on local industries including manufacturing, high-value agriculture, and medical-dental. A Board of Advisors with broad experience provides expert coaching and mentoring. Assistance is available to help identify funding sources.

CANDIDACY

Individuals and businesses inside and outside of the community are eligible to apply for work-space and other resources in the Accelerator. Upon successfully “graduating” from the Accelerator, we ask that tenants support the local economy and locate their businesses in Chehalem Valley for at least 2-3 years, enjoying our community’s support.

CLIENTS, TENANTS & FELLOW TRAVELERS

ChehalemVIA can provide dedicated space for its tenants, but many of our clients have their own facilities – and some just need to use the facilities periodically for meetings, presentations, and events. So whether we are actively engaged in helping you with your business or providing you resources that help you develop your business, our goal is still the same: accelerate your success!

ABOUT OUR CLIENTS & RESOURCES

OUR CLIENTS

ChehalemVIA is currently helping startups in the software, hardware, manufacturing, food production, technical education, and human services industries. We’re even advising a couple of regional precision agriculture initiatives. All of our clients share one thing in common: they are passionate about their vision/company, they know that they “…don’t know what they don’t know,” and they want to learn and grow.

With dozens of clients under our belt, some off and running, some stalled, some exited, and some underway, we count all of them as successes. Already, we’ve experienced classic examples of startup outcomes. One startup ran out of credit card funds forcing one founder to take a job in another state and the other founder to pivot to a different use of their intellectual property. Another startup got to the Series A funding round and halted, its founders unable to agree on equity and ownership. Several proto-startups interviewed with us and decided they didn’t want to found a small business – too much work and risk. Another founder pitched our advisory team and decided their product wasn’t really a product – after paying out of pocket to travel the investor pitch circuit, only to be told “…great idea! We love your deck. Great presentation. Come back and try again!” We’ve always hoped to have local students graduate (from high school or college) and try their hand at entrepreneurship. We were close with a George Fox University team that develop a unique mobility device for wheelchair and walker users, but as graduating engineers, they chose to take a job, not start a business. And then there are the startups that launched: Fidgetech, Incusense, Mt. Angel Sodas, Remnant Initiatives, and Kratos are off and running. And we have several clients still in the the pre-launch phase. One has a unique solution for commercial cookware and the other has a highly specialized system for food production companies.

Some clients come to us for facilities and high-speed Internet. One of our high-tech clients used ChehalemVIA as the quarterly meeting place for principals traveling from different locales. A current client needed a place for staff and Vista volunteers and another needed access to a secure workspace, 24-7. And then there are the companies that apply for funding that requires letters of support. One of our region’s most successful software companies is undertaking a statewide goal to provide a robust, open-source, ERP system for small manufacturing businesses and we helped them get funding from the state – and introduced them to their first implementation customer.

What about funding? We can help with that, but investors don’t invest in pitch-decks and 1-pagers with cool infographics that “…tell the story.”  They invest in companies that can demonstrate that they can achieve. We are the practice investor round. We can get you ready. First, let’s get you launched and accelerating.

Will we produce a proverbial unicorn? Who cares. Not our mission/purpose. Our clients are small businesses with big ideas. We’re here to help them achieve their vision.

RESOURCES

Chambers of Commerce can provide many resources to emerging or established businesses. The Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce services businesses in Newberg, Dundee, St. Paul, and their surroundings. The McMinnville Chamber of Commerce, along with MEDP, services McMinnville and its surroundings.

The Oregon Business Technology Center offers residency to startups that can benefit from their services. Residents pay rent for their office space and high-speed Internet as well as advisory services. Check their link to find out if they have any events and resources that might benefit.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers a wide range of services and programs. One of the most important is their template for creating your business plan. Want to build your own business to success? Try their Traditional Business Plan. Have an innovative product or service that you want to take to exit quickly, Try their Lean Business Plan. Regardless, you will need a business plan. If for no other reason, than to convince funding sources to invest in your business.

SCORE is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and has helped more than 11 million entrepreneurs through mentoring, workshops and educational resources since 1964. Local SCORE mentors have work hand-in-hand with ChehalemVIA to help our local businesses succeed.

SEDCOR Offers a variety of business development services and programs. One of their tri-county programs that targets entrepreneurial ventures is Launch Mid-valley, co-sponsored with dozens of regional entities and OEN.

Check the Technology Association of Oregon’s event page to learn more about their events and the resources they can provide.

ABOUT THE CHEHALEM VALLEY ACCELERATOR

About the Accelerator

ChehalemVIA is a non-profit, community-supported, tech business accelerator sponsored by the Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce. Its mission is to help local entrepreneurs and businesses bridge the gap between ideas and implementation with a focus on accessing relevant industry resources and local, ready-made markets of prospective customers. This supports our community’s goal to identify and support market-driven startups that fortify our vision for the Chehalem Valley of a vertically integrated and robust local economy.

Our partners include the Cities of Newberg & Dundee, Yamhill County, George Fox University, Ashley Lippard Designs, Technology Association of Oregon, PIE (Portland Incubator Experience), Innovate Oregon, Built Oregon, the University of Oregon, the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab, the McMinnville Economic Development Partnership, SCORE, SEDCOR, and dozens of regional businesses.

Located in the heart of Willamette Valley and Oregon wine country, our idyllic setting is a bonus. Our priority is to help your business succeed.