StartOut - Building and Supporting Gay and Lesbian Entrepreneurship

StartOut’s Forum Program is an opportunity to provide current entrepreneurs with a personal “Board of Advisors”. The Forum program allows gay and lesbian entrepreneurs to share experiences with one another in an intimate, small-group setting. Participating entrepreneurs can tap into the knowledge base of the fellow entrepreneurs in their group to help them with the issues that they face as LGBT business owners.

The Forum Program is a group-driven experience whereby entrepreneurs provide each other with peer-to-peer learning and support. StartOut will put together groups of 8-10 entrepreneurs (chosen to avoid placing competitors in the same Forum group), who meet on a monthly basis to share the highs and lows that they face in their daily lives as entrepreneurs. The forums are moderated by the members themselves rather than third-party moderators, so that the group remains closed and insular.

The purpose of the forums is to provide a confidential, personal setting in which participants speak from their own prior experiences, sharing what has worked and hasn’t worked for them. Participants can draw their own conclusions as to how to proceed with their own businesses. By creating an open, non-judgmental, supportive atmosphere, the forums explore not only business issues, but also the personal-growth issues related to the life of an entrepreneur that participants deal with.

The StartOut Forum Program is designed to promote confidentiality and trust between participants, so that personal and sensitive issues may be discussed within the group in order to help members share issues on their mind. In this manner, participants can have a meaningful, deeply satisfying experience as part of their participation in the StartOut Forum Program.