The DEC was created to help entrepreneurs start, build, and grow businesses. We have helped companies in a myriad of different ways by providing the key tools and resources necessary to help their business grow. But, what does that mean? What tools and resources are necessary to help a company move from idea to profitability?
We separate those tools into three different categories:
- Education
- Mentorship
- Community
Education is the nuts and bolts of what it takes to build a company. Things like “How do I legally structure my business?”, “What is a balance sheet, and what does that mean to me?”, “How do I build a marketing plan without a budget?”, or “How do I hire and fire or build a strong corporate culture?”. We have local subject experts come in and teach classes through ProjectEDU or one-off events where we can provide the core fundamental knowledge to help companies get their businesses started.
Mentorship is an essential piece of business growth. Oftentimes the one thing an entrepreneur needs most is the one thing he or she does not have… experience. Because you cannot purchase experience over the counter, you are left to gain experience in one of two ways. First, you can earn it, which takes time and a lot of war wounds. Second, you can learn it by listening to mentors who have been through the situation before. The DEC has several hundred local mentors, not to mention a worldwide network of mentors through the Union Platform. We believe that if an entrepreneur will listen to a mentor then they can save themselves time and money, and it may be the difference between success and failure.
Finally, the DEC provides community through our coworking space and the numerous programs and events we run throughout the year such as our upcoming #WEDallas and #DEDallas programs focused on helping women and minority entrepreneurs. We work diligently to create the organic collisions that provide the connection points that help a business move forward. Out all of that The DEC does, the one thing that we have found to be most helpful to our community is for entrepreneurs to become members at one of our 9 locations. This allows us to work closely with the entrepreneur and their team to provide access to customers, strategic partnerships, and access to capital. We have also been successful in highlighting the successes of our members through different press outlets like Dallas Morning News, Dallas Innovates, Dallas Business Journal, Entrepreneur, and more. There are three different membership levels at The DEC: Virtual, Coworking, and Dedicated. Click here to learn more about membership or to sign up for a tour.
We have just kicked off a new series called #DECStories where we feature some of the success stories, wins, and testimonials of members who have found support and success through their membership at The DEC.
This includes RevTech (formerly Venture Spur), which started out of the DEC four years ago and recently moved on to create its own home for its amazing retail tech accelerator. You might have heard of Mike Pratt, cofounder of Panamplify, who has raised money across multiple rounds and is creating a revolutionary technology for the ad agency and brand marketplace. You can also see Mike making his mark on the ecosystem through another organization he founded called Digital Dallas. We have Kent Mckeaigg who is the founder of Order My Gear, which went through the RevTech Accelerator and has moved on to be a successful and rapidly growing company disrupting the sports uniform industry. Glass-Media is another DEC member that has seen meteoric rise under the leadership of CEO, Daniel Black. You all know of PICKUP, founded by rockstar entrepreneur Brenda Stoner who started out of our sister location, The Addison TreeHouse, and raised money from Ross Perot, Jr.. We all have heard of the explosion onto the DFW startup scene of Nick Kennedy whose startup Rise Air was recently acquired by Surf Air and is offering membership-based regional airline travel. We also have stories from current DEC members Joe Van Oflen from Ride-A-Long Media and Kristen Lieber from L3 Hostel, which will be one of the only downtown based hostels in Dallas.
Check out an example of our #DECStories video.
We will start sharing more #DECStories to help show why there is no better place in Dallas for an entrepreneur to start, build, and grow their business than the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (The DEC).
Check out more of our DEC Stories by clicking through the hashtag: #DECStories