The doors are open, the website is live, and you have paying customers!

However, the journey is really just beginning. The entrepreneurial path can be a special blend of scary and exciting. It can often be fraught with barriers, pitfalls, and challenges. Owning your own brand sometimes feels like trying to steer a sailboat solo when you’re still learning the ropes by falling overboard.

Invest Ottawa helps entrepreneurs manage their growth strategies by trying to provide them with support when they specifically need it.  Here are some of the services that you may be able to access:

• Small-batch learning with seasoned pros: 

  Through our Education Centre, peer groups, and other educational programs, you and your business can learn new strategies with a competent teacher there to support you. Our facilitators are experienced business owners and trainers who know what it takes to get a business sailing smoothly.

• Consultations with experts: 

  Our seasoned experts can help steer you in the right direction and keep you busy for months. All our advisors and veterans are specially selected for their prowess in their given fields. They have additional expertise in other areas like partnership development, marketing, exit planning, validation, product development, and day-to-day management.

• Market insight & intelligence: 

  The data you need to make informed decisions regarding your business. Select clients can receive up-to-date and practical information on industries, competitors, market size, trends, intellectual property, potential investors, and strategic partners.

• Boot camps and Multi-Day courses: 

  Deep dives into strategies that can help refine your product/service, build out operational efficiencies, find ways to free up cash flow, and possibly scale your brand.

• Networking and Connections: 

  Making valuable connections takes up valuable time. Odds are we know someone who can help you.  Invest Ottawa’s stakeholders have vast networks that you can leverage.

Invest Ottawa also works with other regional innovation centres as part of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) and the provincial funding organization, Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE). Our federal partners include the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and other funding bodies that ensure a strong capital base for your company.

Think some of our services might be useful to you?