JUMPSTART
A free business boot camp, a seed grant competition, and a place to keep learning all year.
Seven weekly classes taught by local business owners, bankers, accountants and attorneys. Write a real business plan, pitch it to a panel of judges, and compete for funding to launch or grow your business in Evanston.
Start where you are
Enroll in the boot camp
Classes run January through February. Finish with a business plan and a pitch for seed funding up to $10,000.
How it works →Use the Field Guide
The class lessons, a step-by-step tool that builds your business model, and a map of where startup money comes from.
Open the Field Guide →Coach, judge or sponsor
Every class is taught by a volunteer and every grant comes from a local donor. One coffee meeting can change a business.
Get involved →Two months from idea to pitch night
The tentative 2027 calendar. Seven Wednesday classes, then business plans and Pitch Night in March.
Classes meet Wednesday evenings in Evanston. Dates are tentative and may change.
Classes start January 13, 2027
Open to anyone 18 or older, or younger participants with a parent or guardian, starting or growing a business located in Evanston. No entry fee. Teams of up to three are welcome.
Grants that turned into payroll
Dare 2 B Safe came through the 2023 cohort with a $2,000 grant. The safety training company now employs 20 people, the most of any Jumpstart business so far.
Dad's Ice Cream, GiGi's Coffee, Rogue Pest Control, Lark Cab Services and more than two dozen others started or grew with Jumpstart coaching and seed money.
Kids Market is on the way
A new program for kids in kindergarten through 8th grade. Kids learn to plan, budget, build and run a real business with a parent at their side, then sell at a market day downtown.
The boot camp
Jumpstart is a condensed business competition built around education. You attend seven free classes, write a business plan, and pitch it. Judges award seed grants to the strongest plans.
Eligibility
- Open to the public. No entry fee.
- Participants must be 18 or older, or attend with a parent or guardian.
- Your business must be located in Evanston.
- Individuals or teams of up to three people may apply. One person cannot be the sole qualifying member of two teams.
- Your business should be new or less than three years old.
- To pitch, you must attend all seven classes and submit a complete business plan by the deadline.
Registration is open
Sign up for the 2027 cohort with the short registration form. Classes begin January 13. Questions? Contact us.
Seven classes, one plan
Each class runs about two hours on a weekday evening. Bring a notebook and a pen. Attendance is required to pitch.
| Date | Class | Taught by |
|---|
Dates are tentative. Instructors volunteer their time and will be announced before classes begin.
From plan to pitch
Submit your business plan
Email your complete plan before the deadline (11:59 PM on the posted date, early March). We verify eligibility and class attendance.
Build your pitch deck
No more than 12 slides. Each slide should pull a key point from your plan. Name the specific items you want funded and what each costs.
Get your pitch time
You will receive an email with your pitch date and time, or an explanation if your submission was not accepted.
Pitch to the judges
You have 20 minutes, strictly timed, followed by questions from a panel of three to five judges. Dress professionally. Practice until it fits.
Receive your award
Judges vote on funding. The board approves each award and sends the winner a grant agreement.
Grant rules
Jumpstart grants are non-dilutive. You keep 100 percent ownership of your business. Funds are paid as reimbursements for the items named in your plan and pitch.
Eligible expenses
- Small equipment under $5,000
- Materials
- Marketing
- Software
- Product development
- Prototyping
Not eligible
- Rent
- Utilities
- Staff pay
- Owner pay
After you win
- Submit proof of purchase to be reimbursed
- Checks are made out to the business entity
- Grants expire one year from the award date
- File a short quarterly report on progress, staffing and plans
The scoring sheet
Judges score each business idea from 0 to 100 and rank all the pitches they hear. They check whether your pitch covered each of these points and whether it helped or hurt the case.
Delivery counts too: speak clearly, tell a story instead of reading a list, give examples, relate to the audience, and show you care about the idea. Formal attire is not required.
The problem or opportunity
Your product and how it solves the problem
Who will buy it, and why
Price, cost to produce, and business model
The market and its size
Competition and your advantage
Your team and its expertise
A clear use of Jumpstart funds
Everyone leaves with a plan
Most participants never pitch. They come to learn how to register an LLC, read a profit and loss statement, talk to a banker, or test whether an idea is worth their savings. That is the point. The classes are free and open to anyone serious about starting a business in Evanston. Participants under 18 are welcome with a parent or guardian.
Past participants say the most valuable part is the room itself: a banker, a CPA, an attorney and a dozen other founders who will take your call after the program ends.
Learn all year
The material from seven years of Jumpstart classes, open to anyone, any time. Work through the lessons, then use the Model Builder to turn your idea into a business model you can test.
The seven lessons
One lesson for each class night, condensed from the presentations our volunteer coaches give. Read them in order if you are starting from scratch.
These lessons are general education, not legal, tax or financial advice. Talk to your own attorney, accountant or banker before acting on anything here.
The Model Builder
Build your business model one step at a time using the 24 steps of Disciplined Entrepreneurship, the MIT method Jumpstart teaches in class six. Fill in what you know. The builder does the math, flags weak spots, and assembles a one-page model you can carry into your business plan and pitch.
Erase everything in the builder? This cannot be undone.
File downloads and printing are turned off in this preview. They will work once the site is live at jumpstartevanston.org.
You are looking at an example business, High Desert Mobile Welding, which is made up for practice. Choose Start over when you are ready to build your own.
Your business
Your answers are saved only in this browser on this device. Nothing is sent to Jumpstart. To keep a copy or switch computers, use Save progress file, then Open progress file on the other device. Download Excel gives you every answer plus a worksheet whose numbers recalculate as you change them. The step names and method come from Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet (Wiley). Read the book for the full method.
Where startup money comes from
Most businesses climb this ladder from the bottom. Jumpstart is built to fill the gap between your own savings and a bank loan, with money you never have to pay back and that never costs you ownership.
The library
Forms, guides and the local offices that help Evanston businesses get started. Most of these services are free.
Jumpstart documents
Who to call
The agencies and partners our coaches send founders to most often.
Built in Evanston
Every business below went through Jumpstart and received a seed grant or direct support. Together they have created more than 60 jobs.
The roster
Start early
Every big business started as a small idea. Kids Market helps Evanston kids in kindergarten through 8th grade turn their idea into a real business, with a parent by their side.
How Kids Market works
Three simple stages, done together as a family.
Learn
Short, fun lessons on what a business is, who your customers are, and how to set a fair price.
Plan
Build a simple business plan and budget, then pitch it to your first investor. A parent counts.
Sell
Set up shop at a market day downtown, meet real customers, and count what you earned.
What kids learn
Seven steps from first idea to market day.
- 1What is an entrepreneur?
- 2Find a customer and a product
- 3Make a budget and a plan
- 4Pitch an investor
- 5Design, price and market
- 6Run the business on market day
- 7Spend, save and share
young entrepreneurs planned and ran their own stands at Jumpstart's first youth market day in 2025.
Built on a sweet first year
Kids Market grows out of Lemonade Day Evanston, which Jumpstart began hosting in 2025. Kids Market keeps what worked, real stands and real customers, and opens it up to any product a kid can dream up.
For parents
- Open to kids in kindergarten through 8th grade
- Kids work through each step with a parent or guardian
- Online lessons and a kid-friendly business plan builder will open on this site before launch
- Market day sign-up opens in spring 2027
Want the first invite?
Email us and we will let you know as soon as Kids Market sign-up opens.
jumpstartevanston@gmail.comBack a founder
Jumpstart is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every dollar donated goes to programming and seed grants, not overhead. Qualifying donations are tax-deductible.
Give
Give by check
Make checks payable to Jumpstart Evanston and mail to:
Jumpstart Evanston
1200 Main Street
Evanston, WY 82930
Email your logo to jumpstartevanston@gmail.com so we can recognize you.
Volunteer
Coach a class
Teach one evening on what you know best: accounting, law, lending, marketing, hiring or growth.
Judge Pitch Night
Sit on the panel that scores plans and decides who gets funded. Evanston Visionary sponsors may judge.
Mentor a founder
Meet with a participant once or twice during the cohort. Even one coffee meeting changes a business.
Partners and sponsors
Jumpstart exists because these organizations and people gave money, space, instruction and time.
Founding partners
2027 sponsors
Our 2027 sponsor list starts now. Sponsors at every level are recognized here, at Pitch Night and in program materials.
2026 coaches
2026 Pitch Night judges
Why Jumpstart
Our mission is to provide education and resources to entrepreneurs to help them start and grow their businesses, while creating jobs, spurring economic development and improving the quality of life in our community.
What we do
Jumpstart Evanston connects entrepreneurs in southwest Wyoming to the free resources already available to them, teaches business fundamentals, and introduces founders to the business leaders, lenders and mentors who can help them grow.
We fill a specific gap. A new business usually starts with the owner's savings and money borrowed from family. Banks generally want one to three years of history before they will lend. Jumpstart seed grants help bridge that gap, and the owner keeps 100 percent of the business.
Jumpstart is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit governed by a volunteer board of local business, banking, education and government leaders. Board meetings are open to the public.
Seven cohorts
Get in touch
jumpstartevanston@gmail.comJumpstart Evanston
1200 Main Street
Evanston, WY 82930
Bring Jumpstart to your town
Our format was adapted from successful programs elsewhere in Wyoming, and we are glad to share it. If your community wants to start its own boot camp, email us and we will send our program overview, rules and class outline.