A University of Wyoming entrepreneurship program will offer a chance for Big Horn Basin residents to seek advice and learn how to develop, market and launch new businesses in the area this coming Friday at Northwest College.

The business bootcamp workshop will cover many of the tools available to help scope out and assess a business idea, as well as ways to help grow and develop current business, said John Wetzel, business counselor for IMPACT 307 (as well as Powell mayor).

In Wetzel’s role, he provides business advisory services to innovative, growth-oriented entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses in the Park County and Big Horn Basin area. He also launched last year’s startup business plan pitch competition, which offers seed capital to winning entrepreneurs. IMPACT 307 is a unit of the University of Wyoming’s Office of Research and Economic Development. The organization bills itself as having a leading role in the development of the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.  It helps to foster economic diversification and additional career opportunities for Wyoming residents.

The bootcamp will cover many of the tools needed to help scope out and assess a business idea, as well as ways to help grow and develop your current business, including idea validation, sales and marketing, logo and brand development, finance, launching operations and other issues facing start-ups and existing businesses.

Toni Tease, a patent attorney with Tease Law in Billings, will be the keynote speaker. Ranked by Intellectual Property Today among the top 10 solo patent firms in the country for the number of patents issued, Tease will shed light on one of the most difficult, yet necessary segments of the inventing process.

The workshop is a prelude to an upcoming pitch night competition for thousands in start-up funds. Last year three companies won much needed cash for their business ideas. Brandon Christiansen, who started Brandon’s Workshop in  his Cody home, won the top prize for his ingenious electrically activated bipod rest for shooting sports he named the Epod.

The Epod eventually drew the attention of Accu-Tac, which controls about 20% of all bipod sales. Christiansen, who rebranded the company as Point Blank Tech, will work with the company to produce the Epod, using some of their parts, but assembling them with their own mechanical and computer parts here in Wyoming.

Wetzel said the idea was a “home-run,” and the company is now in the manufacturing stage of production.

Also winning a check and further help last year were Brittney and David Hyland, who were in the process of opening Hyland Nursing Services in Powell, and Rhys and Kitt Haugen, who own High Plains Gear, which produces upland game bird vests and accessories.

Each year, IMPACT 307 looks for individuals who are interested in starting a new business or early-stage entrepreneurs wanting to grow. Through the local Start-Up Challenges, the program provides monetary incentives and the business support needed for contestants to act on their ideas.

IMPACT Park County is an expansion of IMPACT 307’s Incubator Program, and is funded through a $2.4 million CARES Act Recovery Assistance Grant to the University of Wyoming from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) as well as funding from the Wyoming Innovation Partnership.

For more information, contact Wetzel at jwetzel2@uwyo.edu or at 307-272-0085.