Goldman Sachs
10,000 Small Businesses

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College has resumed in-person classes. We are following New York State and CUNY guidelines to ensure the safety of all scholars. Please note all LaGuardia Continuing Education students (including 10KSB scholars) attending classes on campus must submit documentation of full vaccination before the first day of in-person instruction.

Everything Your Small Business Needs to Grow

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College is a practical business management education program that helps you develop the skills you need to grow your company. You will receive a series of 11 learning sessions, business support services and one-on-one business advising from dedicated professionals to help develop a tailored plan for growth. At LaGuardia, we will give you an opportunity to explore and experiment – an environment in which you can discover the most efficient path to achieving your business goals.

See the impact this program has made on small businesses across the country.

SERVICES

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is a $750 million national program designed to help small businesses in the United States create jobs and economic growth by providing entrepreneurs with a practical business education, access to capital and business support services. The program is based on the broadly held view of leading experts that greater access to this combination of services best addresses barriers to growth.

Through the support of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, business owners selected to participate in 10,000 Small Businesses will receive a scholarship covering program tuition and materials.

At LaGuardia Community College, we pioneer new ideas, many of which become pilots for the nation. In 2010 LaGuardia Community College was selected by Goldman Sachs as the 10,000 Small Businesses first community college in the country for this initiative – a test case that has since expanded beyond New York to Chicago, Houston, Long Beach, Los Angeles and New Orleans. Since the founding of the program, 10,000 Small Businesses  at LaGuardia has trained over 1,320 business owners, who have created new jobs, secured loans, and negotiated new contracts.

We are proud to partner with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses  to offer greater New York metropolitan area small business owners access to a practical business and management education. Through the support of Goldman Sachs and the Goldman Sachs Foundation, each business owner that is selected to participate in the program at LaGuardia Community College will receive a scholarship to cover program tuition and materials.

  • Customized Growth Plan
  • Access to Capital
  • 11 Learning Sessions
  • One-on-One and Group Advising
  • Business Support ServicesPeer Learning

In order to receive maximum benefit from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses education curriculum, you are required to:

  • Attend a mandatory program orientation
  • Attend 11 pre-scheduled learning sessions
  • Commit an additional 6–8 hours per week of out-of-class activities to work on your business. This includes completing assignments, attending networking events and business support clinics
  • Develop a tailored plan for growth prior to graduation
As a participant in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program at LaGuardia Community College you will benefit from a highly practical, business entrepreneurship education that was created with Babson College, a 10,000 Small Businesses partner recognized internationally for its leadership in entrepreneurial business education.

You will receive a practical business and management education delivered through a partnership between LaGuardia Community College and leading business schools. While enrolled in the program you will develop a customized growth plan for your business. At LaGuardia, we will give you an opportunity to explore and experiment – an environment in which you can discover the most efficient path to achieving your business goals.

The curriculum focuses on developing skills that you can apply immediately to address the issues most critical to growing your businesses, including:

  • Identifying and evaluating business opportunities
  • Understanding and managing the competitive business environment
  • Analyzing financial statements and using them to make management decisions
  • Accessing financial capital
  • Leading a growing business

Peer learning is critical to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses classroom experience and, as a result, coursework is highly collaborative and draws upon the real-world experiences of participating small business owners.

The program consists of 100 hours of instruction in addition to evening sessions that include HR, legal, financial and negotiations clinics as well as other business assistance activities.

To view a detailed description of the business and management education program, click here.

In addition to the classroom experience, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program will:

  • Provide one-on-one and group advisory sessions to help you develop and implement your plan for growth
  • Help you create growth by preparing your business to apply for financing
  • Provide access to resources to help you focus on your most critical businesses issues and increase business capacity
You will be given the opportunity and tools to position your businesses to access loans. LaGuardia Community College will work with a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to provide loans to local businesses. Through the partnership, loans will be available to qualifying small businesses that lack access to affordable capital or that do not qualify for traditional sources of credit.
You will receive one-on-one business advising from dedicated professionals to help develop a strategic and tailored plan for growth. Additional support services are offered to participants through partnerships with national and local business organizations, professional services firms and the people of Goldman Sachs.
10KSB apply

HOW TO APPLY

The first step is to complete the Application, an assessment designed to help us understand you, your business, and why you are interested in the program.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and interviews are confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis. Candidates not included in the current round will be moved to the next round. Please submit your completed application as soon as possible.

If selected for an interview, you will be asked to complete an Interview Addendum (second step), which includes additional questions and requests submission of supporting documentation.

Note: If selected as a finalist, be prepared to attend a 20-minute in-person interview at LaGuardia Community College.

WHO SHOULD APPLY

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College is designed for business owners with limited resources who have a business poised for growth. You must demonstrate a commitment to growing your business and creating jobs within your community.

As an applicant you should meet the following criteria:

  • You must be an owner or co-owner of a business
  • Business in operation for at least two years
  • Business revenues greater than $75,000 most recent fiscal year
  • Business with at least 1 employee (FT, PT or 1099) in addition to the owner

SAMPLE CLASS

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College offers Strategies to Accelerate Revenue, an actual 10,000 Small Businesses class for 1) those who are interested in sampling the program before deciding to apply or 2) those who have already decided to apply and would like more detail on the program and how the classroom is run.

To create a high growth company, business owners need the mindset, tools and resources iconic CEOs use every day to take their corporations to the next level. Achieving high growth is a choice. Once the decision is made, a new set of skills, focus and discipline is required to deliver and sustain high growth.

Read More

This session allows business owners to test drive a sample class of the internationally renowned Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. Warren Buffett, the program’s Chairman of the Board, explains that business owners are provided with best in class business management education, coupled with business support services. Along with access to capital, the program positions companies to go to the next level.

During this session, you’ll get to identify your most pressing barriers to growth in your business. You’ll also come away with practical steps, new tools and resources, and a plan to put into motion to affect change immediately in your organization. Find out if 10,000 Small Businesses is your next step in businesses development.

 

CURRICULUM

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at LaGuardia Community College is designed to help you develop the skills you need to grow your company. The classes will enable you to recognize new opportunities and embrace practices that will increase business success.

Classes will meet from 8:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. at LaGuardia Community College. In addition, you must attend sessions such as networking events, legal and financial clinics and other business assistance activities. To view a full schedule of the upcoming class dates, click here.

The core content of the small business entrepreneurship curriculum is outlined below, and addresses the particular needs of small business owners in the greater New York metropolitan area.

Module 1 (A&B):

Our opening module will orient participants to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program and allow faculty, business owners, and business service providers to connect with each other while learning more about entrepreneurial skill sets and the entrepreneurial economy of the region. We will discuss the outcomes of participant’s business assessments and delve into the ideas behind how to create and act upon a growth plan. As part of our first session we will hear from a panel of entrepreneurs on their approach to growing businesses, their use of local business assistance resources, and the relationship between their business and family lives.

Module 2:

Growth & Opportunities. During our second module we will explore different strategies for growing a successful small business. Participants will learn about the elements of a highly impactful growth plan and how the program’s coursework and support services will enable them to complete and implement such a plan. We will work through a series of exercises on identifying and evaluating business opportunities and conclude with a clinic designed to strengthen participant’s networking skills.

 

Module 3:

Money and Metrics. Financial literacy is essential to growing your business. You must understand your company’s financial statements, how they relate to each other, and how they can help you set goals, benchmark progress and grow your revenue and bottom line. In this module we review financial statement basics and then develop analyses and forecasting methods to plan and monitor your business growth.

Module 4:

You are the Leader. Most small business owners are looking for a path to become a more strategic and effective leader for their business. In this module, participants take part in a simulation to better understand their personal leadership style and receive feedback on entrepreneurial approaches to different leadership styles. Participants then navigate through a set of interactive business cases.

It’s the People. High-growth small businesses frequently attribute their success to the quality and dedication of the people they employ. This module will help participants to hire, develop, and retain talented individuals who can help them grow their businesses. We use a number of exercises to explore the role of organizational culture and human capital management on jumpstarting business growth and then work with participants to incorporate new practices in the design and implementation of their business growth plans.

Module 6:

Marketing & Selling. The management of the whole marketing system, including sales/selling, is a critical aspect of business growth. This module focuses on understanding the nature of customer relations, markets, and the competition. In partnership with local and national business service providers, we recap the fundamentals of sales and marketing and then explore various international and governmental procurement opportunities. This module includes exercises that allow participants to improve their personal selling skills and a panel to discuss social media-based marketing.

 

Module 7:

Strategic Growth Through Operations. Small business owners frequently lament that they do not know how to effectively implement their growth strategies because “everything needs to be done at once.” The final modules of the 10,000 Small Businesses curriculum help participants to organize and sequence the various aspects of their growth plans to prepare for successful implementation. This module emphasizes operations, including work flows and logistics, to help participants better analyze what their businesses are, what they can be, and how to bridge that gap.

Module 8:

Being Bankable. In this module, we review the different types of financing available, discuss the steps to obtain financial capital through each, and help participants understand which funding sources are most appropriate for their businesses and how they can become more bankable. Fundamental business valuation techniques are also examined as a possible metric to assess a company’s growth prospects. This module will be facilitated and led by a panel of local bankers and financial service providers.

Module 9A:

Pulling It All Together, Part I. Realizing that entrepreneurship does not have to be a lonely endeavor can be a freeing experience for small business owners. In this session we introduce the role of external business advisors (e.g. mentors, consultants, advisory boards) and explore best practices for accessing and implementing their advice. The module concludes with a panel of external advisors who will describe their services and interact with participants.

Module 9B:

Pulling It All Together, Part II. During the final session of the 10,000 Small Businesses curriculum, participants will have the opportunity to present their growth plans and receive feedback from their business advisors and peers as they hone and prepare to implement their strategies. We also will discuss the role of small businesses in the regional economy and ways in which participants might assume leadership roles in strengthening the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem moving forward.

PARTNERS

CONTACT US

Phone:
(718) 730-7400

Email

10KSB@lagcc.cuny.edu

Room:
C-701

Office Hours: 
Mon – Fri 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Address
29-10 Thomson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101

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