Join the State Forty Eight Foundation for our Launch! Workshop Series, a two-part series where we are giving you direct access to experts who will guide you as you prepare to launch your business and assess your financial options.

Let’s be real: there are a lot of decisions that need to be made as an entrepreneur when starting out, but attorneys and accountants can be expensive. This two-part series will provide you with all the knowledge and tools needed to feel confident about your business debut.

Attorneys and financial professionals will walk attendees through every step of formation, from business registration to financing and budgeting. You will also have the opportunity to receive advice as it pertains directly to your business!

These workshops are for you if:

• You have a great business idea and have done some market research & validation, but you don’t know what steps to take to make it official.
• You want to launch your business right from the start and avoid costly mistakes.
• You need money to launch and want to know all your options for bringing in funding.
• You started a business but need guidance on how to better budget your expenses or bring in more funding so you can grow.
• You’ve been working hard independently but want to talk to an expert to ask questions and make sure you’re doing it right.

If any of the above sounds familiar, then you're in the right place. We are offering TWO sessions over two weeks that will focus on formation and financing.

SESSION 1. Launch Your Business: Everything You Need to Know About Formation

Tuesday, May 10th from 6 pm to 8:30 pm (light dinner will be provided)

Identify the right structure and finally register your business. Then, from taxes to contracts, learn how to cover your legal bases.

What you will get:

• Step-by-step guidance on registering your business
• Learn how to assess contracts and receive templates you can customize for your needs
• Understand and prevent legal red flags

SESSION 2. Financing Your Business: Creating & Managing Cash Flow

Tuesday, May 17th from 6 pm to 8:30 pm (light dinner will be provided)

Set your business up for success by understanding your financial position, how to manage it, and how you can leverage your knowledge to create funding.

What you will get:

• Understand the different options for financing your business
• Learn how to assess a profit & loss statement
• Template to help you organize your financing

SESSION ONE WORKSHOP COACH:

MAE INNABI, OF COUNSEL at RUSING LOPEZ & LIARDI

Ms. Innabi is an attorney, business owner, and unshakable advocate dedicated to helping her clients reach new levels of success. She provides strategic legal counsel and business leadership to Arizona’s most successful & emerging small businesses. As a native Arizonan, she has unique insight into the business and real estate markets dominated by her clients. She has been listed as a Super Lawyers Rising Star for the past 5 years, a designation awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys in the country. Mae is an AVPreeminent Rated Attorney by Martindale-Hubble, the highest rating available for professional excellence.

SESSION TWO WORKSHOP COACHES:

IAN CRIBBS, VP of BUSINESS BANKING AT ONEAZ CREDIT UNION

Ian Cribbs has 24 years of experience in the finance industry, currently serving as Vice President of Business Banking at OneAZ Credit Union. Since 2004, Ian has focused on business finance, having managed a commercial client base of over $285 million. Over the past 9 years with the credit union, Ian has partnered with Arizona’s businesses by providing access to over $100 million in capital through the OneAZ Business Team.

Ian is also a business owner himself, successfully and profitably navigating the economic ups and downs of entrepreneurship since 2007. Ian is active in his community, serving in various positions on the board of Northland Preparatory Academy, which has been named top 100 in the nation by the US World News Report.

Ian has two boys, aged 16 and 19 and enjoys spending time with family hunting, hiking and generally being outdoors.

LOU FARINA, SMALL BUSINESS ANALYST FOR MARICOPA SBDC

Lou is a Small Business Analyst at the Maricopa SBDC specializing in technology commercialization. He is a former technology executive with a Fortune 50 corporate ventures background and had been involved in many new ventures, mergers, acquisitions, turnarounds and divestures. He has led large scale corporate investments involving hundreds of millions of dollars in capital and revenue on a global scale.

Lou is an accredited investor and has been a member of Arizona Angel groups. Locally he has worked as a strategy consultant while also serving on many advisory boards. He has been an NSF I-Corp national mentor and also has served as an official SBIR reviewer for the National Science Foundation.Lou completed his Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering and MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He and his wife, Joceyln, split their time between Tempe, AZ and Arizona's White Mountains with their two horses and two dogs, Ares and Addy.