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Autism Forge 5 Day Workshop for Entrepreneurs

March 1    |    8:00 AM 5:00 PM EST

The mission of Autism Forge Launchpad LLC is here to start and support businesses run by or for people with neurodiversity. Our goal is to create jobs for neurodivergent people and make sure these businesses can support themselves financially.

Do you have a passion for providing sustainable employment for the neurodiverse?  Do you have an initial business idea but you are unsure of how to make this idea a reality?  Do you own a business and wish to expand to include a neurodivergent friendly enterprise?  You may be a candidate for the Autism Forge ©  workshop. 

The Autism Forge ©  workshop has been designed by Dr. Thomas V Edwards, Jr. and Margaret Monaghan.  Tom is a successful business executive who did doctoral work in management near the conclusion of his business career. He now teaches engineering management at Temple University in Philadelphia.  Peg was a pioneer of the Autism@Work movement during her time at SAP and is now an employment advisor at the Drexel University Center for Autism and Neurodiversity in Philadelphia.  Peg and Tom developed the workshop by pooling their respective experiences and interviewing the founders of successful neurodiverse-friendly  businesses.

WORKSHOP FORMAT

The Start-Up Essentials Program of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has facilitated the launch of many small businesses. The  Autism Forge ©  workshop is designed to  supplement the SBDC program.  The SBDC program is a terrific guide to the basics of starting a business. The  Autism Forge ©  workshop provides the additional insights required to start and grow a successful business that provides employment  opportunities to the neurodiverse. The  Autism Forge ©  workshop consists of five all-day workshops.

Workshop 1 – day 1a – March 1st, 2025

  • 8 am – Welcome
  • 8:30 am to noon – The leadership and management of neurodiverse employees – Margaret Monaghan and Tom Edwards
  • Noon to 1 pm – Lunch and guest speaker
  • 1 pm to 5 pm – Creative problem solving – Bobbi Block and Tom Edwards

Workshop 1b – day 2 – March 8th, 2025

  • 8 am – Welcome
  • 8:30 to 11:30 – Round Robin brainstorming. Each team will have the opportunity to apply the creative problem solving approach of Workshop 1 – day 1 to fine tune their initial business idea – Tom Edwards
  • 11:30 am to 12:30 pm – Lunch and guest speaker
  • 12:30 pm to 2 pm – Complete Round Robin brainstorming.
  • 2 pm – 3:30 pm – Buying an existing business – Doug Fastuca
  • 3:30 pm to 5 pm – Legal forms of organization – John Buckley

Workshop 2 – one day only – March 15th, 2025

  • 8 am – Welcome
  • 8:30 am to 9:30 am – Financial business models – Libby Felten or Cindy Bergvale
  • 9:30 to 10:00 – Teams take first cut at their financial business model
  • 10:00 – 11:00 – The reverse income statement – Tom Edwards
  • 11:00 am to 12 noon – Teams update their financial models
  • Noon to 1:30 pm – Lunch and guest speaker
  • 1:30 pm – 2 pm – scale up to the breakeven point – Tom Edwards
  • 2 pm to 2:30 pm – Teams work initial breakeven plan
  • 2:30 pm to 3 pm – Teams THINK-PAIR-SHARE
  • 3 pm – 4 pm – Introduction to Crowdfunding
  • 4 pm to 5 pm – Teams work on initial crowdfunding plan

Workshop 3 – one day only – March 22nd, 2025

  • 8 am – welcome
  • 8:30 am to 9:30 am – Introduction to employment law – John Buckley
  • 9:30 am to 12:30 pm – Round Robin brainstorming. Each team will have the opportunity to apply the creative problem solving approach of Workshop 1 – day 1 to think through how to modify their business operations to be friendly to neurodiverse employees.
  • 12:30 pm to 2 pm – Lunch and guest speaker – introduction to the Neurodiversity Employment Network
  • 2 pm to 3:30 pm – Continue Round Robin brainstorming
  • 3:30 to 5 pm – Introduction to business services – legal, accounting, equity crowdfunding, franchising

Workshop 4 – one day only – April 7th, 2025

  • Each team will have the opportunity to pitch their business launch plan to their cohort peers and a panel of experts. Receive feedback and recommended additional actions to launch

APPLICATION

Applicants must be a team of two. We will accept nine teams in this first cohort. Please write up a one page description of your idea. The one page description should focus on two things. First, the value proposition to potential customers, or why will people do business with you? This could range from superior IT services to delicious cupcakes!  And secondly, what are your preliminary thoughts on how to deliver this value to customers. Any sustainable business is based on delivering value that customers are willing to pay for. A neurodiverse-friendly business delivers this value by empowering neurodiverse employees to make their contribution to the value proposition.  Also include resumes or a description of relevant experience of the two primary team members. Please note that while business-specific experience may be helpful it is not the only relevant experience for success in this endeavor.  Also indicate if you wish to be considered for scholarship assistance.

Please email the one-page description and resumes or experience descriptions to Tom Edwards at  tve@temple.edu.  Please include Autism Forge in the email title.

Accepted teams will be notified one month prior to the start of the next scheduled workshop.

$2000 5 Day workshop cost, with scholarship opportunities available

Autism Forge LLC

215-204-7794

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