'Cups' program provides support, encouragement for area entrepreneurs

May 5—Coming up with a new business idea may be the easy part, but knowing what to do with that thought can quickly become overwhelming.

Before someone might be ready to one day appear on ABC's "Shark Tank" with a new business or product that just needs the proper investment, it may be reassuring to know that resources already are available locally in Yuba-Sutter to lead an entrepreneur or small business owner down the correct path to success.

The local initiative 1 Million Cups Yuba-Sutter, hosted every Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Wide Awake Geek in Marysville, is a program that is meant to give support, encouragement and feedback to area entrepreneurs who may need just that one connection or idea to truly make their business a success.

Chuck Ferguson, co-founder and COO Wide Awake Geek, said the presentations made by participants can be done virtually or in-person. He said the 1 Million Cups program run out of the coworking space in Marysville is mainly for those in the Yuba-Sutter region and it is free and open to the public.

Ferguson said it took him two years to bring the 1 Million Cups program to the area in an effort to help local entrepreneurs and small businesses see greater success.

According to its website, the nationwide 1 Million Cups program is "based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and engage with their communities over a million cups of coffee."

Developed by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2012, this free program is "designed to educate, engage and inspire entrepreneurs around the country. Through the power of volunteers, 1 Million Cups has grown to more than 160 communities."

The program is meant to empower entrepreneurs "with the tools and resources to break down barriers that stand in the way of starting and growing their businesses."

Ferguson said during a 1 Million Cups session, there is a 6-minute presentation followed by a 20-minute question-and-answer period.

"It's very much not a pitch to investors, but more of a presentation of your business — to include what you do, what you want to do, what your struggles are," Ferguson said.

Robbie Chaney, with 1 Million Cups Yuba-Sutter, said the program is meant to help provide some answers and guidance.

"It's really about folks that have ideas that aren't sure where to go with it," Chaney said. "Or maybe they have tried different things and seen challenges and this is a place to talk about it and overcome those."

Chaney said all kinds of businesses can benefit from what 1 Million Cups offers.

"This could be a brand new business. This can be an existing business that has pivoted into something new," Chaney said. "... The idea of this is really that these are presentations, authentic connections. ... It's run for the community, by the community. We are all volunteers for this organization — all the way to the regional folks. It's just about supporting one another and lifting each other up."

Ferguson said if someone wants to get involved with 1 Million Cups, a person needs to go to the program's website and sign up to be a presenter or organizer.

"We are looking for more organizers," Ferguson said. "There's about five different roles that they accomplish. The biggest one that we're looking for is recruiters. We need to get people in the community that are already community stakeholders that are already conversating with business entrepreneurs to say, 'Hey, you should present your idea at this location or that location.'"

On Wednesday, two businesses were presented to an audience at Wide Awake Geek. One was a local ammunition manufacturer called Range Pro LLC and the other Parse Pay, a point-of-sale platform designed for "quick-service restaurants" and bars.

Mike Carlson, a sales manager for Parse Pay, said the service provided by the company seeks to lessen the burden on restaurants and bars with regards to credit card service fees. Instead of charging a certain percentage of fees to any given business, the Parse Pay system passes on the cost to consumers, but at a much lower rate than what the business would have to pay. Essentially, the system is making it more cost-effective for businesses that already have slim profit margins.

"Long story short, we created this out of necessity," Carlson said. "... One of the main things that we really focused on was credit card processing fees. Our average account right now is paying between $1,000 and $2,500 in fees every month. We have the ability to completely eliminate that for them and it goes to a small monthly fee, about $100 or $200 a month. As a small business owner, if you're paying $25,000-$35,000 a year, to put that back into your pocket is absolutely huge."

Todd Doyle, with Range Pro LLC, said he formed the company to "provide high-quality ammunition solutions through convenient and predictable distribution systems" to the region.

With dwindling supplies and increased gun sales, Doyle said providing ammunition is essential to supporting a "growing" firearms industry.

"If you don't have ammunition to put into the firearm, it's a display, it collects dust. There's absolutely a problem," Doyle said. "It's not really in the manufacturing portion of it. We've actually seen the three largest manufacturers in the United States are all owned by one company and that one company is controlling both the production and distribution of ammunition."

To help solve this problem, Doyle said regional manufacturers have stepped up to fill the ammunition need, something he hopes Range Pro can help with locally.

"We know that we're going to guarantee the delivery of ammunition to a hub," Doyle said. "You can simply pick it up at your hub, which eliminates the need for those high shipping costs."

Doyle said the company only uses "high-quality components" in the manufacturing of its ammunition.

He said Range Pro is currently working on a mobile app for subscriptions and adding partnerships for distribution hubs.