Community Partnership - Pivot Larimer County

A business owner takes stock of inventory

Help your business become resilient in the face of major change

Larimer County and Colorado State University are partnering together to support the long-term stability of local businesses and organizations, due to the challenges faced by the COVID-19 outbreak. With changing customer habits and new health requirements, many businesses are needing to ‘pivot’ their business model to adapt to the changing times. In response, CSU’s College of Business will provide free resources to Larimer County business owners to learn how to ‘pivot’ their business and develop a long-term resiliency plan.  

What is pivoting?

The online resources and Pivot Jumpstart sessions are designed to help Larimer County businesses manage the turbulent times they face with COVID-19 and other disruptions. By the end of this program, participants will better understand: how to stay connected with developing and shifting needs of their customers, how to continue creating value for existing and new customers and develop new revenue streams, how and when to pivot and change directions in the business, how to position the business in the present for eventual and successful exit in the future.

You can learn more about Pivot Jumpstart and find the next cohort by visting the Events page. You'll find learning outcomes, formats, and more resources on how to enroll in a Pivot Jumpstart cohort.

What happens next?

Beginning your pivot journey can start from many different places and that is why we offering three different opportunities for participating in Pivot Larimer County.

First, is the launch of a new program, called Pivot Jumpstart which is an in-depth, four-part workshop series that will move a cohort of business owners through a faculty led pivot process.
Second, we are making available all the targeted digital resources the College of Business at CSU has created, in response to COVID-19, to empower business owners with useful videos and thoughtful interviews.
Third, we are working with community partners to provide one-on-one mentoring and support to those businesses with very specific needs.

These three opportunities provide all Larimer County businesses a menu of free resources to build a more resilient business during these uncertain times.

Our community partners

Thanks to generous funding from Larimer County, CSU and our community partners are excited to provide Pivot Larimer County at no cost. These community partners include:

Larimer County
The City of Fort Collins
The Larimer County Small Business Development Center
The Warehouse Business Accelerator

Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce
The Loveland Business Development Center
The Music District
The Institute for Entreprenuership, Colorado State University

Our faculty partners

Rob Mitchell

Rob Mitchell, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Colorado State University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on entrepreneurship, growth, innovation and strategy, and is also an Adjunct Research Professor at the Ivey School of Business, in London, Ontario. Rob’s research has been published in top academic journals and its practical relevance has been highlighted in news publications such as the Financial Times. In addition to his university teaching, Rob has led executive education programs in multiple countries and a variety of industries(from banking to power generation and transmission to ITC and telecom to retail). Before pursuing his Ph.D. at Indiana University, Rob was a member of the founding teams of a technology startup in Salt Lake City, Utah and was involved in emerging enterprise consulting in Victoria, British Columbia.

Kipp Krukowski

Kipp A. Krukowski, PhD, is a Clinical Professor at CSU's College of Business and teaches Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation. He founded and successfully exited several businesses including a nationwide valuation firm which helped attorneys, lenders, and business owners make informed decisions related to valuation as well as a business advisory/brokerage firm focusing on small business M&A transactions which positioned clients for eventual exits. He has also served as an expert witness for multiple litigation cases involving Fortune 500 companies. Kipp earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Youngstown State University, MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University.

Sign up

To begin, start by signing up below for updates on the launch of Pivot Larimer County. All business, operating within the boundaries of Larimer County, are eligible to participating the program. By signing up today, you will receive updates on the launch of each phase of the program so you can be one of the first to register. Please note that future offerings, including Pivot Larimer County, may have additional participation requirements.