More assistance resources than ever for long beach entrepreneurs

By: Brandon Richardson

When it comes to business assistance, the City of Long Beach is working with several partners to create innovative solutions, some of which are the first of their kind, according to John Keisler, director of Long Beach Economic Development Department. One such solution arose from the city’s partnership with Start It Up for the development of a business assistance phone application, which was launched on December 4.

“This is a cutting-edge thing that the city is doing for entrepreneurs that actually has never been done,” Keisler said. “As you start answering questions about yourself and your business idea, the algorithms in the chatbot [an artificial conversational entity] connect you with a mentor who is similar to you or has the skill set that can address your needs.”

Start It Up’s proposal came to the city through the Citymart open procurement process after the city decided to seek ways to assist businesses in beating the national average survival rate for small businesses and startups. 

Read more on the Long Beach Business Journal