Strategic training and hands-on mentorship when you need it most.
When you join CEI’s business incubator, you gain more than office space to house your founding team or a lab to continue research. You receive the full support of CEI’s staff, partners, and advisors to guide you through each phase of your company’s growth.
CEI’s business incubation program offers offices, labs, and ongoing Support to high-growth startups in Phoenix, Arizona. Specializing in tech, medical devices, and bio-science, our on-staff advisors and subject matter experts help innovators find their product-market fit and break into highly competitive industries.
We help startups stay lean to grow Faster
CEI combines proven tools with the hard-earned wisdom of dozens of business mentors and a customized business roadmap to accelerate your path to growth. With over 60 companies successfully graduating from our incubator, you can trust that the guidance you receive in our resident or affiliate program will help your startup launch quickly and efficiently.
Test your business model before entering the market
Successful entrepreneurs are able to quickly iterate from their original idea to a plan that works before running out of resources. This comes from re-framing the way you think about your business; rather than building a perfect product, you need to focus on solving your customers’ problems. Instead of presenting an exciting idea to an investor, you must show them that they’ll get a return.
We use LEANSTACK tools like the Lean Canvas, Traction Modeler, and the Customer Forces Canvas to help you communicate your ideas clearly, test if your idea is worth pursuing, and uncover big problems with carefully scripted customer interviews.
develop a problem-solving mindset to tackle new challenges.
Navigating a rapidly changing world requires a problem-solving mindset built on continuous learning and rapid experimentation. We use frameworks, methodologies, tactics, and tools in LEANSTACK’s Continuous Innovation Framework to help entrepreneurs focus on taking the right actions at the right time.
Get expert advice at critical points in business
As an entrepreneur, you have to overcome different obstacles every single day. And when you’re starting a business, no single person will have the answer to everything. That’s why our network of Subject Matter Experts is one of the biggest assets to CEI’s business incubation program. When you need specific guidance from an industry veteran, our team of core advisors can connect you with the right person at the right time. Our subject matter experts have backgrounds in the following, and more:
- Accounting
- Angel and Venture Capital
- Business Strategy
- Corporate Law
- Engineering
- Domestic and International Sales
- FDA Regulatory Compliance
- Finance
- Government Contracting
- Graphic Design
- Human Resources
- Intellectual Property
- IT, Web Development and Design
- Management Information Systems
- Manufacturing
- Market Research
- Marketing, Media and PR
- Real Estate and Commercial Lending
access spaces built for innovation
CEI’s incubator is located on the Washington Campus of Gateway Community College in Phoenix and was designed to accommodate the unique needs of Arizona’s most innovative entrepreneurs. Our 18,000-square-foot facility is easy to access by car or the METRO Light Rail and only minutes from Sky Harbor Airport.
In 2021, CEI LabForce will open in Downtown Phoenix and include co-working space for innovators who need a centrally located hub with more flexibility than a leased office or lab.
Take your brand to the next level
When you’re busy with product development, hiring the right co-founders, writing a business plan, and raising capital, building a brand is probably the last thing on your mind. But the way you portray your company and tell your story is crucial to build trust with both customers and investors. An exclusive benefit offered to our incubator clients, we work with you to develop branding, marketing and media collateral for your growing business at highly discounted rates. Our services include:
