New tool to help Santa Cruz startups
The city of Santa Cruz is working to make it easier for startups. The city’s website, choosesantacruz.com, received a major face lift. This month, the Economic Development Department launched what they’re calling,”Business Roadmap.” It’s a new tool entrepreneurs can use to access all they need to start a business.
“The exciting time when a business starts up… all of these nuances of that journey appear… and some of them are surprises and the business road map reduces those surprises,” Santa Cruz Economic Development Manager J. Guevara said.
The revamped site highlights four basic steps to start a business. First you plan, then get permits, launch your business, and grow. Inside NextSpace, a co-working space where more than 200 entrepreneurs work under one roof. Business Adviser, Keith Holtaway said he now refers his clients to the city’s roadmap.
“Also the demographic tool that they’ve embedded into the site is extremely helpful. It’ll let people know in a variety of different ways if this is going to be a good location,” said Holtaway.
If you want to open a coffee shop or bakery, you’d simply type in the square footage space you need and highlighted locations will pop up. There’s more than 4,000 businesses in Santa Cruz and the city receives 50 applications a month. With the help of the city’s road map they hope that more businesses will start up. Across Pacific Avenue, Susi Ballard owns the Flip Flop Shop, which opened in 2013, so she said she didn’t have the new website helping her start a company.
“There is plenty of work to do and the process may not always be expeditious but it definitely would be helpful if the city can facilitate that process. It’s great for consumers, it’s great for economic development and it’s great for downtown,” said Ballard.
Economic officials said folks no longer have to make the trek to city hall for permit documents, instead all that information can be found online.
“The economic development office is here to help and we are part of this entire city organization that’s all about making this a business friendly environment, so the business roadmap is to set you on your path,” said Guevara.
