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Kauffman FastTrac: 25 years of helping the makers, doers, and dreamers

Danny O'Neill's Perspective on FastTrac and Fear
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25 years after Mr. Kauffman introduced the program on a cold, snowy day in Kansas City, the FastTrac curriculum is now available to take online, entirely for free, from the comfort of your home.

Written by Kim Wallace Carlson

In January 1993, Ewing Kauffman scheduled the launch of a new business planning program for entrepreneurs: Kauffman FastTrac.

Traditionally delivered via in-person facilitators, the immersive FastTrac course provides tips, exercises and tools to aspiring entrepreneurs as they flesh out their business ideas.

Ewing Marion Kauffman FastTrac

Now, 25 years after Mr. Kauffman introduced the program on a cold, snowy day in Kansas City, the FastTrac curriculum is available to take online, entirely for free, from the comfort of your home.

The new FastTrac offering removes financial and travel barriers for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to learn at their own pace and online. For those who want the help of an experienced facilitator, affiliate-led courses are available and offered in the style that suits the entrepreneur’s needs: online, in a classroom with peers or in a blended setting.

FastTrac participants learn how to evaluate their ideas, position their businesses around target customers, refine their companies based on personal and professional goals and ultimately, launch their business. Through an immersive online course, participants have access to planning tips and exercises, including lessons on how to:

  • Discover how your business concept matches your personal vision.
  • Align your business concept with a real market opportunity.
  • Find your target market and discover your competitive advantage.
  • Determine the unique features and benefits of your product/ service.
  • Set realistic financial goals for your business.
  • Define your company’s brand and marketing.
  • Manage business functions and develop an organizational culture.
  • Determine the steps to profitability.
  • Identify potential sources of funding for your business.
  • Launch your business.

The launch of FastTrac reiterated Mr. Kauffman’s commitment to finding uncommon ways to create opportunities and connect people to the tools they need to achieve success, change their futures and give back to their communities.

Kauffman FastTrac is part of the Kauffman Foundation’s Zero Barriers movement, which seeks to identify and remove barriers to new business creation. To learn more or sign up for FastTrac, visit fasttrac.org.

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