Ventureneer Launches Online Education for Small Business/Nonprofit Leaders

July 1, 2009 — Ventureneer.com launches its second service offering: virtual classes and webinars for entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ventureneer.com delivers a fresh approach to entrepreneurial learning, blending traditional formal instruction with informal learning derived from peers using Web 2.0 technology.

Entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders use Ventureneer to assess a situation, plan a course of action, request resources or information, seek guidance from others. It has a unique focus on "social impact" organizations - those for-profit and nonprofits that look to make a measurable difference in the lives of others.

Webinars are free, covering a broad range of timely topics. They are live seminars that are introductory in nature or about a timely topic and delivered via the Internet allowing participates to attend where ever they have a computer. Webinars include question and answer sessions. V-classes are designed to mimic an in-person classroom experience using both the web and phone. Live courses create an engaging group dynamic impossible to achieve with traditional self-study. V-classes are affordable crash courses on crucial topics such as strategy, finance and leadership.

Ventureneer delivers convenient, online education for budget-conscious enterprise and nonprofit leaders who use webinars and v-classes. Education, according to the Kauffman Foundation, increases the survival rates of small businesses, including nonprofit. While the knowledge gained from MBA programs can make a big difference for a small company, it can be especially hard to balance school with the demands of running a business; smaller companies are also less likely to be able to afford these programs. Ventureneer has similar value to an MBA education, including connections and support, without the prohibitive cost and time commitments. Ventureneer is unique:

Traditional online courses and niche specific solutions lack the informal learning that happens when people share insights and real-world stories.

Ventureneer is providing a wide array of FREE webinars throughout the summer for everyone from entrepreneurs to nonprofit leaders and CFOs to CTOs and CMOs. Several webinars offers ways to save your organization money.
* Credit Cards: Can't Live With 'Em; Can't Live Without 'Em"; A High Level Overview for Businesses and Nonprofits
* Tune Up Your Technology for Increased Productivity and Cost Savings
* How to Train Your Clients to Pay You
Other webinars offer suggestions on ways to raise funds:
* Planned Giving: Here's What It Is - Here's What It Takes
Still other webinars provide the basics.
* Entrepreneurship: Is It for Me?
* What Do You STAND For? Why Branding Matters to Small Businesses
* Writing it Right - Why the Words and Format Matter in Business
* Knowing Your Numbers - How Budgeting Can Save Your Business

There are also webinars that offer perspective and strategy:

* Financial Crisis: How Did We Get Here?
* Tough Choices for Tough Times

In the fall Ventureneer e-learning schedule will include both v-classes and FREE webinars.

Advanced training is a critical asset to enterprise owners. According to a 2008 Wall Street Journal executive MBA survey, 51 percent of small businesses said they were able to experience tangible results within one year of taking an MBA course, better able to implement their new expertise more quickly. Those newly trained entrepreneurs appeared to make a more noticeable impact on their businesses than leaders of larger companies.

Numerous studies prove that organizations invest in education for their leaders perform better. One such report funded by the Kaufman Foundation in 1999, Alberta Charney and Gary Libecap found that the Berger Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Arizona contributed to the growth of firms, especially smaller emerging firms. On average, emerging companies that were owned by or employed entrepreneurship program graduates had greater than five times the sales and employment growth than those that employed non-entrepreneurship graduates.

Ventureneer
Ventureneer provides a new approach to learning that blends traditional formal instruction with informal learning derived from peers using Web 2.0 technology to capture and share this knowledge. Ventureneer's customized Web 2.0 learning environment - blogs, virtual classes, peer-to-peer learning, coaching, web events and articles - provide the necessary support to make faster, better organizational decisions. Vistas, a thought-provoking new blog written by Geri Stengel, is the first product released on the Ventureneer website.