Free Small Business Advising In The East Bay

East Bay small businesses who are beyond the startup phase can access our pool of hundreds of volunteer mentors and advisors for free, thanks to special funding from our community partners.

Pacific Community Ventures invests in people. Many small business owners started their companies to pursue their passions: designing jewelry, helping care for people, opening a restaurant, even starting a small farm or manufacturing company. Then they start wearing all the hats: CEO, marketing, product development, supply chain, and sales. Who has time for all this? We take a personalized approach to helping small business owners solve the unique problems that hinder their growth.

Our advising program connects small business owners with expert advisors who help them meet their challenge and seize new opportunities. We put volunteerism to work for local communities by managing a national network of seasoned entrepreneurs, skilled professionals, and senior leaders from major banks, consulting firms, and bigger companies who want to use their hard-earned business know how to create more opportunity in our communities.

Do you have questions about finance, marketing, operations, sales, IT, HR, and you’re beyond the startup phase? We’ll work hard to solve your biggest business challenges, with custom advice just for you! Signing up is fast and easy — and free. We’re a nonprofit, so you’ll never be asked to pay for any of our services.

The Value Of Small Business Mentoring

All advice is completely free and completely confidential. Companies working with our mentors increase their annual revenue by 20% on average. Our platform also removes location as a barrier, so wherever you are in America, we’ll find the best advisor to help your company grow. The entrepreneurs we work with typically own or operate brick-and-mortar businesses that have the potential to create new jobs for working people. Here are a few of the areas of expertise:

Marketing and sales
Finance and accounting
Executive coaching and business planning
Human Resources and operations
Scaling up for new contracts
And more

About Our Program

Our business advising platform is a game-changing innovation. It’s common for entrepreneurs like you to seek advice from community organizations with limited capacity and industry expertise, or hire costly consultants and coaches. Pacific Community Ventures leverages technology and volunteerism to provide small business owners with high-quality mentoring, at no cost, in any way that you need. You can be matched with a pro bono advisor in your town, or the most qualified advisor to meet your needs anywhere in the country. If your company is in downtown Atlanta, and the best advisor for your business lives in Dallas, we can make that match happen. Most of the participants in our program tend to meet the following criteria:

Operating history of at least a year (post start-up)
Annual revenues of $100,000 and up
1+ employee (part or full-time)
Located in the United States

We also make exceptions for businesses with compelling social missions or who create jobs for people from economically underserved areas. Remember, we’re flexible! If your company doesn’t meet these exact criteria, contact us anyway. We’d love to find a way to work together.

Are There Fees? None! We’re a nonprofit so all mentoring matches are made for free thanks to our funders and sponsors. You’ll never be asked for money or to pay for anything — ever.

How It Works

We know small business owners need more than just a check. The Business Advising program gives Main Street businesses the same tools and resources that bigger companies have. If we help empower small business owners to increase their competitiveness while creating quality jobs, then every community and worker in America benefits.

Who You Are

Fill out a short profile, tell us about yourself, your small business, and the challenges and opportunities you have.

Mentor Matching

We’ll find you a business mentor to work with, and we’ll set up an introduction for you and your first advisor via email.

Scheduling

Connect with your advisor in person, over the phone, email, Facetime, Google hangout, or Skype — whatever’s best for you.

Our Free Small Business Webinar Series

You can access all of PCV's upcoming webinars, watch past webinars, and check out some special webinars from our partner organizations on our webinar calendar. We cover topics like bookkeeping basics, marketing in the pandemic, and running your small business safely for your workers and customers.

See The Full Calendar

Our Clients

We’re here for you and here for the community. Over the past 20 years, we’ve helped thousands of small businesses grow and create tens of thousands of jobs. Meet some of our clients:

Kate Ellen owns Crown Nine, an Oakland, California-based boutique and art gallery that also handmakes custom jewelry. Kate, a former teacher and social worker, has always had a talent and passion for jewelry design, and launched her own business in 2011.

Crown Nine

Oakland

Small Business Loans

We provide affordable small business loans ($10,000 – $250,000) to East Bay businesses that are creating quality jobs or making our communities stronger and more vibrant.

We make the loan process simple and transparent, and specialize in working with small business owners who’ve had a hard time accessing capital, like female borrowers, borrowers of color, and borrowers that may have been turned down for SBA or traditional bank loans.

If you’ve been in business for at least 12 months, and you’ve got at least 1 part- or full-time employee, then we’d love to work with you!