After being set up, startup cooperatives strive to gain a place in the market, but how can they confirm their product or service competing with other companies, growing and earning enough to cover their overheads and paying themselves a decent salary?
These questions, raised during the last Coopstartup meeting by the cooperative startups, could not remain without answers. Trying to solve the rebus, Coopfond has organized a speed up program offering to the cooperative startups an aid to achieve their post launch stage. While Legacoop regional associations provide continual guidance in the 36 months after setting up, Coopfond offers them tools to make this post startup assistance more efficient and effective. These include:

• A type of “adoption by distance”, carried out by Coopfond staff responding to administrative, networking and organizational needs.
• A fully paid two-day training course on management skills, HR development, accountancy, marketing, advertising, labor contracts, business modelling and, of course, cooperative values and principles (subjects previously raised by the participants).
• After, the startups have the possibility, through Skype, to access 9 “one to one meetings” with the training course experts for further specific and practical details.
• Then, there is the availability of a voucher of ten hours, offered by Coopfond, for assistance and guidance of a Temporary Manager chosen through a web platform (If they wish they can continue to be assisted but at their own cost).
• Finally, the startups will receive an active help in accessing the cooperative network.

The training course was held in Rome on 21-22 June 2018 with 40 startup participants from different Italian regions and business sectors and 10 speakers coming from both the cooperative and non-cooperative worlds. The course was a real full immersion from 8.30 to 6.30 over two days with evening social events to allow for informal networking amongst themselves and with the experts.