BizStarts Newly Elected President Patrick Snyder is Excited to Expand Resources for Entrepreneurs
Patrick Snyder. (Picture by Kenny Yoo/Milwaukee Business Journal)
Milwaukee nonprofit BizStarts recently announced Patrick Snyder as the new President, who will be succeeding Founder Dan Steininger. BizStarts was launched in 2008 by Steininger with the goal to help “high growth companies” like Google and Facebook. In 2014, Steininger and his team made an organizational change to support smaller companies, specifically minority startups in Milwaukee.
In 2021, 92% of the businesses Bizstarts helped were Black or POC, 83% were owned by women, and 70% lived in low to moderate income neighborhoods.
“The leadership of BizStarts is in good hands,” said Steininger. “I think Partick will continue to explore to find out what works.”
Snyder has been executive director of BizStarts since 2019 where he’s helped further the organization’s mission. Snyder has helped secure funding for the BizStart Institute: a community bootcamp to equip Black, Brown, and POC entrepreneurs with resources and access to funding.
“I got to work with the Grandson of Daniel Hoan and draw from Dan's amazing intellect and wealth of connections,” said Snyder. “It was a tremendous honor.”
Along with fundraising, Snyder and the BizStarts team knew they could be doing more for entrepreneurs, so they’re extending BizStarts’ reach through a storefront. The BizStarts Market Place will be a retail store for BizStarts participants to sell their products. The storefront will help with “excellence packaging”, customer service, and collect data to help the entrepreneurs pitch to potential buyers, and more. It will also serve as a gathering place that will have a rotating number of startup businesses.
“We listen to what the entrepreneurs need and then serve them,” said Snyder.
The BizStarts Market Place will be located at 161 S. 1st in Milwaukee, and is expected to open on March 1, 2022.