SFSanta Fe Business IncubatorSanta Fe’s front door for entrepreneurs

Small Business Pre-Incubation

Runway Program

A six-week decision-making program for early-stage small business founders. Pressure-test your idea, validate your customer, and leave with a 90-day execution roadmap — before you spend a dollar you can't afford to lose.

Runway Program facility photo 1
Runway is SFBI's pre-incubation program for founders who have a business idea and are ready to find out whether it's viable. Over six weeks, small cohorts of five to eight founders work through one critical business question per session, guided by experienced advisors and each other. This is not a class. It is a structured decision-making engine designed to get you to a clear go or no-go before you sign a lease, quit your job, or spend your savings. Each session pairs a live worksheet exercise with individual coaching from SFBI's volunteer advisor network (COBA), a guest practitioner who has built something real in New Mexico, and peer pressure-testing from your cohort. You leave every week with a concrete deliverable — not notes, but decisions. Runway is sponsored by the Santa Fe Small Business Navigator Program through NMSU's Arrowhead Center and the City of Santa Fe Office of Economic Development.

What’s included

  • Small cohort by design: 5–8 founders so every voice is heard and every plan gets real feedback.
  • Individual coaching each session from SFBI's COBA advisor network.
  • Weekly guest practitioner — a local business owner sharing real experiences from their own journey.
  • Post-program connections: We work to match graduates with lenders, advisors, customers, and collaborators based on their specific ask.
  • Continued access to SFBI resources — co-working space, advisor network, and pathways to deeper incubation support.
  • Week 1 — What Business Are You Actually In? Write a Business Intent Statement you can defend to a lender or partner.
  • Week 2 — Customer, Problem, and Local Market Truth. Build a Customer Truth Map: who pays you, what problem they urgently need solved, and whether the demand is real in Santa Fe.
  • Week 3 — How Money Really Moves. Build a Financial Reality Snapshot: Year 1 revenue model, monthly cost structure, estimated margin, and break-even estimate.
  • Week 4 — Operations, Capacity, and Bottlenecks. Map your weekly workflow, identify where you are the choke point, and design systems to fix it.
  • Week 5 — Capital Paths & Risk Decisions. Assess your readiness for bootstrap, SBA, or other capital paths and leave with a Capital Path Decision and 90-day funding actions.
  • Week 6 — The 90-Day Roadmap. Synthesize everything into a sequenced execution plan with deadlines, success metrics, and a specific ask SFBI will help you fulfill.