Coaching & Advisory
Business Incubation
SFBI's core incubation program pairs every client with a structured growth plan, a dedicated navigator, and Santa Fe's deepest network of volunteer business advisors. Client companies have created more than 1,000 jobs and a $100 million+ economic impact in Santa Fe over the past decade.
Business incubation at SFBI is not a coworking membership or a list of workshops. It is a structured, relationship-driven growth program built around your specific business, stage, and obstacles. From your first week as a client, you get a named point of contact at SFBI, a 12-month Client Success Plan with defined milestones, and a support cadence — monthly check-ins and quarterly strategy reviews — that keeps you moving and accountable.
SFBI serves two tracks of client companies. The SMB Track supports local and regional small businesses: services, trades, shops, agencies, and light manufacturers building toward stable revenue, owner pay, and eventual succession or sale. The Startup Track supports scalable, technology-driven, and IP-intensive businesses pursuing pilots, outside capital, and growth beyond the Santa Fe market. Both tracks receive the same structured engagement model — tailored to what success actually looks like for your type of company.
The numbers behind this program are real: 77% of SFBI clients are still operating five years after founding — much higher than national averages — and 76% remain and grow right here in Santa Fe. Cumulatively, SFBI clients have generated more than $453 million in economic impact for Santa Fe and New Mexico and created over 2,150 jobs. SFBI's model is designed to earn those numbers: preserve your capital, surface the right resources at the right time, and connect you to an ecosystem that works.
Clients participate as either Resident or Affiliate members. Resident Clients lease space on SFBI's campus with 24/7 access to professional offices, labs, manufacturing space, meeting and training rooms, high-speed internet, and a reference library. Affiliate Clients, who do not occupy physical space on campus, have full access to SFBI's programming, advisory services, and limited facility use. Both client types are full members of the incubator community.
What’s included
- Resident Clients: 24/7 access to our 30,000 sq ft campus — offices, labs, manufacturing space, meeting and training rooms, high-speed internet, reference library, parking.
- Affiliate Clients: full access to programming and advisory services with limited campus facility use — no lease required.
- Dedicated Client Navigator — your named point of contact at SFBI for the life of your engagement.
- 12-month Client Success Plan with defined milestones and priority focus areas, built with you at onboarding.
- Structured engagement cadence: monthly check-ins and quarterly strategy reviews anchored on your plan.
- Council of Business Advisors (COBA) — 80+ volunteers who are industry specialists, operators, and professionals donating their expertise to SFBI clients.
- CEO Circle peer groups — separate cohorts for SMB and Startup track founders, meeting regularly for accountability and idea exchange.
- Access to SFBI's ecosystem partner network: WESST, SBDC, SCORE, Arrowhead Center, NM Angels, regional CDFIs and lenders, workforce partners, and research institutions.
- Program matching: connection resources relevant to your stage (customer discovery, loan readiness, SBIR preparation, exit planning, and more).