Since I first visited the women’s entrepreneurial education startup Hatch Network’s site a few weeks ago, I’ve been visiting every few days and appreciating the clean look of its interaction design. But the vision of local co-founders Alison Covarrubias and Claire Fontana is even more important: to reduce barriers that keep first-time entrepreneurs from launching successful endeavors. They addressed their projects, including the introduction of web classes and development of more advanced courses for established businesses seeking financing.

SF: What had you observed about women-run businesses that made you two decide to start the network?

CF: Working as consultants for new businesses, Allie and I found that so many women who were passionate about starting their own venture were ill-prepared but ready to make the investment. We spent a ton of time getting people up to speed and having them clarify what they wanted to do–which was not what we were getting paid for. It was an unmet need in the marketplace, and we loved doing it, so we capitalized on it.

AC: I led an incubator program for about three years [and] worked with hundreds of women in various stages of business growth. They loved the camaraderie, encouragement, and creative ideas that come from their time in the group. However, the number one request I would receive after the 4-session program was that they wanted a lot more. They wanted help understanding their marketing strategy and how to make the most of the limited start-up capital they had. They needed to know sales, research strategies, and technologies to help them make the most of their time spent on their business. It became very clear to me that these women…didn’t want to go to traditional institutions to get the help. They wanted it to come from people they already trusted and liked. I knew I had to step up and give them what they asked for, so we did.

Did you design the site or have a website partner? What kind of experience did you look to create for potential clients?
CF: We worked with a creative duo in Chicago. They were referred to us by a friend. It’s great to find someone with whom you have great chemistry to develop your brand.

It was a large investment because we wanted a lot of functionality for our community and the ability to eventually offer online courses, which we’re working on now. For the customer experience, it was important to us that the site appeal to the kind of woman who is looking for our program–savvy, sophisticated creatives and corporate refugees looking for a clear path to launch and grow their own ventures. It was especially important that we look totally different from all of our competitors…

We are working on revising the sales part of the site as we’ve learned a lot about our customer and what to offer to them. We know all to well how quickly things change when you’re launching, and you have to be nimble and adapt.

We Can Make The Numbers from Hatch Network on Vimeo.

AC:  The problem with working within a budget is you have to make decisions on which corners to cut. We think really big so we built our website to support a sizable sales team. My background is in CRM (customer relationship management) software, so I was hell bent on building one that would enable our direct sales team [the project mentors who work directly with client founders] to work independently of us managing their sales processes. Much of our funds went to creating this rocking tool, but because of it, other areas like usability testing didn’t get the attention they deserved.

Our usability testing took months of actual users sending feedback or simply not using the site. If we had had more capital to have invested early on, our website would be much further along in a shorter amount of time. Aside from that, we are proud that we think big and have built a back end tool that will support extensive growth over the next year and beyond.

What would you consider as success for your first year running the network?
AC: We got a substantial loan from an angel. And that angel really made us work for it! We had to prove our model, tell our story with numbers, and commit to paying it back. That was a challenge for us, but we had incredible support from our volunteer CFO, Krystin Kim, who held our hands through the process.

I’m also proud that we are attracting the best women to be mentors to the students of Hatch. As a former leader/mentor, I am very picky about the kinds of women who are chosen to help others. We have women with energy, skills, and passion for helping advance the women’s entrepreneurial movement.

CF: …We’re not going away. We’ve met so many incredible women and hearing them rave about our program is a major validation. We’re ready to roll it out to a bigger audience this year.