The Life of a Maker
Crowdfunding has become all the rage. From club t-shirts to startups making the world’s greatest cooler to some guy selling potato salad Kickstarter has become a phenomenon in the crowdfunding world. That doesn’t mean that crowdfunding is easy. It’s still competitive – only 40% of projects get funded. The maker community has been one of the biggest to embrace Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms. When you can find a market and make a prototype – crowdfunding can be a perfect launch point.
Meet Nate. Nate grew up on competitive swimming teams and even coached swimming for years. One day while at a collegiate level swimming practice he realized there was incredible room for improvement. The swimming clocks used to count intervals while practicing weighed nearly 45 pounds and looked like a control panel from 1940’s. In the age of smartphones he knew this was just not sufficient. So he set out to fix the problem. That’s when he came to Hatch.
First, Nate was set on building up his audience. After talking to other entrepreneurs he knew he couldn’t just jump into a kickstarter without having a pre-existing base of interested buyers.
He was able to get a prototype up and running but didn’t have the resources to put it into productions. When Nate joined 1000 Four, he was able to tap into a network of entrepreneurs. A few helped him figure out his prototyping, and a few had been through the Kickstarter experience before. Nate watched “Crowdfunding Correctly” and took the insight from his fellow 1000 Four members and started building his Kickstarter dream. With the knowledge he gleaned from his new found resources Nate surpassed his Kickstarter goal and raised over $60,000.
Nate is a 1000 Four Champion
What do I get access to?
On-demand video library
Featuring nearly 100 curated experts focused on sharing solutions to common problems. There’s no textbooks, only experienced entrepreneurs or industry experts. People who have 'been there, done that' providing ready to use tips and lessons.
Online small business support group
Multiple ways to learn from and interact directly with thousands of other entrepreneurs and small business owners to ask for advice, share struggles and challenges and even celebrate wins.
Step by step guides and business courses
To help you achieve specific goals. You can still browse through the entire library, but we’ve built pathways to help keep yourself on track.
Editable worksheets and other downloadable resources
That entrepreneurs and business owners can fill out to help them retain and apply what they've learned or save time creating things they need in their business.
What does 1000 Four content look like?
Categories
Video workshops, webinars, courses, walkthroughs, and tutorials
Here are a few samples of the hundreds in our library.
Resource Guides, Templates, Documents, and Worksheets
Here are a few samples of the dozens in our library.
Learning Paths
Membership
Annual
- Access to video on-demand library
- Downloadable and fillable worksheets
- Resource guides
- Templates
- Business courses
- Online community
- Realtime Q&A
- Online forums
Where did the 1000 Four name come from?
What does 1000 Four mean?
It all started with a Ted Talk...
What is 1000 Four?
If you’re reading this post, you’ve probably already seen startwithhatch.com/1000four, describing all of the awesome episodes, perks, and community you get as a member of 1000 Four. You’re probably still a little confused though.
You might be wondering “What in the world does 1000 Four mean?” Well a few years ago, I was invited to sit in on a meeting to discuss how to best help our local economy. Someone in the group mentioned that if the region could just bring in 4 companies with 1000 employees each everything should be great. That didn’t sit well with me. I knew there had to be a better way. I was already helping local entrepreneurs grow their businesses at Hatch, but that comment changed my mindset. I realized that growing 1000 companies to four employees big wouldn’t be as good as their strategy. It would be better. Growing 1000 companies with four employees would be more diverse, more nimble, more grassroots, and more local. Instead of 3996 employees, we would have 1000 business owners.
With a community of entrepreneurs instead of a community of employees our economy would be able to pivot to economic changes, there’d be more self-reliant individuals, and most importantly we’d be helping out the little guy. Instead of aiding bulky bureaucratic corporations from out of town, we would be helping out our neighbors. So we set out to do that with Hatch.
We’ve set out to create a platform for entrepreneurs to learn from one another, to enable everyone to start and grow a business, to put the fate of your business and your community in your hands. Over the past few years we’ve had the privilege of helping thousands of companies. Let us know how we can help.
More FAQ
What will 1000 Four help me do?
We have content that covers virtually every point in the business lifecycle. From accounting and legal, to marketing and content creation. If you need specific know-how on something related to business, chances are we have several pieces of content that can help you. 1000 Four is a tool that will help you get more customers, and expand your business. The community and network effect of the 1000 Four program is immense. Imagine tapping into a group of hundreds of other entrepreneurs and small business owners. The ability to collaborate, ask advice, share goals, and get support is nearly priceless. The more members, the more everyone benefits. You'll be able to get feedback customized to your unique situation. Google searches aren’t enough. You need help tailored to your specific business and situation. These are real entrepreneurs helping you find solutions, meet your goals, and grow your business.
When can I access the content?
All of our content is available on-demand. We understand that a lot of you have day jobs and are maybe only able to work on your company late at night or early in the morning. We’d all love to make it to all of the workshops going on around town, but taking off an hour or two in the middle of the day is just unrealistic. We solve that problem by making everything we produce available at whatever time is best for you.
Who is this platform for?
1000 Four is for anyone who wants to have hundreds of experts in their back pocket. There are a lot of people who are good at one specific thing (i.e. baking cookies) but don’t necessarily understand the business side. 1000 Four solves that problem by providing our members with top-notch content, directly from the experts who have been there and done that. On top of that, 1000 Four allows you to surround yourself with other entrepreneurs who are going through the same struggles with you. Use them to bounce ideas off of, ask questions, or just as someone to lean on when times get tough.
Where should I start?
Where can I use 1000 Four?
Anywhere that you have an internet connection! 1000 Four was built to be available anywhere, and at any time. Whether you’re on your desktop, your laptop, your tablet, or even your smartphone, 1000 Four allows you to have amazing content and community at your fingertips.
What if I want to meet 1-1 with Zack or the Hatch team?
You can ask questions in our private group, attend office hours, and interact with other users online. If you need 1-on-1 help, email us to set up a time to chat.
What if I’m signing up as an institution?
If you are an institution or enterprise and wish to get access to 1000 Four for your members, go here.
What Our Customers Are Saying
Don’t just take it from us, let our customers do the talking!
The value 1000 Four creates is tremendous, not only with the tools and resources, but the community of other people in my shoes fighting the same battles. It’s nice to know we’re all in this together.
Chris HillBeing able to communicate with the community about specific points to my business has been essential in its growth. We are now seeing 400% growth month to month because of it. Essential!
Stephen Reinstein