Who is GUIA?

GUIA Santa Fe is a new Entrepreneur-in-Residence program offered by the High Desert Discovery District (HD3)—New Mexico’s first startup accelerator, founded in 2009. GUIA’s purpose is to guide and advance the next generation of wealth-creating entrepreneurs who will shape the Santa Fe–Los Alamos corridor in the decades ahead by creating and growing new and existing scalable businesses for the region.

Enabled and supported by the wealth and expertise of hundreds of experienced business leaders and investors, HD3, a 501(c)(3), has vetted more than 1,000 discoveries, co-founded some of New Mexico’s most successful companies, and raised over $100 million in risk and non-dilutive capital. HD3’s mission is to advance the economic development of New Mexico.

Who is GUIA?

GUIA Santa Fe is a new Entrepreneur-in-Residence program offered by the High Desert Discovery District (HD3)—New Mexico’s first startup accelerator, founded in 2009. GUIA’s purpose is to guide and advance the next generation of wealth-creating entrepreneurs who will shape the Santa Fe–Los Alamos corridor in the decades ahead by creating and growing new and existing scalable businesses for the region.

Enabled and supported by the wealth and expertise of hundreds of experienced business leaders and investors, HD3, a 501(c)(3), has vetted more than 1,000 discoveries, co-founded some of New Mexico’s most successful companies, and raised over $100 million in risk and non-dilutive capital. HD3’s mission is to advance the economic development of New Mexico.

GUIA Sector Categories

The Santa Fe to Los Alamos corridor is naturally aligned to certain kinds of businesses, within certain sectors. However, any entrepreneur who has a scalable business idea, we want to hear from you.

Science and Technology

Filmmaking and Digital Media

Outdoor Recreation

Health, Wellness and Spiritual Practice

Art, Culture and Creative

Environment and Sustainability

Trades, New Collar & Light Manufacturing

Tourism and Food

EIR Benefits

WHY Participate in the GUIA EIR program? 

Going it alone in the creation of a new or existing business is often a very lonely and extremely difficult endeavor. Surrounding yourself with experienced business mentors and advisors who have also followed this path before bring enormous wisdom, guidance, connections, resources and additional thinking to your company’s growth path is one of the best decisions an entrepreneur can make.

GUIA is an immersive, experiential and tightly focused EIR program aiming to advance and accelerate your business concept or existing company toward a scalable growth path. We bring forward some of New Mexico’s most prominent and successful business owners, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, investors and connectors to engage and closely work with GUIA cohort companies looking to dramatically advance their company’s growth toward market solutions/innovation, impact, revenues, product formation and ultimately, scalability – which leads to wealth creation not only for the owners, but also their employees and the community at large via improved economic conditions.

What will I get?

  • All EIR cohorts will be paired and matched with relevant and targeted business mentors who will transcend the program. Long after the EIR program is over, your mentors will remain involved as a resource to you in your journey.
  • All EIR’s will be prepared to pitch investors at the end of the program in the culmination pitch event. Whether or not you desire to raise investment capital, each EIR will come away from GUIA a more prepared, more knowledgeable and highly capable entrepreneur ready to advance your company.
  • All EIR’s will receive marketing, public relations, branding advisory services.
  • All EIR’s will make connections with community leaders who can become valuable resources to a company’s growth for any number of resources in the future; whether that be regulatory assistance, access to equipment, machines or physical location needs, lending assistance and guidance, product or innovation improvements, etc.
APPLY TODAY!

Why GUIA?

Change Is Coming to Santa Fe
Every day, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers retire, signaling one of the largest generational transitions in U.S. history—often referred to as the Silver Tsunami. The median Boomer is now 71 years old, and across the country, this generation holds nearly half of all U.S. home equity—approximately $17 trillion, representing close to $20 trillion in total wealth. Boomers also continue to shape the housing market, accounting for 42% of all home purchases nationwide last year and holding a significant share of housing, vacation homes, and income-generating properties.

In Santa Fe, this shift is even more pronounced. One in three residents is over the age of 60, and nearly 45% of homeowners are Baby Boomers, placing New Mexico among the most Boomer-concentrated housing markets in the country. Much of the wealth that has flowed into the region over recent decades was created elsewhere—raising real questions about what remains as ownership transitions accelerate.

Over the next several years, millions of businesses, properties, and assets will change hands. This moment carries both risk and possibility. Without intentional pathways for succession, entrepreneurship, and local ownership, wealth may quietly exit the region. With the right support, however, this transition becomes an opening—for the next generation of entrepreneurs to acquire and build businesses, become strong employers, create lasting wealth, and help shape Santa Fe’s future from within.

Why GUIA?

Change Is Coming to Santa Fe
Every day, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers retire, signaling one of the largest generational transitions in U.S. history—often referred to as the Silver Tsunami. The median Boomer is now 71 years old, and across the country, this generation holds nearly half of all U.S. home equity—approximately $17 trillion, representing close to $20 trillion in total wealth. Boomers also continue to shape the housing market, accounting for 42% of all home purchases nationwide last year and holding a significant share of housing, vacation homes, and income-generating properties.

In Santa Fe, this shift is even more pronounced. One in three residents is over the age of 60, and nearly 45% of homeowners are Baby Boomers, placing New Mexico among the most Boomer-concentrated housing markets in the country. Much of the wealth that has flowed into the region over recent decades was created elsewhere—raising real questions about what remains as ownership transitions accelerate.

Over the next several years, millions of businesses, properties, and assets will change hands. This moment carries both risk and possibility. Without intentional pathways for succession, entrepreneurship, and local ownership, wealth may quietly exit the region. With the right support, however, this transition becomes an opening—for the next generation of entrepreneurs to acquire and build businesses, become strong employers, create lasting wealth, and help shape Santa Fe’s future from within.