Eight Weeks. Eight Builders. And the Work That Actually Matters.

Rubina Cohen — Mon, 18 May 2026 14:30:49 +0000

When we launched the GUiA pilot program, we weren’t trying to build another lecture series
dressed up as an accelerator. We weren’t handing out frameworks and calling it mentorship. We
wanted to do something harder — and more honest.
We wanted to meet eight real entrepreneurs exactly where they were.
That meant starting the first week with a simple but revealing exercise: everyone pitched their
business as it actually stood. No polish required. No pretending. Just the real picture — where
they’d come from, what they’d built, what they were stuck on, and where the gaps were. And the
gaps were different for every single person in that room. One founder had a compelling product
but no clear path to scalability. Another had the customers but not the language to make the
business investable. Someone else had the vision but needed to be pushed, hard, on the
financial architecture underneath it.
That’s the thing nobody tells you about early-stage entrepreneurship: the work isn’t one-size-fits-
all, and a program that treats it like it is will fail the people who need it most.
So we did’t.
What followed over the next eight weeks was built around what each entrepreneur actually
needed. They got honest, no-BS input from people who’d been in the arena. They sat across
from high-level experts and had the kinds of conversations that change how you think about
your business. They were matched with mentors who understood their specific sector, their
specific challenges, and their specific stage. And week by week, the businesses they were
building became sharper, more defensible, more real.
The goal the whole time was bigger than the pitch. It was to help each of them design a
business built to scale — a business that builds wealth not just for the founder, but for a team, a
community, a future beyond themselves.
On the final day, we brought in investors and key stakeholders from the Santa Fe community.
And the eight businesses that stepped up to pitch were not the same businesses that walked in
on week one. They were investable. They were ready. And the people behind them had grown
in ways that went well beyond the whiteboard.
Here are the eight founders who made this pilot what it was:

[ENTREPRENEUR 1 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 2 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 3 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 4 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 5 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 6 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 7 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

[ENTREPRENEUR 8 NAME] — Venture/Company Name
[2-4 sentences: what they’re building, where they started, what shifted for them through the
program.]

We are proud of all of them. Not just for what they built, but for how they showed up — for each
other and for the work.

This pilot was proof of concept. It confirmed what we believed before we started: that when
entrepreneurs in this region are given the right people, the right pressure, and the right support,
they don’t just survive — they build things worth investing in.
We are energized by what this cohort showed us, and we are just getting started.

Applications for the GUiA Fall Cohort are opening soon. If you’re an entrepreneur in New
Mexico ready to do the real work — the kind that positions your business to scale and
create wealth beyond you — we want to hear from you. Stay tuned for more.

guia – GUIA

Eight Weeks. Eight Builders. And the Work That Actually Matters.