Frequently Asked Questions

Simply put, VCET offers actionable advantages to Vermont’s entrepreneurs through people (the ones you need to know), places (the communities that will support you), and capital (the dollars that will help you scale). This means coaching and consulting by our experienced staff and executives in residence, access to coworking space, curated mentorship, personalized content and resources, and so much more.

We should mention…you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be part of our community! Coworking members include remote tech workers (that bring their networks with them) and some of the most talented freelancers in the state. It’s what makes our community so incredibly strong, and why we encourage our everyone in our spaces to “pay it forward”.

If you’re curious about what it’s like to work with VCET, please feel free to use our members and portfolio companies as a reference!

We are open to a wide range of industries and ideas, with the major exceptions being the three R’s: real estate, retail, and restaurants. Regardless of your sector, we will help you find the help and resources you need to succeed.

Yes! VCET works with inventors, startups, spin offs, and early stage companies with several million in sales. We are opportunity obsessed and results driven, trying to assist high potential people with highly achievable ideas.

Nope. We are a non-profit serving all of Vermont, and we enjoy meeting with entrepreneurs, students, and growing technology firms about their ideas, challenges, and the road ahead. Some do opt-in for more significant engagement, which requires a small monthly member fee, or an advisory board role to enter VCET’s select portfolio.

You bet! About half of VCET clients do not need outside capital and are attracted to programs and services related to business advice, team building, flexible office space, or accessing VCET’s compelling network of partners and supporters.

Nope. As a policy, we do not sign non-disclosure agreements with entrepreneurs or companies seeking our advice or capital. We do our best to keep your information confidential because our reputation as valued, trusted advisors, and investors is paramount. If there is something that you are uncomfortable sharing, then please exclude it from materials and communications with us.

Yes! Contemporary technology firms source people, materials, and customers globally. We ask that you have a significant presence located in Vermont, but priority number one is building successful and sustainable companies. If that means that a portion of your team must be located elsewhere, then we can consider your situation. Each decision is made individually based on unique circumstances and public benefit to our Vermont coworking ecosystem.

Absolutely. This is referred to as a “soft landing” for a non-U.S. company to seek a toehold into the country. VCET has done this for clients in Europe and Canada already. Your participation in one of our programs will be judged on the level of commitment to hiring people, developing technologies, and establishing a legitimate base of operations here. If you just need an American P.O. box, then we are not the place for you.

No, all memberships are specific to the individual and are non-transferable.

Yes. You can stay informed on VCET Events open to the public here.

Maybe. We will try our best to help you out! Since access to our conference rooms is included in the membership cost, we like to prioritize availability to our members first. Depending on what you would need it for, we can try to work something out on a case by case basis.

Yes. Some rooms have flat screen connectivity through HDMI, Apple Airplay and Google Chromecast.

Lifetime and Annual Data Surveyed:  Annually, we collect confidential company data to aggregate for public reporting, internal trend and insight analysis and to share among other companies and ecosystem participants. Lifetime data collection began in 2008. The annual survey captures the prior or last 12 months (LTM) and is on a VCET fiscal year basis ending June 30th.

Portfolio Companies include two types: (1) Recipients of funding from the Vermont Seed Capital Fund, LP and/or (2) Companies that have donated or transferred an economic interest to the VCET organization or in which there has been another form of substantive investment made.

Capital includes equity, debt, SAFE and grants (federal, state or private) that a company has received in the prior 12 months ending June 30th. Note: we do not include revenues in this category as some national peer organizations do.

Sales / Revenues and Payroll are reported as of June 30th for the prior 12 months. Note that Payroll fluctuates due to point in time reporting as of June 30th and may vary to do rapid scaling, attrition or reduction in headcount.

# Served Annually:  We track the unique number of individuals, companies, entrepreneurs, students, etc. served during the fiscal year ending in our CRM system. VCET event attendees, coworking members (unless 1:1 assisted by staff) and sponsored event attendees are not included in the count.