Energize Colorado

The Challenge

Energize Colorado, a high-profile group of volunteers, emerged in response to the COVID-19 crisis with a mission to support recovery efforts. The organization faced the challenge of rapidly establishing a valuable service to assist small businesses in preventing closures due to the pandemic. They also aimed to reach and provide essential economic recovery assistance to underrepresented businesses across Colorado.

Before engaging Prosono, Energize Colorado was working to launch a beneficial service to prevent the closure of numerous small businesses, while also searching for ways to more effectively target and support underrepresented businesses – including BIPOC, women, veterans, and rural-owned enterprises. 

What Prosono was hired to do:

Prosono was tasked with addressing Energize Colorado's urgent needs and uncertainties by implementing a strategic approach to their COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. In this important work, we:

  • Rapidly prototyped a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to begin aiding businesses within two weeks of launch.

  • Implemented a sprint-based methodology to manage a dynamic group of volunteers.

  • Employed digital marketing strategies to iteratively connect with and support small businesses.


Outcome of the project:

Through collaborative efforts with Energize Colorado, Prosono achieved impactful results that significantly contributed to business recovery and community support. We were able to successfully launch the Mentorship service as the first available resource upon Energize Colorado's launch. That service provided assistance to more than 1,500 small businesses within a 12-month period. We focused support on target communities including BIPOC, women, veterans, and rural-owned businesses. And, our team developed a model approach for effectively managing volunteer teams, which led to Prosono being called upon to coach other initiative leaders in optimizing their go-to-market strategies.

Energize Colorado's rapid response initiative, facilitated by Prosono's strategic guidance, not only aided businesses during a critical period but also established a scalable and impactful framework that extended support to those who needed it the most. The collaboration between Energize Colorado and Prosono demonstrated the power of strategic planning and swift action in times of crisis, leaving a lasting positive impact on Colorado's small business community.