Portland A&O Level Up

Providing Growth Support to Emerging Brands

Portland A&O Level Up is a year long program for small to medium sized Athletic & Outdoor Emerging Brands to get the tools they need to take their business to the next level. The program provides practical and critical business lessons in an organized classroom setting with a structured curriculum and insights from subject matter experts.

Supporting entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized companies is a top priority of the city’s A&O work. Our Level Up program brings leaders of Emerging Brands together to learn critical information to grow their business while building their network. The six facilitated sessions cover topics like financial management, legal considerations, go-to-market sales strategy, and inventory management.

Portland A&O Level Up (formerly Peer-to-Peer) is one of our most exciting and impactful programs, providing a forum for Athletic and Outdoor (A&O) entrepreneurs and CEOs to come together and learn from each other, as well as from subject matter experts.

The program is limited to a group of about 10 companies per year. Participants receive valuable templates and information, access to mentors and service providers, and partake in informal networking as well as one-on-one consulting with our esteemed facilitator, Sean Beers.

Examples of previous sessions:

  • Choosing a Board of Advisers w/ Sean Beers
  • Legal and HR Fundamentals with Michael Jonas
  • Building a Go To Market Strategy with Mona West

The ideal candidate for this program should meet the following criteria:

  • Owner of a consumer products company with an emphasis on footwear, apparel, accessories, and equipment/gear
  • Based in the Portland metropolitan region
  • Minimum $300,000 – $500,000 in annual revenue for the previous year (or minimum 3 years in business)

Previous participants include companies such as:

Applications for the 2021 program are now open. Please complete the following application by March 31, 2021 for consideration