I’d be very wary of these fellows. i used them several years back when they were simply the SBDC in San Francisco. While they have all sorts of resources, their help and advice is not free in any sense of the word. The courses are relatively inexpensive but run by consultants who are trying to steer you to their consultancies or businesses or to friends of theirs who give them either direct or in-kind kickbacks. I have experienced this, and so have several people I have spoken to. The SF chapter’s long-time Director, Al Dixon, is interested in protecting his turf and his own and is wholly unresponsive to any concerns, complaints, critiques about unethical behavior. Try, instead, in San Francisco the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center; people love it. More than once, instructors at the now SBDC Entrepreneur Center have been overheard to refer to the organization as a «cash cow» and they are basically siphoning money from the national and state organizations, as well as the affiliated university. It’s all very sad and very non-altruistic. I have even corroborated all this with a former teacher who quit the organization in disgust. Avoid.
Lisa V.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Francisco, CA
I have taken several courses the SBDC offered at the Small Business Association’s downtown center, and I have found them all very useful. In particular, the introduction to QuickBooks classes helped me get my head around bookkeeping concepts that had been puzzling me. The classes that were not free seemed reasonably priced to me and very worthwhile. I particularly appreciated their use of the Eventbrite mobile interface for making reservations and paying for courses.