Tools For The
Journey.
A living library of funding, learning, tools, and local Twin Cities support for entrepreneurs adopting AI. Curated and updated by FutureNorth.
Start
Here.
A short list of resources to check out before digging in further.
The Pulse (FutureNorth newsletter).
Our own newsletter: curated AI, funding, and resource opportunities, plus upcoming programs and events.
How I Built This — Guy Raz.
Founder origin stories, with real encouragement for the hard parts of starting something.
AI Starter Pack for Small Businesses & Solo Entrepreneurs (FutureNorth).
A free FutureNorth toolkit of ready-to-use AI resources for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. Submit your interest for early access.
The Full
Library.
Browse everything, grouped by category.
Live from Notion · 42 resources
Funding & Grants
4 entriesDEED Emerging Entrepreneur Loan Program (EELP)
State loan-matching program promoting growth in businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and low-income individuals. Verify current lenders/terms.
GroundBreak Coalition
Forgivable business loans up to $50K at 1% interest, no collateral required, for established 7-county metro entrepreneurs who have been denied traditional bank financing.
Launch Minnesota Innovation Grant
DEED grants for tech/innovation startups; special consideration for founders of color, women, veterans, and greater MN. Verify deadlines — they run in cycles.
MN PROMISE Act Loan (via Meda)
State-funded loans for disadvantaged small businesses in parts of Mpls/St. Paul — capital improvements, buying/renovating space, expansion. Verify current round before sharing.
Minnesota / Twin Cities
15 entriesAscend Twin Cities
A Meda and University of Minnesota Carlson program for established Twin Cities businesses with two years of profitable growth ($0.5M-$3M revenue): bi-weekly sessions on management, funding, and market strategy from January to May, plus a May showcase with Minnesota corporations.
ConnectUP! Institute
St. Paul institute supporting historically underestimated founders with accelerators, integrated capital, coaching, and culturally-informed programming.
Elevate Hennepin
Free Hennepin County program connecting business owners to one-on-one advisors, group workshops, and training in accounting, marketing, HR, legal, and access to capital.
Finnovation Fellows
Minneapolis fellowship for early-stage social entrepreneurs: a nine-month program with curriculum, mentorship, and a living stipend.
Full Stack Saint Paul
Saint Paul's tech and innovation economic development team: storytelling, networking, talent development, and events like Innovation @ The Park during Twin Cities Startup Week.
LegalCORPS
Minnesota's only business law legal aid provider: free pro bono advice clinics, transactional legal help, and patent representation for low-income entrepreneurs and inventors.
Lunar Startups
Twin Cities accelerator centering founders historically left out of capital and networks. Verify current application windows.
Meda (Metropolitan Economic Development Association)
Twin Cities organization since 1971 focused on closing racial wealth gaps. Business consulting, access to capital, and the Ascend scale program for BIPOC founders.
Minnesota SBDC (Small Business Development Centers)
Free one-on-one business counseling through the state of Minnesota (DEED), with a Twin Cities center plus regional offices across the state.
MSP Startup Guide
A free, searchable directory from Forge North (GREATER MSP) covering 450+ resources, programs, and services from 340 entrepreneur-support organizations across the Twin Cities.
Neighborhood Development Center (NDC)
Saint Paul nonprofit since 1993 supporting entrepreneurs in underserved neighborhoods: training, mentorship, business loans, consulting, and incubator space. Over 500 businesses assisted to date.
Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON)
North Minneapolis org helping low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs build wealth through workshops and hands-on programs.
SCORE Twin Cities
Free one-on-one mentorship from volunteer business professionals, funded in part by the SBA, plus free workshops and online training resources.
StartupMSP (MSP Venture Ecosystem)
GREATER MSP's hub for the Twin Cities startup and VC scene: a directory of 50+ Minnesota venture firms, the MSP Startup Guide, and events like Twin Cities Startup Week and MN Cup.
The B Suite
A Twin Cities coworking space and cultural hub for Black professionals, with events and a community built around belonging.
AI Tool
4 entriesCanva (Magic Studio)
AI-assisted design for marketing, social, and pitch materials — no designer required.
Claude
AI assistant strong at writing, analysis, and working with documents — a solid daily driver for founders.
Otter.ai
Auto-transcribe and summarize customer calls and meetings so you can focus on listening.
Perplexity
AI search for fast, cited market and competitor research.
AI Learning
8 entriesAI For Everyone — Andrew Ng (Coursera)
Non-technical overview of what AI can and can't do for a business. Free to audit.
Anthropic AI Fluency courses
Free courses on using Claude and AI well for real work — a good first stop for the Adoption Fund cohort.
ATIHx Twin Cities
A Twin Cities events calendar on tech and society, including Responsible AI meetups. Browse or submit events.
Co-Intelligence — Ethan Mollick
A practical, readable guide to actually working alongside AI day to day. A good fit for our adoption focus.
DeepLearning.AI
Andrew Ng's AI education platform: short courses on prompt engineering, AI agents, and more, plus longer specializations and professional certificates. Free and paid options.
MN Women in AI
A 1,000+ member Minnesota community for women in AI: Slack workspace, newsletter, monthly talks and workshops, study groups, and hackathons. Paid membership tiers, plus a pay-per-event guest option.
Northland SBDC Gen AI Series
A free YouTube series from the Northland SBDC on applying generative AI in small business.
Wild AI Meetup
A free monthly Minneapolis meetup for AI builders, founders, and the AI-curious: lightning talks, networking, and a look at what local teams are shipping.
Template & Toolkit
3 entriesAI Starter Pack for Small Businesses & Solo Entrepreneurs (FutureNorth)
A free FutureNorth toolkit of ready-to-use AI resources for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. Submit your interest for early access.
Lean Canvas (Ash Maurya)
A one-page business plan adapted from the Business Model Canvas, focused on problem, solution, and key metrics — built for validating an idea fast.
Testing Business Ideas with Claude (Assumptions Mapping Skill)
A Claude Skill that walks you through assumptions mapping — plotting your riskiest business-idea guesses so you know what to test first.
Book
5 entriesCompeting Against Luck — Clayton Christensen
Clayton Christensen's Jobs to Be Done framework for why customers actually "hire" a product — a foundational read for validating an idea before building it.
The E-Myth Revisited — Michael E. Gerber
Why most small businesses fail and how to build one that runs without you — the classic case for working on your business, not just in it.
The Lean Startup — Eric Ries
The canonical playbook for testing ideas fast and building what customers actually want.
The Mom Test — Rob Fitzpatrick
How to talk to customers and get the truth instead of polite lies. Pairs directly with our discovery workshops.
Traction — Gino Wickman
Gino Wickman's Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) — a practical framework for getting a grip on vision, people, and process as a business grows.
Funding deadlines change. Confirm details on each provider’s site.
Get Resources
In Your Inbox.
Spot a
Gap?
This library grows with the community. If you know a resource that belongs here, tell us. Every suggestion is reviewed by the FutureNorth team before it goes live.