FAQ + Details: 2026 Series (City of Manassas - 20110)
2026 Spring Workshop Series for the City of Manassas**
| *Coffee and breakfast will be provided by Whitlock Wealth, our CenterFuse hosts!
**Series exclusively for businesses in the City of Manassas, specifically in Zip Code 20110
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Session Details and Structure:
Session 1: May 19, 8am to 930am; Intro, Intake, Issue Identification
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Participant Self Introduction
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Participants headline the issues they submitted as pre-work
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Issues are “mapped” to the Entrepreneurial Journey for context
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Participants form 3 syndicates
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Counselors begin framing participant issues; working resources
Session 2: May 21, 8am to 930am; Cohort Syndicate work session
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Counselors summarize previous progress
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Participant syndicates work continues- issues, resources, options
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Counselors summarize work completed; preliminary next steps
Session 3: May 26, 8am to 9:30am: Form options to address issues
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Counselors summarize previous progress
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Participant syndicates work issues, resources, option
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Counselors summarize work continues - summarize preliminary next steps
Session 4: May 28, 8am - 9:30 AM: Summary of Actionable Next Steps
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Participants, syndicates finalize acceptable and actionable options
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Participants report out their next steps to address initial issues raised
- Facilitator summarizes workshop outcomes and results
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why are the participants capped at a maximum of 25?
- First, to be effective, we needed to keep the ratio of participants to counselors small.
- Second, because there is near the capacity limit at the CoWorking space at Centerfuse in Manassas.
A: It was thought that a blind lottery system would be the most equitable and fair approach to selecting eligible participants up to the deadline
Q: Why are participants restricted to only Manassas zip codes?
A: By design and by request from city officials, this particular type of programming was specifically intended to address only zip codes defined by the Manassas business jurisdiction. It was thought some of the Manassas businesses were under particular stress and they needed some special attention. The Mason SBDC team will learn from this small unique workshop series experience and potentially consider hosting this at other zip codes. In addition to free online workshop resources, the Mason SBDC provides other County-wide programs (i.e. PWC "Calibrate". in Prince William County.)
Q: Why restrict this workshop series to businesses with > 1 year in business?
A: By design, the request we heard from the Manassas City EDA was that there were
existing growth and even mature Manassas City businesses having specific issues that urgently needed to be addressed. The Mason SBDC continues to host other NO COSTprogramming, webinars and special county partnership sponsor programs that serve pre-venture and early stage business entrepreneurs.
Mason SBDC Counselors/Advisers
- George Siragusa, Senior Business Counselor (Mason SBDC), Adjunct Professor, George Mason University teaching Entrepreneurship for Engineers at the School of Engineering, and Senior Mentor for 3 area Startup Venture Accelerators. George will facilitate the overall programming.
- Subodh Nayar, Senior Business Counselor (Mason SBDC) and a serial entrepreneur.
- Timm Johnson, Director & Senior Business Counselor (Mason SBDC)
Session 4: May 28, 8am to 930am; Summary of Actionable Next Steps
All programs of the Virginia SBDC are open to the public on a non-discriminatory basis to all legal residents and citizens of the United States.
Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance.
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Full disclosures regarding federal funding are available at https://www.virginiasbdc.org/funding-sources/.
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