What's the Startup?!

Introducing the Sprocket WKY Platform: A Free Digital Resource for Entrepreneurs

• Sprocket • Season 2 • Episode 18

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Western Kentucky just got a major upgrade.

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Monica Bilak, Executive Director of Sprocket, to introduce the brand-new Sprocket WKY Platform—a free digital resource built to connect and empower entrepreneurs across all 22 counties of Western Kentucky.

Whether you’re just exploring a business idea or scaling a tech-enabled company, this platform is for you. It offers:

  • Free startup courses and resources
  • A robust mentor directory (book a call instantly!)
  • A regional job board
  • A forum to share ideas, wins, and local news
  • And access to exclusive programs like the Market Fit Lab

We built this platform to bridge the gaps rural founders face—because distance shouldn’t keep great ideas from thriving.

👉 Ready to dive in? Visit sprocketwky.com and create your free account.

📍 Open to all entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners in Western Kentucky.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Sprocket Podcast! If you’re ready to dive into the world of startups and innovation, visit us online at Sprocket WKY to learn more about our mission and how we support entrepreneurs like you.

Ready to check out the space? Book a tour with Tiffany, our Community Coordinator!

Got a business idea? Apply for a mentorship session with one of our experienced mentors!

Stay connected and join our growing community on Instagram for the latest updates, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes looks at what’s happening at Sprocket.

Let’s turn your ideas into reality—together!

Sprocket is proud to be supported by Team Kentucky, the Commonwealth's Cabinet for Economic Development. Learn more about their initiatives and resources at ced.ky.gov.

Kaylan:

Monica, welcome. Thank you. Welcome back. Thanks. Introduce us to what Sprocket has coming out

Monica:

Oh, we have so many things. First a. Phenomenal resource platform for entrepreneurs. Really excited about this. This is for anybody in the 22 counties, which we will list maybe in our show notes. Yes, just have them running across, the bottom running across, in Western Kentucky. so very excited to launch this. We've been working on it for probably. Honestly 18 months because we wrote a grant for it. Got it. From the USDA and then, yeah, won that grant and have been building ever since. So this platform will allow, anyone who is looking, to build a business. There will be courses on there. There will be an amazing blog with content on our, from our podcast on there. There will be, just a place for, folks to talk. There's a forum, there's a job board, and there's our. Incredible mentor resource, and it's gonna be amazing for people to be able to just go in, book a call with somebody and get the information they need. So we're really excited about all the tools on that platform.

Kaylan:

It's really comprehensive, but I like that you mentioned the community aspect of it too, because. In Western Kentucky, we're all spread out. Yep. But this is a place where we can all come to commune and share ideas. That

Monica:

was exactly the idea was, okay, we're not all densely populated around one core. We're, we're spread out. It can take hours to get from one side of our region to the other. And so how do we connect everyone? that has these common interests in building and growing a business. And so, we thought this might do it, you know, build this platform and so we're really excited about being able to connect entrepreneurs all around. The region to, not only mentors, not only courses, but even some of the things that we are trying to push out through here, which is our new market fit lab, which will be, we have it in beta right now, running with 15 companies. So, very excited to have our, new EIR, which is our entrepreneur residence, John Truitt, formerly of Kaleo Technologies. And, we're really excited to get people to connect with him and really build a solid foundation on their, tech enabled businesses.

Kaylan:

Why is something like this so important for Western Kentucky specifically? We're not in the metropolitan area, well, that's

Monica:

it. You know, there is something about geography, we built, this space, our, cowork space because we believe in the power of creative collisions. And it is a true thing. Steve's jobs did it when in every place he's worked, but designing a space so that you can connect and interact with people, that's where the magic happens. It's usually at the water cooler, not in the board meeting. And so we wanted to create another way to have those collisions, we have them here in our space, but that doesn't allow somebody from. Mayfield to come over, or, Davies County or, hawkinsville. This gives you the ability to like, make those connections quickly with people., speed is important. Ease is important and so we wanted to facilitate what a metropolitan looks like in the digital space, so here we are, trying to. Trying to hack through the fact that we all live so far apart and we have to acknowledge that in rural communities it is easy to connect when we're together, but when we're apart it's hard to, to have those multiple touch points that you need to, successfully grow a business, and connect with people who could be valuable resources.

Kaylan:

What does it look like for an entrepreneur to utilize this platform?

Monica:

I hope it's just really easy. We have a sign in component, which, we, have to have with our grant. But it also allows us to keep this within, west Kentucky, right now and service everybody for free. So it's a free login and then you get massive amounts of courses, we'll have a facilitator in the community, piece where it is just a forum, that'll be really great too, announcing anything that's going on. We even have places to spotlight regional winds, so if there's some big news for our blog, you can find out what's going on. And I hope that it helps pull us together. For example, I just had a conversation today with,, one of the economic development directors for another county, and he was telling me actually something that was going on in the county over, and it was amazing and I was like. Oh my gosh, I had no idea. I've gotta reach out and call him. But it was like, gosh, you know, I don't know. It's been a couple of months since I've even seen him. So how long would it be before I ever found out about this huge initiative going on in the far western regions of our, or county, in our region. And so it was like, ah, this will help us like know about these things right away. And then we, if we want to join in or we wanna, refer other resources or people to those counties that we can help them just act quicker. And so, speed, ease, connections, connection, great education. Hopefully all those things will be valuable to the folks who join it. So you join, you do join, the site. It's basically of your own username, password. It's nothing fancy there. It doesn't cost anything for anybody who is in this region. And, just get on and see what it's like. How would

Kaylan:

somebody know that they're at, the right level to use it? So this is for everybody of all stages, right?

Monica:

Yeah, I mean, you can be an idea. You have an idea for a business, this is a good place to go, we have the Market Fit Lab has a 30 day bootcamp, which is perfect for somebody who's just like, I'm kind of twiddling around with this idea and I'm not sure if it's really gonna work. We have this really fantastic way for you to kind of plot out the scenario. And play out asking all the right questions to start. You kinda build a stronger foundation for that business. So it could be idea, but it can also be, Hey, I've been building this company for X amount of years, and I've. Built on this special technology to go with it, and I'd like to now resell it. We can help you there too. So we also help people connect to some of those, mentors are angel investors., we also have venture funders that can come in and play a bigger role. When you're really ready to. Scale up and you need, some investment capital.

Kaylan:

And tell us more about the mentor deck. That's one of the not unsung heroes, but I think people don't really realize on the outset what a treasure trove it is. Oh yeah.

Monica:

So the mentor deck is so easy to look at. Yes. It's very nice. Oh, one thing, it's everybody's picture and a little, you can see what they could help you with. all the mentors. have agreed to giving to donating a certain amount of time each month. To have an a, a call or with somebody a Zoom call. So you can look on there, find a mentor that maybe meets your needs. Maybe it's something legal or maybe it's something, it's an idea stage business. Or you're looking, you wanna come to me, you're trying to build out your community entrepreneur system. We can help you too. And you just go in and you just book a call. It. It is literally that easy. There's a button that says, book a call, and you go in, type in, you'll see their calendar, type it in and there you go. Yeah. So you can see everybody who's in the, who's a mentor in the region, and you can, I. Easy access with them. These are people who know their stuff. These are people who know their stuff. And some of them will have questions that you have to answer before meeting with them. So they, have set that up. And if we're also looking for more mentors. So if somebody's got a wealth of experience and they're like, Hey, I could really, I could build up the communities, in our region. They're absolutely welcome to reach out to any of us on the Sprocket team and we will help them get packet and I believe we have a

Kaylan:

signup form, so I'll link that in the show notes too. You, yeah, for those you sure do. Who want to look at the platform, but then also apply to be a mentor? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that'd be great. What is the long-term vision for this platform? So how do you see it evolving over time? I feel like we're kind of opening the door to so much opportunity. We have a great foundation, but we're also gonna collaborate with each other, with our counties over time.

Monica:

Oh yeah. I mean, think of it as Facebook for our region. Hopefully we'll be able to stand back and it takes on a life of its own in a really positive way, and, we continue to add courses. We continue to add,, any companies to, on the job board that have, these are tech enabled companies, but if they have, careers in tech, and that can be graphic design, that can be creative technology, that could be data analytics, it can be just about anything, it, all of that. There's a place for them to post jobs. So it's also a place for new grads, to come and look. For, connections, to the community. Connections are kind of everything, aren't they? Network is how you get a job in the first place. And so there's a lot of, there's a lot of things where we can facilitate all those. All those collisions that we need to make to like, help people move forward, either in their business, in their job, just as a mentor. Yeah. Hopefully it'll really become very active and, and benefit people.

Kaylan:

What's one thing that you wish more people understood about building a business in a place like Western Kentucky?

Monica:

Get in your customer's shoes. And understand their problems intimately. So when we're building businesses, we don't actually build them, starting with a solution. We build them. Starting with what problem are you solving for people? Because people will pay you to solve their problems. And if you're solving the right one, it will grow faster. That's what we're trying to get people to really start switching a little mindset on how do I look at my customer, my customer doesn't serve me. And the dream job, I've always wanted to, fulfill as a entrepreneur, but. I'm actually coming in and solving a big problem for a lot of people and this is how I'm gonna, I'm gonna sell it. So really it's a lot about empathy. It's also a lot about just observing and understanding trends in the culture and, figuring out great problems to solve. And some of people, some of the companies that we're working with right now. Have been doing, earning career for years, and they, developed a technology that solved their problem while they were doing the kind of work they were doing. We have doctors, lawyers, people who do excavating. I mean, you name it, people are building product all over the region. It is fascinating and amazing. There's just a ton of ingenuity out here, and so it will be really fun to bring that together and support each other in ways that people need.

Kaylan:

In Western Kentucky and rural areas like this, entrepreneurs have to put in a little bit more. Legwork mm-hmm. To get access to the connections that they need. So yeah, for sure, making sure that you're utilizing all the aspects of the platform will just open so many more doors. Yeah. For users. Yeah, for sure. For sure., a year from now, so let's say we're sitting down here. One year from today. What kind of stories do you hope that we're gonna be talking about when it comes to this platform?

Monica:

A hundred new company starts. Yes. If we could get 10,000 people on the platform in one year, that'd be awesome. I think anything's possible, even if we can activate like the university settings, those young people with ideas, coming out, that would be phenomenal. And especially pairing them with mentors who have decades of experience. I mean, what could be better?, I've always thought this, I've been a business person in this community for over 20 years, and I was always like, oh, I really would love to know what it, what so and so's story is, what was even the biggest fail is the best story because you learn so much about how to recover because. People in small business, like they're resilient. They have to be. And so hearing those stories from each other, even that mentoring really provides us with, the support, encouragement, wisdom., there's just so much to be gained, from so many experienced people in this region that, and there's just never been an outlet. There's never been a natural. Way to, unless you've just met them doing something, there's no real way to make those connections happen. So I'm really hoping that, people become smarter, more connected, and resilient, and that as a result, the economy becomes more vibrant.

Kaylan:

And to dive into the platform, all you have to do is go to sprocket wk y.com. That's it. Thank you. Thank you.