Skip to content
circle graphic - orange- hollow

Where Legacy Meets Opportunity for Small Business Owners

Where Legacy Meets Opportunity for Small Business Owners

BEAM Collaborative is a nationally recognized non-profit that drives inclusive, local economic development by supporting anchor partner institutions, small businesses, entrepreneurship programs, and local economies through strategic succession planning, business acquisition support, and post-acquisition technical assistance.

beam-graphic-hollow

Main Street Legacy

The Main Street Legacy program keeps local businesses alive and thriving. We help new owners step in, anchors stay connected, and communities grow stronger. BEAM makes it possible to preserve what matters—jobs, services, and neighborhood vitality—while creating new opportunities for the future.

Main Street Legacy

Small Biz Photo_optim

BEAM Decision Guide

The BEAM Decision Guide is a personalized roadmap to business ownership—combining behavioral assessments, financial insights, and BEAM’s analysis of $30 billion in corporate procurement spend across 11,500 businesses. It reveals your ownership style, financial readiness, and ideal business types, helping you make confident, data-driven decisions about your best path forward.

 

Mini Readiness Assessment

A quick first step toward clarity. In just a few minutes, our Mini Readiness Assessment helps entrepreneurs and business owners discover how prepared they are to grow, acquire, or transition a business. You’ll get instant insights that highlight your strengths, pinpoint gaps, and guide you to the next step—your personalized BEAM Decision Guide.

 

Find out where you stand in minutes. Take the BEAM Mini Readiness Assessment and see your next move.

 

Sponsored By

2021-dollar-bank-new-logo-design

Are you a Buyer?

BEAM helps buyers at every stage—whether you’re stepping into ownership for the first time, an existing business owner ready to scale, or a leader exploring a merger. We make the path clear and accessible so you can grow with confidence and keep Main Street strong.

Are you a Seller?

BEAM helps retiring owners exit with confidence—protecting your legacy, your people, and your community. We guide you through succession so your business stays strong and rooted, while you step into the next chapter on your terms.

Anchor Partners

BEAM Collaborative's Anchor Partners are large institutions—such as hospitals, universities, utilities, and corporations—to protect supply chains, preserve local vendors, and strengthen regional economies.

Anchor Partner Resource Tools

BEAM helps anchor institutions turn local purchasing into lasting impact. Through data-driven insights and vendor replacement cost analysis, we show where local businesses can strengthen your supply chain—and what it truly costs when they disappear.

Vendor Replacement Cost Analysis

BEAM’s Vendor Cost Analysis helps anchors see the real cost of switching vendors—beyond price alone. It quantifies transition expenses, risks, and long-term impacts to support smarter, more sustainable procurement decisions.

BEAM Rating Scale

The BEAM Rating Scale is a comprehensive assessment tool designed to evaluate small businesses across five core pillars: Leadership, Operations, Talent Management, Customer Engagement, and Financials. The scale provides an actionable snapshot that helps business owners and partners identify opportunities, prioritize improvements, and track progress over time.

BEAM's AI Tools for Small Businesses

Created by small business owners, for small business owners.

Main-Street-Legacy-Photo_optim

BEAM's AI Tools

These tools make complex decisions simple—and keep Main Street moving forward.

BEAM IQ | Mergers & Acquisitions (powered by SMB.co)

Simplifies how buyers explore, evaluate, and close deals.

BEAM IQ | Framework for Excellence (powered by CModel)

Helps businesses measure readiness, set priorities, and grow with confidence.

Small Business Research Center

The Applied Research Center curates data-driven insights for small businesses and corporations seeking equitable growth strategies. Our reports translate complex research into practical tools that guide decision-making, investment, and collaboration.

BEAM Collaborative

Research Reports

Steel City Roots

Steel City Roots is an indoor farming initiative that addresses the critical challenge of food insecurity in Pittsburgh.

Innovate PGH – Robotics Study

BEAM Collaborative was engaged by Innovate PGH to study regional robotics purchasing and highlight opportunities for small, local, and diverse businesses.

What People are Saying . . .

"I'm in many meetings, and our discussion with BEAM really encouraged Dollar to move forward with an ideation session. What they do is really solution oriented. I was truly impressed with their approach to diverse business engagement."

● Jim McQuade | President of Dollar Bank

"BEAM has been a partner in helping us with our global ESG goals by moving us think outside the traditional procurement box. BEAM helps me to think differently about the way we do business."

● Amy Baudino | Vice President of Portfolio Management

"BEAM has helped me design my sales strategy and increased my profits by 50% percent over a one-year period"

● Taylor Ford | Owner of Taylor Made IT Services

"...What stood out for me is that BEAM Collaborative, unlike a lot of other entities out there, is itself a very mission-driven enterprise with important sources of earned income."

● Xavier de Souza Briggs | Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution

"BEAM was able to guide me through the expansion and attraction process by making introductions to key regional business allies"

● Paul Douglas | President JPI Group

"With BEAM in the conversation, we were able to negotiate a longer term contract which assures our growth and ability to hire employees"

● Blayre Britton | President CDI Printing

"One thing that I really like about the structure of our engagement with BEAM is we're not trying to solve all the world's problems at once."

● Will Pickering | CEO of Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority