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.
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
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
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.
Our Partners
BEAM's AI Tools for Small Businesses
Created by small business owners, for small business owners.
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.
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