Jackson, MI (October 2026) -Derek had a decision to make.

While enrolled in Lean Rocket Lab’s Fellowship Bootcamp, Derek learned of a major opportunity: a week in Las Vegas on a high-profile video shoot. It was exactly the kind of job that could help turn his fledgling NorthLight Film Co. from a side business into a full-time business and the career he so passionately wanted.

There was one problem. His full-time employer wouldn’t give him the time off to take the trip.

Derek turned to Alex Masten at Lean Rocket Lab with the question many entrepreneurs eventually face: Should I quit?

Masten couldn’t make the decision for him. Instead, she asked whether he had the support he needed to commit to NorthLight Film Co. full time.

Derek quit his job. He went to Las Vegas. And he’s never had to go back working full time for someone else.

“He has just been doing such a good job,” Masten says. “He’s been able to focus on his business, and I’m just so proud of him.”

That kind of leap is what Lean Rocket Lab helps make less daunting.

Over the past three years, a grant from the Walters Family Foundation has helped Lean Rocket Lab expand its Lean Rocket LOCAL program beyond Jackson into Lenawee and Hillsdale counties, giving more entrepreneurs access to training, one-on-one support, professional expertise and capital.

The results have exceeded expectations. Lean Rocket Lab has served 193 unique small businesses across the three counties, surpassing its original goal of 165. Of those, 147 are women-owned businesses and 80 are minority-owned, with some in both groups. More than $316,000 in direct grants have gone to small businesses.

But one important outcome wasn’t predicted in the original metrics.

It was the development of community.

Lean Rocket LOCAL Fellows participate in an intensive 12-week bootcamp in small cohorts. At the beginning of every session, Masten asks each person to share thoughts: one pain point or one celebration from their week.

“You start hearing your thoughts coming out of other people’s mouths,” Masten says. “You’re like, ‘Whoa, I don’t feel alone anymore. I feel like you all get me.’”

Those conversations continue after classes end. Entrepreneurs refer customers to one another, promote each other’s businesses and collaborate on events. In Lenawee County, Fellows started their own networking group after the cohort ended, and alums across the program meet regularly.

Community extends to the professionals who teach the program. Fellows can use their $4,000 milestone grants to hire those experts. An accountant who leads a workshop, for example, can become the person a Fellow calls for help with the books.

D&X Coffee entered the program as a woman-owned startup. Its owner had recently lost her father and was building a business while grieving. Through the program, Masten says, she worked on financials, marketing and plans for growth. Today, the business has expanded beyond its original location with a mobile operation.

For Masten, stories like these show why entrepreneurship matters far beyond any one business owner. Look outside her door at Lean Rocket Lab, she says, and all you see are small businesses. “They are what make coming down to your downtown, wherever you live, special.”

Walters Family Foundation support has helped Lean Rocket Lab build that community. “They have uplifted the Lab to enable us, as entrepreneurs, to help other entrepreneurs,” Masten says. “It is literally a cascading effect.”

For Derek, it meant knowing that when a big opportunity presents itself, he doesn’t have to take the leap alone.