Cohort 02 · 2026 · Flagship

The Business In
Development
Academy.

Build a business that lasts, one that knows its numbers, has its paperwork in order, and can deliver on a promise. So a contract becomes something you're ready for, not something that breaks you.

Contracting is the goal, not the whole point.

Dates

Sept 2 to Oct 28, 2026

Meets

Nine Wednesdays · 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Where

Fort Worth (Sept 2 + Oct 28) · Arlington (Sept 9–Oct 21)

Cost

Free · 30 seats

Join the Cohort 3 waitlist Participant quick links Open resource library

For participants

Everything you need, in one place.

Scan a QR code or tap a link. Check in, join the chat, download the guide, or share the registration with another founder.

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Check in for today’s session

Enter your access code and mark attendance for the current session. Attendance is how your certificate is earned.

Check in nowcedtarrantcountyextension.com/cohort

Enter the Cohort Hub

Access codes, session materials, and your participant dashboard.

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Participant guide

Dates, locations, attendance policy, and what to bring.

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Parking & travel guide

Where to park at each venue, which door to use, and driving directions.

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Join the GroupMe

Cohort chat for announcements, reminders, and peer support.

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Free resources & workshops

Linktree with upcoming events, recordings, and CED resources.

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Register on Eventbrite

Reserve your seat for Cohort 2 and special sessions.

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The arc

The nine weeks.

Each week hands you something real you carry into the next. Tap a week to see what you leave with.

Beyond the nine

Special sessions.

Sat, Sept 5 · 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Picture This 3: Content, Live
Stack Moses
The Drip Content and Media House, 3005 E Abram St, Arlington
Register
Oct 3
Who's Going to Do the Work?
Katrina Hawkins
Spark Arlington, 1000 Ballpark Way, Suite 305, Arlington
Oct 15 · virtual
Paid in Ninety Days
Ervin Hughes Jr.
Tue, Oct 21 · 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Write It, Then Say It
Various B.I.D. Academy facilitators
Spark Arlington, 1000 Ballpark Way, Suite 305, Arlington

Why this exists

The work is here. Get in on it.

Tarrant County, the City of Fort Worth, the City of Arlington, Arlington ISD and Fort Worth ISD, Tarrant County College, UT Arlington, DFW Airport, and dozens of other public and private institutions buy goods and services every day. Almost none of it requires what you assume you are missing. Most of it is work businesses in this county already do well.

Many of these offices run supplier and HUB certification programs specifically to bring in small and local vendors. They want the bids. What stops most business owners is everything that comes before the bid: the registrations, the codes, the insurance thresholds, the pricing formats, and learning to read a solicitation without missing the requirement buried on page eleven.

None of that is hidden on purpose. It is just not taught everywhere, and almost never for free.

That is what this is for.

Free, working through the exact paperwork, pricing, and positioning that decide whether your business gets considered. Not theory about contracting. The actual file, built with you, session by session, using a real solicitation from a real North Texas buyer.

And here is the part that matters even if you never bid. Everything in that file is what any client, bank, or partner asks for. A business that knows its numbers, has its paperwork in order, and can deliver on a promise is a stronger business on Monday morning whether or not a contract ever shows up. Contracting is the goal. Building something that lasts is the point.

Fall 2026 · Official flyer

Print it. Post it. Pass it on.

The one-pager for Cohort 2. Share this with a founder who should be in the room.

Join the Cohort 3 waitlist

Choose your track

Build solo, or team up.

Everyone builds their own file. Teams are the optional add-on.

Track I.

Solo build.

You bring one business and leave with your own Vendor Readiness File, ready to put in front of a buyer.

Track II.

Prime and subs.

You still build your own file. You also team up, one prime with two or three subcontractors, to bid work you could not win alone and deliver it without breaking your team.

Cohort 01 · The film

What nine weeks actually looks like.

Cohort 1 met every Wednesday. Rooms full of founders working through the paperwork, the pricing, the pitch, together.

What else you get

The file is the start.

A Certificate of Completion from Prairie View A&M University Extension.

Real credential, real institution, earned by doing the work and showing up.

Free registration for Grow With Google through Prairie View A&M.

Digital skills certifications and tech training, including courses in digital marketing, data analytics, and project management. Yours at no cost as a B.I.D. participant.

A cohort that does not end in October.

You finish with working professionals who know your business, a room of founders building alongside you, and an open door back to your CED agent whenever you need it.

Who teaches

Working professionals, not a curriculum.

Your facilitators are practicing attorneys, accountants, bankers, marketers, procurement specialists, and business owners from across North Texas. You learn this from the people who do it every day.

Portrait to come