About us
RVA Works connects, inspires, educates, and empowers entrepreneurs!
RVA Works holds public events, provides cohort-based business acceleration. Through our Open Trellis technology emerging entrepreneurs attend educational events, receive business advice, credit counseling, and referrals to lenders.
RVA Works is also a promotional partner for 1 Million Cups events, a national program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation that is designed to help entrepreneurs identify opportunities and overcome challenges.
In Richmond, Virginia the Robins Entrepreneur Series (formerly 1 Million Cups) is hosted by the Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, and pro bono events are offered on a hybrid basis to benefit those outside of our region.
RVA Works Enterprise Support is an independent Virginia public charity that supports this series and other free, public events through promotional support. Open Trellis, Inc is a technology firm that supports entrepreneurs through education, mentorship, and financial serices.
Speakers include entrepreneurs and those creating systems that support them. These entrepreneurs share their individual stories and motivation, their business model, and their growth strategy. Plus, attendees work to find ways that we can help the speaker.
Entrepreneurship provides society a way to change the economy and cultivate social impact through inclusion. The entrepreneurs who participate in our programming span industry sector, experience and education level, age groups, and ethnicity.
Join us, and learn more...
Upcoming events
2
RVA Works Information Night - Accelerate Your Business
Regency Square, 1420 N Parham Rd, Richmond, VA, USBusiness & Nonprofit Accelerator
Fall 2026 Cohort is Forming NowWe help more people become business owners! Join us to learn more about our accelerator program which includes:
- 13 Weeks of facilitated discussion
- One-on-one mentoring sessions
- Referrals to other support agencies and service providers
- Alumni group meetings for peer learning and support
- Pro bono attendance in future accelerator sessions
- Weekly networking sessions to expand your professional circle
We have been pleased to report that since 2014, 130 Participants have entered the accelerator program:
- 130 Program Graduates
- 80+ Percent Launch a Business
- 38% - Alumni report an average increase of 38% in annual income
Meet Dale Fickett, RVA Works founder. Dale Fickett is an entrepreneurship professor at the University of Richmond, a top 20 undergraduate business school. He also serves as President of RVA Works, a Virginia public charity providing educational and financial services to people facing economic and social barriers to business ownership. He is the lead organizer for Techstars Startup Weekend, a contributing author for Forbes, and provides policy guidance to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship.
Dale has lectured and conducted research on entrepreneurial finance and developmental economics. His research is focused on access to small business credit, blockchain and AI technologies, and income mobility. He has previously served on board appointments at the Virginia Catholic Conference, and for Virginia's Secretary of Commerce and Trade. He has led ventures in the fintech and retail sectors, and served as a strategy consultant with Accenture’s European Financial Services practice. He holds a BSBA from LaSalle University, and an MBA from Villanova University. His passion is being a father to his daughter and son, as well as his missionary work in rural Haiti.
Logistics. Connect with RVA Works alumni-entrepreneurs, mentors, and others joining the Fall 2025 cohort. Have your questions ready:
- Thursday, August 27th
- 6pm - 8pm
No pre-registration is required. Join us:
Henrico Federal Credit Union
at Henrico Adult Education - Regency Campus
1420 North Parham Road
Henrico, VAParking. Free parking is available near NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, in the lower level of the parking deck. Please proceed to the corner entrance with the Blue Henrico Adult Education sign.
Please Note: This is an in-person only event, with no virtual option.
4 attendees
Entrepreneur Series is Back!
·HybridRobins School of Business, Univ. of Richmond, 1 Gateway Road, Rm 224, Richmond, VA, USMeet Vincent Vu
Interested in product inventions? Do you have a concept in mind, one that needs to be prototyped? How are you best leveraging AI?
Join us...
The energy heading into the Fall 2026 Robins Entrepreneur Series is something else🚀 all held at the University of Richmond.
Every academic year, we bring founders, investors, and builders into the room with our students — and this year's lineup might be the strongest yet. Now with over 450 meetups under our belt, we've grown into a great segment of the Startup Community: hundreds of sessions, thousands of people, and a steady stream of Richmond entrepreneurs who show up for the next generation.
We're kicking things off with someone who embodies exactly what this
series is about.
👉 Vincent Vu, Founder & CEO of Kinis.ai — a Richmond-based movement health company making clinically informed movement assessments more accessible.Vincent brings 15+ years across engineering, product, and entrepreneurship. He's built businesses from the ground up and taught innovation and entrepreneurship at SCAD and VCU. His work sits right at the intersection we love to explore with students: technology, human health, and turning ideas into real-world impact.
If you've ever wondered how an idea becomes a company that actually helps people, this is the conversation to catch.
To Vincent and every founder joining us this season — thank you for giving your time to our students. This is how an entrepreneurial ecosystem gets built: one honest conversation at a time.
The Discussion. This series of hybrid events is perfect for budding entrepreneurs, experienced executive mentors cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, early-stage investors, and students exploring innovative product design.
At each session, business founders serve as guest speakers share about their career, their firm's business model, as well as the successes and challenges in the product development process. Participants learn from the speakers’ experiences, discuss valuable insights, and connect with other entrepreneurs, students, faculty, and investors.
Logistics. A light lunch is served, as entrepreneurs connect with one another, learn from peers, and contribute to the conversation:
- Friday, August 28, 2026
- 11:30am EST - Coffee & Connection
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST - Presentation & Discussion
No pre-registration is required. Join us:
Robins School of Business
102 UR Drive, iLab Room 123
University of Richmond, VA 23173Parking. Free parking is available in the U5 and U6 lots immediately adjacent to the Robins School. Please enter the main foyer, turn to the left and proceed to room 123 (EY Innovation Lab) on the ground floor.
Please note that visitors have a two-hour parking window.
Please sign in when you enter the room, providing your license plate number.
On Zoom Webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86930744337?pwd=Yb4mzm4hNYboKII0f94aFbo4wVRnSz2 attendees
Past events
480
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