In this episode of the Leading Ladies of Economic Development, Kaycee talks with leaders Jenny Poon & Chelsea Smith from HUUB, the digital platform that helps cities and economic development organizations centralize resources, funding, training, and community support to help small businesses start, grow, and thrive.
Jenny and Chelsea share their paths from entrepreneurship to economic development and explain how their experiences navigating disconnected small-business resources led them to create HUUB, a digital platform launched during the pandemic to connect entrepreneurs with the right support. They discuss early challenges like relying on scattered online information and the importance of “one right person” in changing a business trajectory, shaping HUUB’s focus on vetted experts and tactical help. HUUB partners primarily with municipalities, often alongside chambers, nonprofits, and other ecosystem organizations, and offers one-on-one advising, an on-demand learning library, community board, aggregated funding and events, and ecosystem mapping—automating tasks that economic developers often do manually and providing continuity when staff turnover occurs. They emphasize equitable outreach through translation, UX design, demographic tracking, and representation among advisors, and note lessons from product development and from resisting traditional startup pressures, while urging greater technology investment and more thoughtful AI use.
In this episode, we explore:
- How Jenny and Chelsea’s entrepreneurial journeys and frustration with fragmented small-business resources inspired them to create HUUB, a platform that connects entrepreneurs with trusted support, funding, and expertise.
- How HUUB partners with municipalities and ecosystem organizations to centralize advising, learning, funding opportunities, events, and resource mapping—reducing manual work, improving continuity, and making it easier for small businesses to find the help they need.
- How intentional design, multilingual access, diverse advisors, and thoughtful use of technology and AI can expand access to resources and create stronger, more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Quotable: “ And that's the key thing that I kept seeing over and over as an entrepreneur. It just takes one person, one right person, to completely change your trajectory as a business owner.”
Resources and Links
Connect with Jenny Poon on LinkedIn
Connect with Chelsea Smith on LinkedIn
HUUB - Economic Development Tools for Small Business Support
Tools | HUUB - Economic Development Tools for Small Business Support
Kaycee Bunch, MA, CEcD
Chelsea Smith
Jenny Poon