Matthew Jaquez, left, and Dhruv C. Patel are co-founders of Syncurrent Inc.. The Marquette-based company serves underserved and underestimated communities to improve their economies. (Photo courtesy of Dhruv C. Patel)

MARQUETTE — Taking things step by step is one way to build a business, but so is serving clientele that’s not always able to access resources.

Dhruv C. Patel is co-founder, with Matthew Jaquez, of Syncurrent Inc., which works with communities lacking resources to nurture entrepreneurship.

Patel is a 2022 Northern Michigan University graduate in organizational science — an individually created program.

Syncurrent is a client company of Innovate Marquette SmartZone, a Marquette-based initiative designed to help startups launch their businesses. With Innovate Marquette’s help, Syncurrent evolved from the conceptualization stage to a revenue-generating business.

Syncurrent is an online platform, Patel said.

That in itself isn’t unusual, but its client base might be unique.

“We work with underserved and underestimated communities to turn entrepreneurship into an economic engine,” Patel said.

The platform, Patel noted, guides clients in building their business step by step, or, as he put it, “from A to Z.”

“We take entrepreneurs through stages,” he said — and that involves learning how to enter markets.

It doesn’t end there.

“Now that you’re in the market space, how can you make money and how can you grow the business?” Patel said.

Syncurrent is a relationship-based company, he said, which involves attending events and contacting communities that are looking for different programs.

One of the companies with which Syncurrent works is the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, based in Montana.

CSKT, according to its website, provides land management, housing, law enforcement and other services to Tribal and non-Tribal members.

“We decided to reach out, and struck a partnership,” Patel said.

Patel and Jaquez, who are based in Marquette, work out of their homes, and lead a seven-person team, all of whom live in Michigan.

Patel said that Syncurrent had been working with underserved communities, but now is adding a focus to underestimated communities.

“We are our target market,” Patel said of himself and Jaquez, “and I think the best entrepreneurs tend to be that way. Matt came from the Bronx in New York. I grew up in Chicago, and then we both moved to a rural community.

“So, drastically urban to drastically rural are underserved either which way, and it’s such a limitation when you’re not in a high-quality area.”

Patel stressed that it’s not an issue of the Marquette region lacking quality.

“There aren’t tons of resources available,” he said. “If you’re out in Big Bay, or of you’re in Skandia, you have to drive all the way to SmartZone.”

However, for Tribal nations in Montana or underserved rural communities elsewhere, for example, the nearest business office is 120 miles away, he said — and single parents or college students don’t have two hours to chase an idea.

“So, we thought, what about those people?” Patel said. “If you live in a nice neighborhood somewhere in Boston, the odds of you opening a success business just due to geography are increasingly higher than if you’re just stuck in a rural community and you have access to Wi-Fi.”

Internet access, though, isn’t the solution for everyone.

Patel said, “Then you go on the internet, you go, ‘How to I start my business?’ And now you have a wall of 40 different links pointing you in different directions. So, we thought, ‘What if we could access that population and give them a very clear and clear concise roadmap to build their business?”

Patel acknowledged that there’s a stereotype of marginalized populations– that they are not good potential business clients.

“No one seems to think, like, ‘Oh, talent can be here,'” Patel said. “And Marquette was like that 20 years ago.”

A process of milestones

Patel said the business model for Syncurrent involves ideation, or exploring the idea; market entry, which is identifying markets and then entering them; and market growth.

“To get each milestone, it’s full of multiple modules — modules we’ve made so it’s animated,” Patel said. “We want to build it so it can eventually speak to you.”

That animation, he noted, would have colors, texts and moving pieces, and be interactive.

Each module teaches a core concept in business, Patel said.

*We use the term ‘bite-sized learning’ because you go through one module of selling,” he said. “Now you understand the fundamentals of selling. You go through the digital marketing module. Now you understand the essentials of digital marketing.

“So, we’re giving you enough to start.”

For instance, putting flyers around start advertising an online business doesn’t make sense, he said.

Thus, the platform is adaptive and intuitive to the user.

“Our work brings me fulfillment every day,” Jaquez said in an email. “I come from an economically distressed family, and I had to learn many things on my own. This came with confusion, doubt and feelings of inadequacy.

“However, one thing kept me going through the tough times. I always had visions of giving back to people, instilling hope and knowing that my actions today will one day make a life-changing impact on someone’s life. Today, I am living the dream that I held so close to my heart. I use my skills to transform and make a positive impact on people all over the country.”

What inspired Syncurrent was the combination of stories from him and Patel, along with the “hopes, dreams and aspirations of thousands of others,” Jaquez said.

“Everyone has ideas that, if brought to reality, could make a positive change in society,” he said. “It’s our mission to assist and guide these individuals in bringing what’s inside their head outside into the world for everyone to see.”

When is a business ready to venture out on its own? Syncurrent acts like a “middle man” between the client and investors.

“After they get to the third stage, they can be marked as ‘investment-ready,'” Patel said. “At that point, we connect them with a network of different investors across the United States that we’ve already built a relationship with.”

The process, he stressed, doesn’t end with the “cool idea.”

“We try to get you up on your feet,” Patel said. “You have a business model. You have a model of selling, and you’re making money — and now you can really take it to the next level. That’s kind of the drop-off point for now.

“Eventually we want to scale and get bigger and bigger and bigger, and really just take it all the way through to be a lifetime resource. But you’ve got to start somewhere.”

For more information, visit www.syncurrent.com or contact Patel at 847-877-0405 or Dhruv@syncurrent.com.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.