The distance is the problem. We close it.
Spaulding Works exists because there is often distance between how institutions understand entrepreneurship and how businesses actually operate.
We get closer to the entrepreneur and the business, develop intelligence from those realities, and translate what we learn into better institutional decisions, programs, places, partnerships, and systems.
The business tells the truth.
Institutions often design entrepreneurship initiatives from a distance. That distance creates blind spots between what institutions offer and what businesses actually need.
Revenue, margin, payroll, cash, capacity, capital, time — the business itself provides the evidence of what entrepreneurs need to survive, grow, hire, invest, and build.
The entrepreneur
Navigating the system — capital, cash flow, production, people, partnerships, and growth.
The institution
Trying to build one that serves them — programs, capital, places, and systems.
PortraitJessica SpauldingBuilt from both sides of the table.
Jessica Spaulding
Founder, Spaulding Works · Founder & CEO, Harlem Chocolate Factory
Jessica Spaulding is an entrepreneur, operator, and strategist who has spent more than a decade building businesses and navigating the systems designed to support them.
As founder and CEO of Harlem Chocolate Factory, she built a nationally recognized brand from the ground up — navigating the realities that rarely make it into entrepreneurship programming: capital, cash flow, production, staffing, retail, partnerships, growth, and the constant decisions required to keep a business moving.
Her experience extends beyond her own company — across marketing, operations, brand strategy, business development, and entrepreneurial ecosystems — giving her a view from both sides of the table: the entrepreneur navigating the system, and the institution trying to build one that serves them.
She founded Spaulding Works to close the distance between the two.
- The New York Times
- Forbes
- Bon Appétit
- Essence
- Oprah’s Favorite Things
Get closer to the business.
Building or rethinking an entrepreneurship initiative? Start with the people living the reality.