Innovators in the CNMI Innovation Incubator Program Cohort I completed the Market Expansion & Revenue Strategies Workshop equipped with a 90-day growth plan and a practical framework for validating market demand. The session helped entrepreneurs move from business readiness into strategic growth.
Facilitated by Joe C. Guerrero, MBA, the workshop was the fourth module of the program’s five-part strategic training series, delivered by the Northern Marianas College Center for Training and Innovation. Training focused on identifying growth opportunities, strengthening revenue performance, and building businesses capable of scaling sustainably.
Rather than treating growth as simply acquiring more customers, the workshop challenged Innovators to ask where growth should come from and whether their businesses are prepared to support it. Participants explored four strategic growth pathways through the Ansoff Matrix: Market Penetration, Product Development, Market Development, and Diversification, while assessing the level of risk associated with each approach. The training also showed Innovators how to deepen existing customer relationships through referrals, loyalty strategies, and customer reactivation, and how to open new sales channels, including wholesale and business-to-business opportunities, partnerships, pop-ups, and email marketing.
A key emphasis was testing the market before expanding. Innovators learned a three-step approach: Talk with customers, pilot new offerings on a limited scale, and pre-sell before committing significant resources. The goal is to establish evidence of demand first. The session also expanded the definition of a “new market,” encouraging Innovators to look beyond geographic expansion to new customer segments, institutional buyers, hotels, schools, agencies, and adjacent demographics.
“Growth is not simply about doing more. It is about making intentional decisions about where the business can create value, generate revenue, and operate sustainably,” said Cherese Palacios, Program Manager of the CNMI Innovation Incubator Program. “This workshop gives our Innovators a framework for evaluating opportunities, testing demand, strengthening their revenue models, and building systems that can support the next stage of their business.”
The workshop further addressed value-based pricing and revenue diversification, introducing recurring revenue, tiered pricing, bundles, productized services, licensing, and teaching. Innovators also completed a revenue stream audit to decide which activities to add, optimize, or eliminate based on profitability and operational demands. The session concluded with each Innovator developing a 90-Day Growth Action Plan covering business objectives, growth pathway, commitments, performance metrics, potential risks, and accountability. Participants then partnered with one another to share their plans and set a 30-day accountability check-in.
“The lessons we learned during the market expansion training help you see where your business is at. It makes you think about what’s truly working, what could be improved, or what you might have to pivot away from in order to make your business more successful. That training gave us a blueprint to guide these kinds of decisions moving forward,” said Isa Belle Seman, Founder, Krafting Littles.
The CNMI Innovation Incubator Program continues to provide Innovators with strategic training, mentorship, resources, and practical tools designed to strengthen their ventures and support long-term business development.
For more information about the CNMI Innovation Incubator Program, contact cnmi.incubator@marianas.edu. Follow @cnmisbdc on Instagram and the CNMI Small Business Development Center Network on Facebook for program updates.
Funded in part through a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
Facilitator Joe C. Guerrero, MBA, introduces Innovators to strategic frameworks for evaluating new business opportunities and growth pathways.
Innovators engage in a hands-on discussion focused on applying strategic concepts to their individual ventures.
An Innovator engages with the facilitator to explore how the workshop’s strategies can be applied to their business.
Innovators explore practical approaches to understanding customers, assessing demand, and making informed expansion decisions.
The CNMI Innovation Incubator, in collaboration with the Northern Marianas College Center for Training and Innovation (NMC-CTI), concluded its Market Expansion & Revenue Strategies Workshop with Cohort One Innovators posing for a group photo with facilitator Joe C. Guerrero, MBA.