An inner-city trades builder
A journeyman electrician in Detroitshould own the bid,not carry someone else's trademark.
Stepsmith turns inner-city trades labor into equity-holding employers. Diagnostics, capital, a paid 12-week apprenticeship, anchored procurement — wrapped around HVAC, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, and roofing founders in Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis.
- HVAC
- Electrical
- Plumbing
- Carpentry
- Roofing
How Stepsmith works
Diagnose. Finance. Match to buyer.
Three moves. One employer. Stepsmith wraps every founder in a tight loop — score, capitalize, and place the first PO.
- 1Intake
Diagnose
A two-week intake scores your trade maturity, local demand signal, and crew capacity — and prints an ops plan, not a deck.
- 2Capital
Finance
Revenue-based micro-financing from a CDFI partner: $5K–250K, royalty-capped, with tools and equipment issued at signing.
- 3Procurement
Match to buyer
Bid placement into a pre-vetted anchor buyer already procuring your scope — Detroit Land Bank Authority, a CDBG rehab program, or a regional hospital system.
High-demand field labor should produce equity-holding employers —not a permanent subcontractor underclass.
The gap
The trades ladder stops at “sub.” — in three cities, with nothing in between.
In every anchor market, journeymen do the work. They never hold the equity. The buyers below already procure these scopes; the equity-holding employer who sits between the apprentice and the contract is what Stepsmith builds.
Detroit, MI
Ownership gapMature CDFI infrastructure, deep subcontracting bench, and city buyers contracting inner-city trades scopes.
Anchor demand nearby
Detroit Land Bank Authority, Michigan Rehab Properties, Wayne County.
Cleveland, OH
Ownership gapCounty-level set-aside programs (Cuyahoga, CEDI) plus anchor institutions sourcing locally.
Anchor demand nearby
Cleveland Clinic, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland State University.
St. Louis, MO
Ownership gapNorth-side building trades; hospitals and developers behind the brick north-corridor redevelopment.
Anchor demand nearby
BJC HealthCare, SSM Health, north-corridor developers.
“I wired my first house at twenty-three. By thirty-one I'd supervised forty jobs for someone else's logo. Stepsmith handed me the bid, the crew, and the LLC — same tools, my name on the truck.”
Maria — journeyman electrician, Detroit, week 12
What twelve weeks built
- Crew on payroll
- 4 journeymen + 2 apprentices
- Anchor buyer first PO
- Detroit Land Bank Authority — 38 rehabs
- Royalty on $35K gross
- $2,100/mo · cap at $67.5K · ~32 mo
- Local-hire pledge
- 60% crew from the 482xx ZIP band
How it works
From intake to first PO in twelve weeks.
Not a demo day. Not a fellowship. A payroll-tracked, capital-funded, crew-hiring pipeline that ends with a real contract and a real crew on the books.
- W 1–2MilestoneIntake + diagnostics
- W 3–4MilestoneBusiness plan + license packet
- W 5–8MilestoneCapital + tools, equipment issued
- W 9–10MilestoneCrew hire, local hiring pledge on file
- W 11–12MilestoneBid placement + first PO
The stack
Four layers, fused — not a stack of referrals.
Stepsmith wraps every founder in diagnostics, capital, an apprenticeship-to-ownership track, and a buyer network that already buys trades in the zip codes where the employer operates.
Local pricing, licensing, capacity — read like a credit file
Every founder gets a market-grade read on licensing, pricing, and capacity — calibrated against local trade data, not generic SBA thresholds.
$5K–$250K revenue-based + NMTC + matched philanthropic
Revenue-based micro-financing from $5K to $250K, paired with New Markets Tax Credit leverage and matched philanthropic capital — a $100K ask lands as a $300K build.
12-week paid apprenticeship-to-ownership
A structured apprenticeship-to-ownership track that turns journeyman skill into business ownership — instrumentation, estimating, and crew on the same payroll from week one.
Anchored municipal, health, higher-ed, developer procurement
Municipal, healthcare, higher-ed, and developer procurement teams already sourcing from Stepsmith graduates in the zip codes where the employer operates.
Pick the rung
Three tiers, one term sheet. Pick yours.
Same revenue-based mechanic, same cap discipline, same CDFI partner. The tier changes the size of the ask, the depth of underwriting, and what gets stacked on top.
Build your tier preview
Three tiers. One term sheet.
Pick the ladder rung that matches the bid — Stepsmith shows you the monthly remittance before you apply.
Growth: hire a real crew, bid bonded work, build a backlog. The NMTC leverage unlocks here when geography qualifies.
Worked monthly remittance
- Monthly gross
- $35K / mo
- Royalty remittance
- $2,100 / mo
- Time to cap
- ~32 mo to cap
on $35K monthly gross
Anchor markets
Concentrated, on purpose. Three cities. Real demand. Real gap.
Each market was chosen against ICIC trade signals and a verified buyer pipeline — no spray-and-pray roll-out. Pick a city — the comparator swaps the signal.
Pick a city — Stepsmith anchors each cohort against named buyers already contracting.
Detroit, MI
Detroit has the trades demand. Stepsmith builds the equity-holding employers it has been missing.
Mature CDFI infrastructure, deep subcontracting bench, and city buyers contracting inner-city trades scopes.
Anchor buyers
Detroit Land Bank Authority, Michigan Rehab Properties, Wayne County.
Trade signal
38%
of MI inner-city jobs in skilled trades (ICIC 2024)
Mature CDFI infrastructure, deep subcontracting bench, and city buyers contracting inner-city trades scopes.
County-level set-aside programs (Cuyahoga, CEDI) plus anchor institutions sourcing locally.
North-side building trades; hospitals and developers behind the brick north-corridor redevelopment.
The pledge
60% of every financedcrew hired from thesame neighborhood itserves.
ICIC's finding: inner-city firms disproportionately re-employ locally — at a rate generic accelerators underestimate. The 60% standard is operationally tough and externally cited.
Frequently asked
Questions founders ask before they apply.
The short version — anything longer, stepsmith@polsia.app.
Trade your sub role for a stake
Ready to stop carrying someone else'strademark?
Stepsmith accepts applications on a rolling basis in Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis. Founders with active trade experience in HVAC, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, or roofing get priority review.
Apply
Send a one-paragraph intro and the trade you want to scale.
Buyer network, press, partnerships — same inbox. We route fast.
Or just get updates
New cohorts, city announcements, founder stories — short notes only.