COLUMBIA -- SC Launch!, a S.C. Research Authority collaboration, and Atlanta-based Trevelino/Keller Communications Group have teamed up to further support the South Carolina entrepreneur community by forming an alliance to bring the Start-Up Council to the Palmetto State.

SC Launch!, which was started in April 2006, created the SC Launch! Resource Network to provide business counsel to knowledge industry entrepreneurs in topics ranging from accounting, banking and financial services to IT, legal and public relations. In the form of roundtable review sessions, the Start-Up Council will offer multiple opportunities for entrepreneurs, starting with SC Launch! Client Companies, to present their business ideas and gain insight from experienced professional service firms.

Roundtable review sessions for SC Launch! Client Companies will meet in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville. The first session will be June 21 in Charleston.

“The alliance between the SC Launch! Resource Network and the Start-Up Council provides a cost-effective, highly collaborative way to furnish essential risk-reduction services to Knowledge Economy startups in the state,” said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney. “With the rapid growth of the SC Launch! client base, including 22 companies receiving capital commitments and 41 companies receiving services, it was important to partner with the Start-Up Council in order to provide quality support to our growing base.”

Startups have many mission critical needs early on—contract creation, funding sources, brand identity, marketing strategy, positioning—often with little resources or expertise outside their core business.

“The Start-Up Council was created to be an accessible, smart, resourceful and financially sensitive destination for the next generation of innovative companies. We’re thrilled to be working with SC Launch! to provide this expertise to the growing knowledge industry in South Carolina,” said Genna Keller, principal of Trevelino/Keller, the company who originated The Start-Up Council.