Global Incubator · Based in Arizona

Advancing Ideas,
Capital & Opportunity

We turn bold, teachable founders into real, scalable businesses.

AICO partners with entrepreneurs who are hopeful, coachable, and solving real problems with ideas that are genuinely different — from our home in Arizona to founders around the world.

Pitch Your Idea How We Work
Local roots in Arizona · National & global reach
Local + Global
Arizona-based, working with founders worldwide
3 Ways In
Workshops · Launch services · Revenue-share partnerships
Real Problems
We back ideas that solve and scale
Ideas Launched

Built with founders from first spark to first market.

These are a few of the ventures and platforms we have helped launch, shape, and start — turning early ideas into live products with a clear audience and path forward.

SkyReserve website preview

SkyReserve

SkyReserve is an AI-powered platform that makes private aviation effortless, from booking a flight to arranging everything on the ground. It brings aircraft, FBO services, hangar space, and fuel together in one intelligent, streamlined experience. With smarter planning and seamless travel, SkyReserve represents the future of flying.

Launched Ventureskyreserve.ai →
Invest Foundation website preview

Invest Foundation

Invest Foundation is a community of like-minded faith believers committed to making a difference in their local neighborhoods and around the world. It connects, equips, and mobilizes people of faith to serve, give, and lead in initiatives that bring real change locally and globally. Through shared purpose, its members invest their time, talents, and resources in work that lasts.

Started Platforminvestfoundation.org →
GrantsGPT website preview

GrantsGPT

GrantsGPT uses AI to make finding and winning grants faster and far less overwhelming. The platform helps nonprofits, schools, and changemakers discover the right funding opportunities and draft stronger proposals in a fraction of the time. Built for the people doing the work, it means less paperwork and more mission.

AI Toolgrantsgpt.org →
Family of Faith Center website preview

Family of Faith Center

Family of Faith Center offers compassionate, faith-centered support for caregivers and families walking through end-of-life seasons. Its services include caregiver resources and respite, spiritual companionship, and grief and bereavement support for life's most tender moments. Rooted in faith, presence, and community, the Center helps families know they never have to walk this road alone.

Church Websitefamilyoffaith.center →
Founder Resources

Ask anything. Get founder-ready answers.

From writing a business plan to licensing, funding, and finding a mentor — ask our AI resource guide and get clear, practical next steps for your venture.

Press Enter to ask · Shift+Enter for a new line
Powered by Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship.org U.S. Small Business Administration SCORE
New · Loan Readiness Review

Thinking about financing? Find out if you're ready.

Share your financials securely and our team sends back a readiness score, the lenders that fit, and your exact next steps. Free, hand-reviewed, no credit pull.

Start your review
Founder Guides

Evergreen reads for first-time founders.

Short, plain-spoken guides on the things founders actually get stuck on. Browse anytime — no signup needed — and ask the assistant above if you want to go deeper.

Idea Stage

How to validate your idea before you build

Test demand with real people in a couple of weeks — before you spend months building the wrong thing.

Read the guide → Getting Set Up

Registering your business in Arizona

Structure, the Arizona Corporation Commission, your EIN, and the TPT license — what to do, in order.

Read the guide → Working With Us

What revenue-share actually means for you

How a revenue-share partnership differs from equity or a loan — in plain numbers, with the trade-offs.

Read the guide → Telling Your Story

Writing a one-page pitch

A repeatable structure for a pitch people actually finish reading — and that sharpens your own thinking.

Read the guide →
Browse all guides
Templates & Tools

Free templates you can use today.

Practical, founder-ready downloads — business-plan and pitch templates plus spreadsheets you can open in Excel or Google Sheets. Leave your email and we'll send you new tools and Rim Country event invites, or just grab them.

Get the founder toolkit

One email unlocks every template below. We'll only send the occasional founder tip and event invite — no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

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Printable · PDF

One-Page Business Plan

The whole plan on a single page. Fill it in, then save as PDF.

Open template →
Printable · PDF

Lean Canvas

Map your business model in nine boxes on one page.

Open template →
Printable · PDF

Pitch-Deck Outline

The ten slides investors expect, with a prompt for each.

Open template →
Spreadsheet · CSV

Financial Projection

A 12-month revenue, cost, and profit model to fill in.

Download CSV →
Spreadsheet · CSV

Cash-Flow Worksheet

Track money in and out so you always know your runway.

Download CSV →
Next Step

Ready to build it for real?

Once your idea's on paper, tell us about it.

Pitch your idea →
Who We're Looking For

We bet on people and ideas — in that order.

Great businesses start with the right founder and a genuinely different idea. Here's what gets our attention.

01

Teachable & Hopeful Founders

We work with entrepreneurs who stay coachable, take feedback well, and bring optimism and grit to the hard parts of building.

02

Unique & Different Ideas

We're drawn to ideas that aren't just another copy — concepts that are innovative, original, and stand apart from what's already out there.

03

Real Problems That Scale

The best ideas solve a real, felt problem for real people — and have a clear path to grow well beyond where they started.

What We Do

Three ways to build with us.

Wherever you are in the journey, there's a way to work together — from learning the fundamentals to launching with us as your partner.

Learn

Workshops

Hands-on sessions that sharpen your idea, business model, and go-to-market thinking. Build the foundation before you build the business.

Best for: early founders & idea-stage
Launch

Launch Services

We work directly with you to take the idea to market — strategy, structure, and execution — delivered for a transparent fee.

Best for: ideas ready to go live
Partner

Revenue-Share Partnership

We partner with you and share in the upside — aligning our success with yours through a shared-revenue model.

Best for: high-potential, scalable ventures
How It Works

From idea to launch, step by step.

1

Apply

Tell us about you and your idea. We review every submission, local and global.

2

Conversation

If there's a fit, we talk — about the problem, the market, and you as a founder.

3

Choose a Path

Workshop, launch-for-a-fee, or a revenue-share partnership — whatever fits the idea.

4

Build & Launch

We roll up our sleeves with you and bring the idea to life.

Track Record

Just a few projects we have been a part of.

A selection of the companies and organizations our principals have been part of, led, and helped launch — the work behind the way we partner with founders today.

Resource Global logo

Resource Global

A worldwide network that teaches, mentors, and connects emerging marketplace leaders to transform their cities.

Visit site →
LM

Lausanne Movement

A global movement connecting leaders and ideas to advance mission around the world.

Visit site →
SkyReserve logo

SkyReserve

SkyReserve is an AI-powered platform that makes private aviation effortless, from booking a flight to arranging everything on the ground. It brings aircraft, FBO services, hangar space, and fuel together in one intelligent, streamlined experience. With smarter planning and seamless travel, SkyReserve represents the future of flying.

Visit site →
RC

Rim Country AI

An AI-powered community portal connecting Payson & Star Valley residents to local news, events, and resources.

Visit site →
Aetna logo

Aetna

One of the nation's leading health insurance and benefits companies, serving millions of members nationwide.

Visit site →
Rock Top Coffee logo

Rock Top Coffee

A specialty coffee company built on craft roasting and a love for the outdoors.

Visit site →
Create Possible logo

Create Possible

A creative studio helping founders and organizations turn bold ideas into reality.

Visit site →
Family of Faith logo

Family of Faith

Family of Faith Center offers compassionate, faith-centered support for caregivers and families walking through end-of-life seasons. Its services include caregiver resources and respite, spiritual companionship, and grief and bereavement support for life's most tender moments. Rooted in faith, presence, and community, the Center helps families know they never have to walk this road alone.

Visit site →
US-ASEAN Business Council logo

US-ASEAN Business Council

The premier advocacy organization for U.S. corporations operating across the dynamic markets of Southeast Asia.

Visit site →
Good News Partners logo

Good News Partners

A nonprofit providing affordable housing and community support to families in need.

Visit site →
Local Roots, Global Reach

Born in Arizona. Building everywhere.

We're proud to champion local entrepreneurs and ideas in our own community — and just as committed to working with founders across the country and around the world. Great ideas can come from anywhere, and so can we.

Invest Gila

Our commitment to the place we call home.

Invest Gila is how we put our principles to work right where we live — in Gila County, Arizona. We sit down with entrepreneurs here in town and use the very same approach we bring to founders everywhere: back teachable people, sharpen genuinely different ideas, and help them grow real, sustainable businesses.

This is Rim Country — the communities beneath the Mogollon Rim, ringed by the ponderosa pine forests of the Tonto National Forest. It's a small, four-season corner of Arizona where local businesses are the backbone of the community, and where we're proud to invest our time, mentorship, and partnership.

PaysonThe hub of Rim Country, just below the Mogollon Rim.
Star ValleyA close-knit town just east of Payson.
PineA mountain community high in the pines to the north.
StrawberryHome to Arizona's oldest standing schoolhouse.
View from atop the Mogollon Rim in Rim Country, Gila County, Arizona — red sandstone ledges and ponderosa pines overlooking the forested valley below.
Rim Country · Payson, Star Valley, Pine & Strawberry — Gila County, Arizona
Where is Gila County? Right in the heart of Arizona — central highlands, just below the Mogollon Rim, between Phoenix and the White Mountains. Gila County
Your Facilitators

The people you'll work with in Rim Country.

Invest Gila is led on the ground by two facilitators who have built, launched, and advised real businesses — locally and around the world.

JL

Jimmy Lee

Entrepreneur & Former White House Official

Jimmy Lee is a former White House official and local entrepreneur. Lee helped grow and launch SkyReserve, a private jet management company, and Resource Global, a nonprofit investing in faith-based entrepreneurs worldwide. He has worked for a Governor in the State of Illinois, consulted for the U.S. Department of Commerce, overseen 2 chambers of commerce and a Small Business Development Center, and worked with entrepreneurs in more than 19 countries.

TP

Tom Plets

Founder, Rock Top Coffee & Specialty Coffee Advisor

Tom Plets is a Payson business owner who earned a chemistry degree from Northern Arizona University before entering specialty coffee. Plets launched Dimi Espresso in Payson in 2012 and founded Rock Top Coffee in 2016, growing it into a roaster that shipped nationwide. After selling Rock Top, he continues to consult for the brand and advise other coffee shops on technical and business matters.

What's Happening

Upcoming events in Rim Country.

Workshops, meetups, and open sessions for local founders and curious neighbors. Everyone is welcome — come learn, connect, and build with us.

Facilitator? Post an event →
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Apply

Pitch us your idea.

Whether you're across town or across the world, we'd love to hear what you're building. Tell us about you and your idea — there's no perfect stage to apply.

  • Open to local, national & international founders
  • Every application is read by our team
  • No idea too early if the problem is real
Thank you — your idea is in. Our team will review it and reach out if there's a fit. Keep building. ✦
Something went wrong submitting your idea. Please try again, or email us at hello@aico.org.

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