February 7, 2011
On January 31, 2011, President Barack Obama announced the creation of Startup America to focus on promoting entrepreneurship. It is portrayed as a public private partnership. The organization will be run by successful entrepreneurs who, in turn, will help other entrepreneurs grow their companies. If all works well, the end result will create American jobs.
The partnership is a private non-profit organization chaired by Steve Case, a co-founder of AOL who engineered its’ growth and eventual sale to Time-Warner. Case is the chair of The Case Foundation, one of two funders of the partnership.
The other current funding organization is The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, an educational and promotional organization to foster entrepreneurism. Its’ chairperson, Carl J. Schramm will be a member of the board.
The partnership has commitments for services and programs from corporate titans Hewlett Packard, Intel, Facebook, Ernst & Young, Google and IBM.
“Well, when you’re trying to create things that are new, you have to be prepared to be on the edge of risk.” ~Michael Eisner
Although the mission, strategies and tactics are yet to be defined and implemented, they are in the process of hiring staff. Here is the gist of what they are looking to accomplish:
- Seek Out High Growth Potential Companies – Although not finalized the definition appears to be a 20% annual growth rate over a five year period.
- Limit to Certain Industries – Included at this time are clean energy, medicine, advanced manufacturing and IT. More will surely be added as the lobbyists start to come forth.
- Educate Entrepreneurial Leaders – Create a network of mentors and add educational programs
- Provide Financial Contacts – Create a high level list of venture capitalists, private investors and private equity firms and match the two parties.
- Identify Barriers to Growth – identify and remove these barriers, both corporate and government that are holding back these companies. (A quagmire at best!)
There are a number of pros to this setup:
- No Government Money – The partnership is to be funded by private organizations and corporations.
- Access to Expertise and Capital – Put the big boys and girls in with the little boys and girls and shake well.
- Access to Contacts – Provides the right contacts and mentors at the appropriate time
And there are a number of cons:
- Will Provide Help to Only a Few Elite Companies – leaves the vast majority of companies, both big and small out to fend on their own.
- Government Meddling – Places government into the private corporate sector… expect funding to eventually come from the taxpayer with conditions attached.
- Conflict of Interest – The potential exists for a large company to buy out the smaller entrepreneur with inside information or to take an idea and run with a variation of it on its’ own.
Is this a great idea or a pipedream waiting to explode into another government bureaucracy? This partnership brings with it the bully pulpit and access to the president. The president will surely promote it to win votes and funding for his next campaign run. What do you think??
I think I may just start a company that cleans energy!! Where did I leave my Spic ‘n’ Span??
Happy Entrepreneuring!!
Filed under News by on Feb 7th, 2011. Comment. 
February 15, 2011
I recently scanned through a couple of books on my bookshelf, Who Moved my Cheese and The One Minute Manager. I also watched a motivational customer service classic, The Fish Video. Not too many years ago, they were compulsory reading and viewing for many businesses and organizations. They came on the heels of In Search for Excellence. Each tried to define various parts of a successful business from customer experience to efficient management to creative and effective strategies. For most entrepreneurial businesses, they are entertainment and lack substance.
As an entrepreneur, there is only one way to define a successful business.
More money comes in than goes out.
That’s it. It doesn’t matter what product or service you sell or provide. It is such a simple concept and yet one that many business owners forget. I have seen too many entrepreneurs be sidetracked by other issues and ideas.
Growing businesses are particularly susceptible to getting sidetracked. As they grow they add support departments. These departments such as Human Resources, Marketing and Consumer Affairs may all be important and add value to your organization. But, as they grow, they tend to eat up valuable resources that are siphoned from the main purpose of your business. The budgets and head count tend to grow faster than the company as a whole. If your company is not growing proportionately, you will eventually be spending more on unnecessary expenses than you are bringing in as revenue. Worse, should sales slow for any reason, you are still going to be paying out for a bloated organization. This happens to companies every time we hit a recessionary period or market tastes change.
“The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go.” ~J.P. Morgan
One of the reasons for this bloating comes from companies moving to new fad ideas. How many companies do you know that have tried to work with LEAN or Six Sigma? How many companies really need to have a gaggle of green belts or a herd of black belts running around proclaiming they can provide the answers to all your problems? Wouldn’t you really rather have someone with a rope belt making sales or providing backroom support in production. Be careful of the money spent because someone sells you on a fad idea.
What happens in many organizations is that no one wants to take the responsibility to make a decision. Someone makes a decision that goes bad and the aura of the bad decision stays with them. Instead, people are prone to CYA (Yes that is Covering Your Ass!). So, departments, committees and meetings take the place of decision making. Now, instead of one person making a decision, a group of 4, 6, 10 or more are tasked with research and determining how to solve a problem or issue. Think of the time wasted in meetings when these folks could be much more productive in sales or operations, or with a company other than yours!
What are your thoughts?
Happy Entrepreneuring!!
Filed under News by on Feb 15th, 2011. Comment.
February 21, 2011
You are a typical entrepreneur. You have dozens of things going on. You have deadlines to meet, an employee is acting out, the gears in your sales machine are stuck, your customers are slow to pay and you wonder how you are going to make payroll this week. Sound familiar?
Just as you think it can’t be any more challenging, in walks your most trusted, top colleague and announces, “We have a problem.” You look up from your paper and folder strewn desk, spill your water bottle and ask, “What now?” As she lays out the issue, you cringe at the thought of having to make another decision with everything else you have going on.
If you’ve experienced this, you are not alone. Most entrepreneurs know these days. I have had my share of them. How you deal with them and how you make your decisions will determine whether you will succeed. Poor decision making is worse and more fatal to a business than a poor decision. Granted, poor decisions suck, but they can be overcome. Flawed decision making has a longer lasting and deeper effect on your business.
“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” ~Mark Twain
Here are some ideas on how to make better decisions:
- There is NO Perfect Decision – Repeat after me, “There is NO perfect decision.” If you wait to have every fact in front of you before you decide to tackle an issue, the world will pass you by. If you fuss and fret over a decision, you may never make a decision or the problem may get worse. Good decisions are always better than no decision. Take action based on what you know based on how a decision will affect your company, your staff and your customers and move on. Your gut instinct is better than you think.
- Chill Out – Realize that many decisions do not need to made immediately. Am I contradicting what I just said? No. Understand that not everything has to be decided now! Sometimes the best decisions come while we are sleeping or mindlessly playing video games. It is similar to times when you cannot remember someone’s name, or the name of a movie or song and hours later, it just pops into your head from wherever they pop from. And remember, sometimes the best decisions are no decision.
- Get Advice – Got a legal or financial issue? Consult your expert attorney or accountant. Sales stuck? Who is your marketing or sales guru? Your advisors have probably seen the issue you are facing and can provide solid advice or sources to find it.
- Not All Decisions are Good – Understand since you are not perfect, your staff is not perfect, your company is not perfect, you will make mistakes. Your
Courtesy of Freddy the Boy
decisions are not infallible. When you see that you have screwed up, admit it quickly and change course. There is no sense in watching a poor decision harm your company just to avoid being human in front of your staff. They will respect you more for admitting your mistake. There is no room for your ego here.
That’s it! Now, go make some decisions!!
Happy Entrepreneuring!!
Filed under News by on Feb 21st, 2011. Comment.
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