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8 Key Issues Inhibiting Entrepreneurship in NEOhio
A NorTech 2003 Entrepreneurship Task Force report (PDF at www.nortech.org) identified “8 issues inhibiting entrepreneurship in NEO". It is highly recommended you read this report!
As it's been nearly a year since area leaders were made aware of these issues, it's worth revisiting the list and seeing if the community has progressed in any way, and how to better address the obstacles for the future.
The 8 inhibitors, in no determined order, are:
-NEO entrepreneurs oftentimes lack the skills to convert ideas into nationally competitive business concepts/plans
-There is a perceived shortage of entrepreneurs and supplemental talent in NEO
-High quality networking opportunities for entrepreneurs are scarce
-There is a limited understanding of the capital continuum, poor visibility into the available capital for different stages of a business' life cycle, and a shortage of capital in the pre-seed and seed stages
-Significant ambiguity exists about entrepreneur assistance organizations (EAOs) and there is a perception of duplicative service offerings
-NEO historically has not celebrated its successful entrepreneurs and has had a low tolerance for entrepreneurial failure
-Regional marketing efforts have failed to create a fair perception of NEO's strengths
-The business community has been largely indifferent to supporting or sourcing from local entrepreneurs
Knowing the problems is a good step toward developing solutions. All this said, do you feel we know the issues, and do you feel leaders are devising proper solutions?
In this discussion, please provide feedback on this list - was it accurate and complete, are there other items to include, and what progress has been made toward resolving any of these inhibitors.
All feedback is welcome!
A NorTech 2003 Entrepreneurship Task Force report (PDF at www.nortech.org) identified “8 issues inhibiting entrepreneurship in NEO". It is highly recommended you read this report!
As it's been nearly a year since area leaders were made aware of these issues, it's worth revisiting the list and seeing if the community has progressed in any way, and how to better address the obstacles for the future.
The 8 inhibitors, in no determined order, are:
-NEO entrepreneurs oftentimes lack the skills to convert ideas into nationally competitive business concepts/plans
-There is a perceived shortage of entrepreneurs and supplemental talent in NEO
-High quality networking opportunities for entrepreneurs are scarce
-There is a limited understanding of the capital continuum, poor visibility into the available capital for different stages of a business' life cycle, and a shortage of capital in the pre-seed and seed stages
-Significant ambiguity exists about entrepreneur assistance organizations (EAOs) and there is a perception of duplicative service offerings
-NEO historically has not celebrated its successful entrepreneurs and has had a low tolerance for entrepreneurial failure
-Regional marketing efforts have failed to create a fair perception of NEO's strengths
-The business community has been largely indifferent to supporting or sourcing from local entrepreneurs
Knowing the problems is a good step toward developing solutions. All this said, do you feel we know the issues, and do you feel leaders are devising proper solutions?
In this discussion, please provide feedback on this list - was it accurate and complete, are there other items to include, and what progress has been made toward resolving any of these inhibitors.
All feedback is welcome!
posted by:
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Cleveland
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Re: 8 Issues Inhibiting Entrepreneurship in NEOhio
Tue, January 20, 2004 - 2:31 AMHere's a link to the latest ranking of cities for some insightful metrics of Entrepreneurship for 61 cities - Cleveland ranked 57, but better than San Francisco and LA - by these metrics these regions are definitely still in a recession
Metrics are as follows: Calculating the Results
Four criteria are used to rank the cities:
1) Entrepreneurial Activity (based on the number of businesses 5 years old or younger)
2) Small-Business Growth (based on the number of businesses with fewer than 20 employees that had significant employment growth from January 2002 to January 2003)
3) Job Growth (change in job growth over a three-year period through January 2003)
4) Risk (bankruptcy rates).
www.entrepreneur.com/bestcit...,00.html
Cleveland's numbers have some interesting aspects... and include Loraine and Elyria. They show an old economy region with more old companies than new and way-below average job growth. The good metrics are below average number of bankruptcies - meaning Cleveland's at the bottom of the bell - and a large available labor pool, which will be inexpensive - reasonable concern is skill mix. Better retrain that workforce for new economy while continuing to push development of small manufacturing businesses - still a strength around there.
