Small Business Loans: The Conundrum

Today it appears that a new $30 billion loan program will be signed in to law. Yet, as one article points out, it may not do much to unclog the engine of economic growth that is small business.

Why? Because most small businesses aren't expanding in uncertain economic—and regulatory—times.

"Our business customers are mired in uncertainty and are reluctant to invest in their businesses," said William Chase, who is CEO of a Memphis community bank, Triumph Bank, adding that he's got enough money to cover the very limited number of loans that are being requested these days.

What about the loan program? Apparently Triumph isn't buying into it.

"We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulator, the government, also be a partner in our bank," Chase said.

Food for thought. 

How about a few investment tax credits instead? While I've been wary of SBA loans (express or otherwise) and don't recommend them to struggling companies due to the strings attached, I often recommend taking advantage of tax credits tied to investment. 

Investment tax credits seem a less underhanded way of wealth re-distribution (or an easy way to free the flow of capital, depending on your perspective).

Embarrassment in Entrepreneurship?

A great quote from the founder of LinkedIn:

"If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late."

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/the-iterate-fast-and-release-often-philosophy-of-entrepreneurship-ben-parr




iPhoned

Opportunity: State Operations Manager, East Tennessee

Tennessee, like neighboring Virginia, has a broadband initiative plan. Broadband, as noted during the presentation a group of participated in at Supercomm 2009, is a key to balancing economic development with innovation.

As such, this might be of interest to readers: a job opening at ConnnectedTN.org


Connected Tennessee is a part of Connected Nation, the country’s leader in working with communities and providers to break down the digital divide. If there is someone you think might be a good fit for the position, please hasten them to visit the job posting currently available at http://www.connectedtn.org/about_us/careers.php.

The departing person will be available to assist in the transition, as will Executive Director, Michael Ramage.

Pop Up Shops - A Mall Owner's Dream?

Yahoo News and Time magazine have a great story about "pop up shops" which appear in malls for a period of time. The article's premise is that mall owners and management need to fill empty mall slots, especially during the holiday season, and that entrepreneurs with a good idea and enough inventory might just be the ticket to sprucing up the facade between now and year's end.

Just, please nothing offensive at the Johnson City Mall, given their impeccable taste.

Co-working or Incubation? The Debate

Along with my friend and colleague, Jose Castillo, who runs the SparkPlaza co-working space, I'm going to be part of a "debate" on the merits of co-working versus incubation for those businesses that want to move from the spare bedroom to the boardroom.

The event, held in conjunction with the Northeast Tennessee Technology Council, debuts at SparkPlaza in Johnson City, TN, from 8:00-9:30 AM on 23 November 2009. It's also been added to the LaunchPin calendar.

A potential list of topics / questions, comparing supervised growth vs organic growth (the two basic tenets of entrepreneurial growth, here are the topic points:

1. Why do entrepreneurs move from their spare bedroom to a co-working or incubation facility?

2. What services are provided by each (tactical, such as copier, fax, phones, internet; strategic such as small business advice, mentoring)?

3. How big can one scale a company inside each?

4. What does "graduation" from a co-working space and from an incubation space?

5. What equity stake does the co-working or incubation group take in the companies that are part of each facility? In other words, is co-working peer-to-peer or are some peers more equal than others?

We've also decided to add two guest debaters to help tag-team two topics of great interest:

First, Yvette Fragile, formerly with Knoxville News-Sentinel and now with iShoptheTri.com, will help Jose and Tim make sense of the the roles of social and traditional media in business startup marketing. Second, Rayford Johnson from the ETSU innovation lab will help expand the incubation / co-working debate when we look at for-profit versus not-for-profit incubation.

Look forward to seeing you there, if you're in the area and can make it.

Opportunity: Johnson City (TN) Economic Development Summit

Back in 2002, the Johnson City, TN, city manager and a group of local economic development practitioners convened a summit to look at business development, tourism and a few other categories of interest. Since then the annual summit has attracted

The summit's mission statement is typical in its length and denseness of thought but atypical in its ability to distill a singular vision: help entrepreneurs and small businesses grow.

"Our enduring mission is to contribute to the economic and business development of the region (on behalf of Johnson City/Jonesborough/Washington County). We strive to serve as an advocate for small business and entrepreneurs and aspire to provide critical information on recources to businesses either coming into the area or needing additional resources to support their business growth."

The summit is split up in to a number of working groups focused on the development of business, infrastructure, tourism and workforce, with others focused on enhancing health and medicine as well as livable communities.

The Business Development Group is "comprised of individuals and entities representing the interests of area entrepreneurs, city, county, university, and private efforts; unified by a shared vision of improving and promoting Johnson City, Jonesborough, and Washington County as an economically vibrant and viable business-friendly community."

Again, another mouthful, but the public-private partnership approach - when applied to the improvement of the community as a whole - is a worthwhile goal that any local entrepreneur should consider participating in.

The event is set for October 20, 2009, and details can be found on the LaunchPin calendar.

Opportunity: Small Business Awards (KOSBE)

For any small business in Kingsport, Tennessee, and the surrounding area, the Kingsport Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (KOSBE) program comes highly recommended (see previous post).

As a part of the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce, KOSBE hosts a small business award contest and celebration.  This year's judges include officials from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the State of Tennessee Economic and Community Development Business Enterprise Resource Office (BERO) and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The deadline for entries is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on October 30, 2009 (and has been added to the LaunchPin calendar; remember, this year, the "fall back" doesn't happen until after Candy Day, err, Halloween).

The following details are provided by KOSBE's executive director, Aundrea Wilcox:


The annual KOSBE Awards' recognition and celebration event is set for Thursday, December 10, 2009 at BANQ, a downtown Kingsport meeting venue, from 5:30 - 7:00 PM.


Each winner will receive a variety of prizes: a KOSBE helm award at the celebration event;  a  digital award emblem to display on their company literature and web site; recognition during Kingsport Chamber and KOSBE events as well as "spotlight" placement on Kingsport Chamber and KOSBE web sites. Winners will also receive recognition in the Kingsport Times-News newspaper and one free class enrollment in the two-day class entitled “Achieving World-Class Results” offered by the nationally-renowned Pal’s Business Excellence Institute (the latter is valued at $800). 


A $25 application fee includes one free ticket to the awards celebration event.  Applicants are also encouraged to submit a 2-minute video, along with their paper or online application, detailing the applicant's business.   

For more information visit kosbe.org.