Is Nimble Cool Again?

"Entrepreneurs used to brag about the size of their funding round; now they boast about how little money they need."

http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/on-the-wings-of-angels


iPhoned

Innovation meets KOSBE's Small Business and Entrepreneurship Program

The recent inclusion of a small business banquet for KOSBE, the Kingsport Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has been a great success under KOSBE's first full-time executive director, Aundrea Wilcox.

Like the small business awards of the past, several winners in established categories were announced.

This year, though, the judges also awarded a new award, the  Innovation Award, to a company I helped in the past define its strategy enhance product marketing.

From the official press release:

The new Innovation Award was presented to RLH JR Inc a/k/a Patient Scrubs (Nancy Hart, et al.).  In April 2003, Nancy Hart’s husband was admitted to the hospital for heart surgery.  It was there that she observed the medical staff and other patients, and discovered a need for a new level of function in patient attire that also offered more dignity.  She stitched her first Patient Scrubs prototype for her husband to wear as an alternative to the traditional hospital gown.  After many iterations, she has developed a product that is delighting her customers at their time of greatest need.


It's great to see two startups I've been heavily involved with—KOSBE and PatientScrubs—come in to their own. Both are run by determined visionaries who have a passion for what they do.

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.