PCRD

Regulate Venture Capitalists?

Congress is heating up discussions on new legislative proposals that would require private pools of investment capital to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is being prompted as an attempt to limit further risks to the financial system. More here.

Posted by Susan Davis

Entrepreneurship during the Recession

A new Kaufman Foundation study look closely at the U.S.'s entrepreneurial history reveals that entrepreneurship is an engine for job creation and economic growth even during difficult economic times. The study, The Economic Future Just Happened reveals that more than half of the 2009 Fortune 500 companies started in a recession or bear market. Similarly, nearly half of the firms on the 2008 Inc. list of America’s fastest-growing companies were launched during a recession or bear market. The study suggests that policies that support entrepreneurship also support recovery. It also reveals that job creation from startup companies tends to be less volatile and sensitive to downturns when compared to the overall economy.

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Posted by Heather Clark-Reynolds

Check out the blog on "How to Become an Entrepreneur.  It has 163 recommendations on how to do so.  The HHSBDC's business advisor, Heather Clark-Reynolds has listed her idea at number 137! Find it here. 

Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs

In the "old days" what was important was one's resume and formal credentials. Valdis Krebbs who specializes in mapping social networks recently made the following observation: "Don't show me your degree, masthead, card, URL, etc. Show me thh network you are in embedded in." With that in mind, here are the top 10 social networks for entrepreneurs, according to Dan Schawbel

On-Line Community Profiles and EcoLink

Posted by Heather Clark Reynolds

Ball State University has developed an interactive graphic data website that can be a valuable resource for community planners, LEDO Directors, county commissioners and council members, chamber of commerce members,County Extension Professionals,  or anyone interested in researching a particular county's economic index.   The website is an On-Line Community Profiles and EcoLink, a powerful economic analysis tool that explores relationships between economic activities within a defined geographic region.  County Profiles is a collaborative project from Ball State University's Building Better Communities and Center for Business and Economic Research. Their profiles provide up-to-date data in five custom categories including: Demographics, Economy, Entrepreneurial climate, Youth, and Social capital. All 92 counties are listed, and the demographic information that is provided is concise and up-to-date. You can find it here. 

Zoning & Entrepreneurship

Lots of businesses get started out of the home and it's important for home-based entrepreneurs to understand the zoning laws and what to do if they would like for some of those laws to be changed. Here are some suggestions from Entrepreneur Magazine. The entire article can be found here.

If it's illegal to operate a homebased business in your city or county, there's something you can do to change things. Following are some steps you can take to change the zoning laws in your area.

1. Establish a committee of home-based business owners willing to stand up and be counted. Get mentally prepared for criticism from every corner and the chance that your business could be shut down.

2. Find out what the zoning regulations are in neighboring communities, particularly those similar in character and size to yours. If operating a home-based business is legal in these areas, it could lend credence to your arguments. If no communities in your area have enacted such an ordinance, contact a city with characteristics similar to yours that has even if it's not nearby.

3. Contact your zoning department to see if it has received complaints about illegally operated home-based businesses. Depending on your findings, you could use the results to prove that home offices are quiet and don't cause problems or to pinpoint a need to legalize home occupations and free up zoning inspectors to handle more important infractions.

4. Do your research. Get local and national statistics on how many entrepreneurs are working from home; describe who they are and what types of businesses they operate. If possible, find out how many people in your community have business licenses, what their average annual sales are, and how much local, state and federal taxes they pay. This will allow you to present data showing home-based business owners as people contributing to the economic foundation of the city. You might also want to highlight anyone who is the only local provider of a particular service.

5. Once you've assembled a research arsenal, use this information to build a coalition that will support a home occupation ordinance. This committee should include home-based business owners, major corporations that use the services of home-based consultants, government officials, homeowner's associations, labor unions, the head of the county zoning department and anyone else with a vested interest.

6. Remember, your goal is to educate first and then mobilize the community to support home-based entrepreneurs.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship Doesn't Take a Vacation in an Recession

Venture Capitalist David Hornik of VentureBlog offers some encouraging words about entrepreneurship and innovation in the midst of a recession. He says, "...I remain excited about the companies that will be started in 2009. There will be great companies started during this economic crisis. Some of them will be born out of the crisis itself. Others will simply be born during the crisis...And I am certainly hoping to fund them. You can read the entire post here.

In December the Wall Street Journal predicted that entrepreneurship will "take off" during the recession as a direct result of the massive layoffs. The article states, "Layoffs at employers big and small are expected to continue into the first couple of quarters of 2009 — the millions of newly (and not so newly) unemployed will be scrambling to start their own businesses. Attendance is already way up at many entrepreneurship fairs. But getting external funding to start a new business will be the hard part." You can read this entire article here.

SBA Re-Launches Office of Entrepreneurship Education

U.S. Small Business Administration is re-launching one of its primary entrepreneurial training divisions to broaden its focus into a one-stop shop for information on how to start, maintain or grow a small business, including an emphasis on financial literacy. The newly named Office of Entrepreneurship Education will be a division of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, which provides small business training, counseling and access to resources. The office will place special emphasis on agency’s youth entrepreneurship activities to help develop the  next generation of entrepreneurs. For more information go here.

Posted by Don Koverman

Economic Gardening: The New Frontier for Economic Development

Actually, "economic gardening" (EG) is NOT a new frontier. It has been around for 20 years....and preliminary results and successes are incredibly encouraging. I believe this approach has much more potential and much less downside than the traditional economic development strategy of industrial recruitment. For a good overveiw of EG and its potential.....as described by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta go to here.

How Do We Make Indiana "Sticky" When it Comes to Our High-Tech Entrepreneurs?

Here is another stat from the Kauffman report about who starts high-tech companies. This part of the study looks the percentages of high-tech entrepreneurs who start their business in the same state in which they received their degree. The average of those studied was 45% with California leading the pack at 69%. No real surprise there. Some of our Great Lakes are holding on to their entrepreneurship grads with Michigan at 58% and Ohio at 52%. Are you ready for the part that really hurts? Only 18% for Indiana. The study only looked at U.S. born individuals, so we can't blame our poor retention numbers on our high percentage of international students.