Grand Innovation to Put Spotlight on New Products

My passion lies in creating and launching innovative products for consumers. While I do come from a technology background, any new idea that makes the customer more efficient, saves them money, or provides them with a unique experience will definitely get my attention.

My goal with this site is to highlight new products and services that do exactly that. I want to feature emerging companies by interviewing their founders and give readers the chance to weigh in on their business. I will also add my opinion on the prospects of the product and industry, and give specific recommendations to the start-up team.

If you have or know of a new product for consumers that I should feature, let me know.

Twiistup This Wednesday - May 9th

After months of planing, the event is set to take place this week. We feel we have assembled an amazing group of entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, and industry leaders from throughout Southern California. If should be a blast -- hope to see you there!

TOP 15 COMPANIES WIN CALIFORNIA INNOVATION AWARD

Written by William Simon

Los Angeles, CA -- Apr 25, 2007 -- /prbuzz/ -- California Innovation Corridor partners selected the best innovative companies in the State today from more than 75 Innovation All-Star candidates originating from over 300 initial nominations. The California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, a nonprofit corporation whose members are chosen by the Governor to advise him on how to expand job and economic growth, will be presenting the awards tonight at the Irvine Hilton/Orange County Airport.

“We believe innovation and entrepreneurship are the drivers of economic growth in California,” added Mark Mosher, Executive Director for the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth. Mosher, along with Duane Roth, Commission Member and chairman of Alliance Pharmaceutical Corporation who are presenting the California Innovation Awards to 15 market-leading companies.

The award recipients include Autobytel, Inc. in Irvine, DJO Inc. in Vista, FormFactor, Inc. in Livermore, Symantec in Cupertino, QAD in Carpinteria, Kintera, Inc. and QUALCOMM in San Diego, IXYS Corporation and NETGEAR in Santa Clara, and Callidus Software and Covad Communications Group, Inc. in San Jose. The City of Sunnyvale was the big winner though with four local companies winning the award: Kyphon, Juniper Networks, Network Appliance, Inc., and Trimble.

The awards cap off the California Tech 100 event—the “first-of-its-kind” statewide conference that has brought together a unique ensemble of angel investors, venture capitalists, CEOs, educators, and workforce talent professionals focused on celebrating the Golden State's success as an innovation hotbed. California State Secretaries Victoria Bradshaw of the Labor Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) and Dale Bonner of Business, Transportation and Housing (BTH) both spoke before enthusiastic audiences yesterday.

The California Innovation Corridor partners, managed by the California Space Authority (CSA), a statewide nonprofit organization, and administered through the Labor Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), chose the final recipients based on market leadership within their industry, employment figures, continuous innovation of products and services, contribution to the California economy, and significant accomplishments in 2006.

“These innovative companies” added CSA Executive Director Andrea Seastrand, “give people hope and dreams. They make us globally competitive and proud of our heritage as a nation of inventors, creators, and thinkers.” The California Innovation Corridor is a region spanning the length of the state from Alameda county in the north to San Diego county in the south, and eastward into the Inland Empire.

CONTACT

Wil Simon, Media Mgr., California Space Authority
805-349-2633 x111; cell 805-358-7038 William.Simon@CaliforniaSpaceAuthority
http://goldencapital.net/Events/OC_CAInnovation.asp

15 CALIFORNIA INNOVATION AWARD RECIPIENTS COMPANY DESCRIPTIONS

Autobytel (Irvine, CA)
www.autobytel.com

Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL) is one of the largest online automotive marketplaces, empowering consumers to make smart vehicle choices using objective automotive data and insightful interactive editorial content. The result is a convenient car-buying process backed by a nationwide network of dealers who are committed to providing a positive consumer experience.

Callidus Software (San Jose, CA)
www.callidussoftware.com

Callidus Software is the leading provider of Sales Performance Management (SPM) software and services, allowing the world’s largest companies to more strategically and effectively manage sales operations and incentive programs. Callidus’ best-in-class solutions and domain expertise across a broad range of industries enable enterprises to better align sales and incentive strategies with corporate objectives to improve sales performance, increase profits, and enhance payment processing efficiency.

Covad Communications Group, Inc. (San Jose, CA)
www.covad.com

Covad is a leading nationwide provider of broadband voice and data communications. The company offers DSL, Voice Over IP, T1, Wireless broadband, Web hosting, managed security, IP and dial-up, and bundled voice and data services directly through Covad's network and through Internet Service Providers, value-added resellers, telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to small and medium-sized businesses and home users. Covad broadband services are currently available across the nation in 44 states and 235 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and can be purchased by more than 57 million homes and businesses, which represent over 50 percent of all US homes and businesses.

DJO Incorporated (Vista, CA)
www.djortho.com

DJO Incorporated is a global provider of solutions for musculoskeletal and vascular health, specializing in rehabilitation and regeneration products for the non-operative orthopedic, spine and vascular markets. Marketed under the Aircast(R), DonJoy(R) and ProCare(R) brands, the Company's broad range of over 700 rehabilitation products, including rigid knee braces, soft goods and pain management products, are used in the prevention of injury, in the treatment of chronic conditions and for recovery after surgery or injury

FormFactor (Livermore, CA)
www.formfactor.com

FormFactor, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORM) is the leader in advanced wafer probe cards, which are used by semiconductor manufacturers to electrically test ICs. The company’s wafer sort, burn-in and device performance testing products move IC testing upstream from post-packaging to the wafer level, enabling semiconductor manufacturers to lower their overall production costs, improve yields, and bring nextgeneration devices to market.

IXYS Corporation (Santa Clara, CA)
www.ixys.com

IXYS develops and markets primarily high performance power and RF semiconductors and control ICs that are used in controlling and converting electrical power efficiently in power systems for telecommunication infrastructure, motor drives, medical systems and transportation. IXYS also serves emerging markets with digital and analog ICs that control flat panel displays, medical instruments and telecommunication products.

Juniper Networks (Sunnyvale, CA)
www.juniper.net

Juniper Networks develops purpose-built, high performance IP platforms that enable customers to support a wide variety of services and applications at scale. Service providers, enterprises, governments and research and education institutions rely on Juniper to deliver a portfolio of proven networking, security and application acceleration solutions that solve highly complex, fast-changing problems in the world's most demanding networks.

Kintera (San Diego, CA)
www.kintera.com

Kintera®, Inc. (NASDAQ: KNTA) provides software as a service to help organizations quickly and easily reach more people, raise more money and run more efficiently. The Kintera Sphere® technology platform empowers The Giving Experience™, and features a social constituent relationship management (CRM) system, enabling donor management, e-mail and communications, Web sites, events, advocacy programs, wealth screening and accounting.

Kyphon (Sunnyvale, CA)
www.kyphon.com

Since its founding in 1994, Kyphon has been dedicated to improving patient quality of life through revolutionizing the practice of medicine. Kyphon's mission is to be the recognized global leader in restoring spinal function with minimally invasive therapies. The company develops and markets medical devices designed to restore and preserve spinal function and diagnose the source of low back pain. The company's products are used in balloon kyphoplasty for the treatment of spinal fractures caused by osteoporosis or cancer, in the Functional Anaesthetic Discography(tm) procedure for diagnosing the source of low back pain, and in the Interspinous Process Decompression procedure for treating lumbar spinal stenosis.

NETGEAR (Santa Clara, CA)
www.netgear.com

NETGEAR (Nasdaq: NTGR) designs technologically advanced, branded networking products that address the specific needs of small and medium business and home users. The Company’s product offerings enable users to share Internet access, peripherals, files, digital multimedia content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices.

Network Appliance (Sunnyvale, CA
www.netapp.com

Network Appliance, Inc. (NetApp) is a world leader in unified storage solutions for today's data-intensive enterprise. Since its inception in 1992, Network Appliance has delivered technology, product, and partner firsts that simplify data management. NetApp® storage solutions include specialized hardware, software, and services, providing seamless storage management for open network environments.

QAD (Carpinteria, CA)
www.qad.com

QAD is a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturing companies. QAD applications provide critical functionality for managing manufacturing resources and operations within and beyond the enterprise, enabling global manufacturers to collaborate with their customers, suppliers and partners to make and deliver the right product, at the right cost and at the right time.

QUALCOMM (San Diego, CA)
www.qualcomm.com

QUALCOMM Incorporated is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2006 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.

Symantec (Cupertino, CA)
www.symantec.com

Symantec is a global leader in infrastructure software, enabling businesses and consumers to have confidence in a connected world. The company helps customers protect their infrastructure, information, and interactions by delivering software and services that address risks to security, availability, compliance, and performance.

Trimble (Sunnyvale, CA)
www.trimble.com

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Trimble has a worldwide presence with more than 3,400 employees in over 18 countries.

Twiistup Official Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Stephanie Macadaan
925-408-7412
steph@twiistup.com
www.twiistup.com

SPOTLIGHT ON SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TECH TALENT AT TWIISTUP
Yahoo, Userplane, dev.aol.com, Microsoft, and Interfuel to Sponsor Inaugural Event

Santa Monica, California, April 23, 2007 – Innovation will be the focus of the first Twiistup™ event that will take place on Wednesday, May 9th at Zanzibar Club (zanzibarlive.com) in Santa Monica.

The evening event will showcase some of the best and the brightest tech talent in the Los Angeles area. As the West Side continues to attract both large and small technology companies, Twiistup provides a venue for tech enthusiasts to interact.

“Twiistup provides the stage for start-ups to showcase their ideas and the venue to network with fellow innovators, investors, job seekers, and established technology leaders,” said Mike Macadaan, Founder of Twiistup. “One of the most important ingredients in a successful business venture is generating energy and excitement from those that can help move an idea along.”

A contest for Southern California start-ups was held by Twiistup, and the winners will demo their new products and give a presentation during the event. The companies chosen to present are Buildv1, Goodreads, Verse Studios, Yourminis, and Urbaniacs. For more information on these companies, visit www.twiistup.com/presenting.html.

Joseph Kosinski, Director of commercials for Gears of War, Halo 3 and others, will be at the event to discuss the tech behind his work. Twiistup will also feature exciting demos, appetizers, cocktails, swag bags, DJ entertainment, robotic art, and prize giveaways.

Twiistup was founded by Mike Macaddan. Based in Silicon Valley, Mike works with AOL, overseeing product development and design efforts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC. He has worked with Netscape, Disney, and Intuit. Most recently he has turned his attention to promoting innovation within a corporate setting.

Joining Mike on the Twiistup team is Ryan Buckholtz, a Los Angeles based entrepreneur. Ryan is the founder of Teendriving.com, one of the most popular sites on the internet devoted to teen driving safety. He is currently working on building an online community of entrepreneurs, with the goal of changing the way that new ideas are funded and developed.

Presenters Set for Twiistup 1

Start-ups are alive and well in Southern California. We received a tremendous response, and chose these 5 companies for Twiistup 1:

BuildV1 (http://www.buildv1.com/) is an experiment to find out if aspiring entrepreneurs can meet online and create successful businesses. They hope to create a space where entrepreneurs can explore ideas, learn from successful entrepreneurs, and begin their entrepreneurial journey. They believe that more people could start successful businesses if there's an easier way to find the right people.

Goodreads's (http://www.goodreads.com/) mission is to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world. Goodreads is a privately run website started in 2006 by software engineer and entrepreneur Otis Chandler. Prior to founding Goodreads, Otis was Product Manager of LoveHappens.com, a subsidiary of Tickle.com. Monster Worldwide, the leading purveyor of online jobs, purchased the company in 2004. Otis graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Along with a passion for building websites, he’s also a voracious reader.

Urbaniacs (www.urbaniacs.com) are funky urban heroes that YOU create and customize by combining different body parts together to form your very own alter ego... an Urbaniac! There are thousands of possible combinations! Go on... get your URB ON!

Verse Studios (http://www.verse-studios.com) was founded by Travis Savo, Sean Murphy and Marcus Riedner in early 2006, and shortly there after Nathan Moore joined the team. They came together with the shared vision of developing exciting next generation online video games with unique science fiction themes, community driven game play, and novel economic models.

Yourminis (www.yourminis.com) is a personalized dashboard of minis (mini applications, also known as widgets) that let you perform specific tasks, and get information and features from all over the web in one place. You can configure minis to see your email, check the weather, watch youtube videos, search the web, browse flickr photos, read news and rss feeds, save notes & to dos, listen to music, and much, much more.

For more information about Twiistup, including tickets and sponsorships, please visit http://www.twiistup.com/.

Your Great Idea is Not Perfect and Neither is Mine

LA BarCamp was this past weekend. I was able to stop by on Sunday for a few hours and hang out and meet some really cool people. Mad props to Heather Vescent and the rest of the LA BarCamp team for putting on a great event.

People, often including myself, tend to take criticism of their new business ideas very personal. After all, you have spent countless hours and sleepless nights creating the perfect vision and plan of execution. So, you may ask, why should I care what some person (whether it be a friend or stranger) thinks about my idea? The answer is because that person may be a future customer, and a successful idea must make sense not only to you, but also to the people who buy your product or use your service.

The reality is that entrepreneurs often get tunnel vision when developing a new idea and become resistant to differing opinions. That is why it is important to create a strong team of people who will speak their minds and add fresh ideas, not just agree with your every move. A great business idea and plan is really just a framework. You know there is a market with a need and you know exactly how to fill it; the hard part is making it all happen. Things are never going to go according to plan, and the ability to adapt and embrace new ideas is what makes great companies.

Along those same lines; when somebody tells you about their idea, be honest with them. While it’s easier to be nice and not speak your mind, you are doing them a huge disservice by not providing them with helpful and straightforward criticism.

LA Barcamp/March Madness

Our friends/partners at LA BarCamp are hosting their semi-annual event -- BarCampLA-3 next weekend (it runs overnight from 10 am on Saturday March 23rd to 7 PM on Sunday March 24th). It’s all about participation, sharing new ideas and a love for technology. You can read the details at:

http://barcamp.org/BarcampLA-3

One of my most favorite times of the year is the three weeks known as March Madness. Of course my productivity goes to shit for the first four days (it’s hard to concentrate on work when you have four do or die games going on in the background, at the same time). What really makes it special is that these kids aren’t getting paid (at least they’re not supposed to) and give everything they’ve got because it’s win or go home. Unlike the NBA, it’s rarely the team with the best player that wins it all (Texas, with the consensus National Player of the Year Kevin Durant, was eliminated today). Rather, it’s the team with the 7 or 8 solid players, who come together to win six tough games during the tournament. Leadership, Teamwork, Skill, Perseverance, Determination, Coaching, Innovation, and a little luck; that’s what it takes to turn a great team into a champion

Why Saturday is Just Another Day for an Entrepreneur

A quick note – Twiistup.com is live. We are still working on a making the site look good, but we wanted to go ahead and get the information out to the public. It should be a fun and valuable experience for anybody interested in Technology and Innovation in Southern California; so check it out.

Now for my rant -- I mean my very informative post …

Let them look forward to the weekend. Who is them you ask? They, the rest of them, Joe American; you know, normal people. I’ll be content with today. You see, for me, Saturday (and for that matter Sunday) is just another day of the week.

While most people go into work from 9-5 (or 9-6, whatever) Monday – Friday, an entrepreneur can’t really afford to take off a day, just because it happens to be a Saturday. I’ve talked a lot about creating positive momentum for your idea, and nothing stalls momentum quite like the weekend. Now, I’m not talking about working every hour of every day of your life, its fine to take days off and do other things. But, why should everybody else control what day that will be. Maybe it’s the non-conformist in me, but if people are going one way, I kind of like to go the other.

When you start a new business, you may often find yourself taking on a larger/more established company. Sure, they may have 100 times more money than you and a thousand more employees, but they also have to deal with the mess that it all creates. Your edge is that you’re always innovating, always thinking of new and better ways to serve the customer. no matter what day it is.

Fall 6 Times Get Up 7

When I hear most people talk about entrepreneurship, they often forget to talk about one of the most important aspects, which is failure. Now talking about failure is not like a baseball announcer talking about a no-hitter (you’re not going to jinx yourself). The truth is short-term failure (possibly over and over and over again) is just a part of long-term success. If you can embrace failure as part of the learning process and learn from your mistakes, then you’re ahead of most people.

It’s the rare (and lucky) breed of entrepreneur that can find overwhelming success on their first venture. For the rest of us, it’s a difficult journey paved with peaks and valleys. The question is why does it have to be so difficult? That’s a tough question to answer, but if it were a lot easier, then everybody else would be doing it. The truth is 95% of the population will never take the risks of an entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs put everything on the line in the belief that their idea, their dream, can make a huge impact.

Since failure is inevitable, you mind as well learn from it. You need to be honest with yourself (it may help to address the following questions truthfully):

Does my idea fill a need? Are customers willing to pay for it?
Is my product/service superior to my competition (in terms of price, quality, service, experience, etc)?
Have I successfully been able to reach my target customer? If no, how can I better reach them?
Does my business have enough resources/money to have a chance?
Have I assembled the right team/Do I have the right partners?
Have I made any execution mistakes?

How you correct your mistakes and bounce back from failure is the true test of an entrepreneur.

Twiistup! Coming to Santa Monica

I'm excited to announce that Twiistup! 1 will take place on Wednesday May 9th at Zanzibar (www.zanzibarlive.com) in Santa Monica.

We are still working on the details for the event and plan to launch Twiistup.com with more information within the week. Here is what I can tell you so far:

This ain't going to be your boring, pay $40, exchange a few business cards in an awkward way type event.

The focus of the event is entrepreneurship; bringing together innovators, investors, job seekers, the media, and industry leaders

Thru a contest, we are going to select 5 exciting start-up companies to demo their new products.

The event is going to be fun -- featuring gift bags, prize giveaways, dj entertainment, and networking in a cool relaxed environment.

Price will be less that $25

I will keep you updated as we begin to market the event. There will be sponsorship/advertising opportunities. If you are interested, send me a note.

Focus, Focus, Focus!

I’d say the two most important things in launching a new company/venture are actually starting the idea and staying focused. The Internet is a great tool; within seconds you can have the culmination of human knowledge within your fingertips. Also, with the proliferation of Blogs within the past few years, you as a researcher have instant access to the pulses of people throughout the world. The problem with all this, of course, is information overflow. While you may be searching for an answer to a simple question, the Internet may lead you in 20 different directions and get you easily off-track.

So, how do you properly utilize the Internet for business, while not getting distracted? First, you need to prioritize your business focus. What is the most important thing that needs to get done to move your idea along and create positive momentum? For example, you are searching for a business partner/web designer to help bring your ideas to the web. While searching for your web designer, you find information related to marketing your web business. While this info is important (maybe enough to bookmark), right now your time is important; you really need to focus on the next step, rather than getting ahead of yourself. If you spend too much time planning for the future and don’t take care of the immediate needs of the business, you’ll find yourself going nowhere fast. This is where most entrepreneurs end up, and why good ideas often never get off the ground.

What Yelp! Is Doing Right – Building a Successful Online Community

Ok, I never really got into Myspace. Sure, I signed up (because all my friends were on there) and was an active member for a couple months, but I felt something missing. It was useful for keeping in contact with friends and people I had not talked to since college and some of the videos and clips were pretty funny. Unfortunately, it just didn’t add much to my life (in terms of meeting interesting people, or learning valuable information – other than of course Jean Claude Van-Damme dance moves from the 80s). When it comes down to it, between all the social networking sites and blogs, you can find an endless amount of information. But at the end of the day, have you really done anything more than entertain your brain and spend a lot of time that could be used towards fulfilling your goals?

So, about a month ago (granted a short period of time to accurately review), I discovered the social community of Yelp! While MySpace is geared towards the legions of baby busters who were raised and live on the internet, Yelp! is more of a hybrid; an online community built on creating and reviewing experiences in the real world. Now, we’re getting somewhere. In addition to the site having a great layout, look, and feel, the community is full of people who want to do things, rather than have life pass them by. The question is will it be able to scale on the level of Myspace of Friendster -- probably not as their average demographic is 25 – 40, a group that had considerably less free time to waste than MySpacers. Also, the community requires more of a commitment from its users than a Myspace or similar site.

In terms of popularity, the 2 year old company faces some competition from CitySearch, Judy’s Book, and Google. But, Yelp! leads the game in site sophistication and local marketing; with community managers hosting regular parties for the regular (elite) contributors. The site started in San Francisco, and has proved successful in other cities like Los Angeles and New York, and is expanding nationwide. Now the most important question, can it make money? Well, Silicon Valley seems to think so. Yelp! is well financed and former Paypal co-founder Max Levchin is an original backer. What is for certain is that your local Yellow Pages are a dying dinosaur. Nobody uses the Yellow Pages anymore, and they will be obsolete within the next decade. If companies decide to shift that targeted advertising money to sites like Yelp, the company will be well positioned to profit.

Great Ideas vs Profitable Great Ideas

People often confuse a great idea with a profitable one. Wikipedia is a great site; eBay is a profitable great site. Both sites lead their segment, fill a need, and provide value to the customer. The difference is that Internet users will pay money to find a buyer for their product, while most people would not pay a significant amount of money for information that can be attained for free from another location. While, it can be argued that Wikipedia (as part of the Wikipedia foundation) is a non-profit and could make more money with additional advertising, I would say that most of its’ success is because of the non-profit title.

So, am I saying that you should only start a business if it is going to be a hugely profitable one? Absolutely not, just make sure your goals (personal and financial) are aligned with the reality of your business idea. There are certainly more important things in life than money, and there is something to be said for starting a really cool company that makes the world a better place, and allows you to pay your bills (and live comfortably, not luxuriously). But, if you’re goal is to make as much money as possible, be realistic with your new idea. It may be easy to get customers by giving it away, but is your product so vital that customers will pay for it?

Relating to the internet, very few companies can make a lot of money with eyeballs alone. Advertising is only going to make the gatekeepers (ala Google) the big bucks. Advertising dollars can complement your web business, but to build a strong company you need to be able to sell a product or service (hopefully on a reoccurring basis) to potential customers.

Business Plan, Schmizness Plan

What’s the logic in writing a 30 - 50 page plan if nobody is going to read it? Investors will tell you that it’s to prove an entrepreneur has thought out the idea. I got a better idea – how bout a 7-8 page Mini-Business Plan (MBP) than an investor may actually read and spend the rest of your time doing what’s really important – running a business and proving market feasibility. With 7-8 pages, you can really avoid the BS and get down to the core of your business – in the MBP you should attempt to answer the following questions:

What need are you addressing?

What is your idea and how does it work?

Who are you and your team (and what have you done in the past)?

Pertaining to this idea, what have you/your team accomplished so far?

What is the market/target demographic like for your product or service? Is the market changing?

Who are the current players? (I would analyze the top 1 or 2). What differentiates your company from them? What are the barriers to entry? Potential future competitors?

How do you plan to make money (sources of revenue)? BTW, attracting site visitors and selling out to a media conglomerate is probably not a good answer.

(If applicable) Do you have any proprietary technology or patents?

What is your next step (prototype, beta testing, test market, product roll-out, etc)?

And very briefly discuss:

Costs (Start-up and Operating) and how much money you need from investors.

Revenue/Profit Projections – Most of these numbers are BS anyway, so no need to go nuts with pages and pages of projections.

Legal/Issues of Concern – While most Business Plans paint a completely rosy picture; it’s ok to say that things look good, but here are some issues (both internal and external) that could affect us.

Exit Strategies (very very briefly)

Funding the Next Generation of Start-Ups

According to the Center for Venture Research, Angels (and Angel Syndicates) invested $23.1 Billion in the US in 2005. This represents 55% of the Seed and Start-up Capital Market. But, less that 1% of companies actively seeking Angel Financing receive funding (the number is probably closer to .5% or 1 in 200). This doesn’t take into account the people who would like to start a business, but don’t have the time or resources to actively search for funding. The result is many of the best ideas never getting off the ground.

Many people in the Investment community feel that’s the way it should be; that it’s only prudent to wait and see tangible results before making an investment. While I certainly understand their point of view, this unfortunately leaves the entrepreneur with a tough dilemma. They need money and resources to grow their business. But, to get the money and resources they need to show growth and increased customers and revenue. While bootstrapping aided by family and friend funding is an option for some, many people just don’t have those financial resources at their disposal. Is their a solution to this entrepreneurial dilemma or is that just the way it is and will be in the future?

First, I think we need to promote and teach entrepreneurship at a younger age. The teen demographic is hot in the US. Who knows better what teens want than other teens? If we give these young bright minds the tools and resources to start their own businesses, you will see some amazing new ideas. Colleges like Cornell and Harvard have had success with their incubator and licensing programs, and we need to incorporate entrepreneurship into the general curriculum throughout the country. While accredited investors are often hesitant to invest in unknowns, they are more likely to throw their money and time behind a program at their alma mater. Entrepreneurship can only be theorized in a classroom; you really need to get students into the real world to make it worthwhile. Also, I like the idea of a tax credit for entrepreneurs, which I have seen floating around the internet. Government Agencies (Counties, Cities, and States) should also assist entrepreneurs by providing low cost office space, technology, and consulting services. Angels and large Angel syndicates need to step up to the plate and really give back to their communities. And entrepreneurs must work together, bartering their time and services with each other (the Internet and emerging technologies are making this easier).

While the past decade has seen an exodus in manufacturing and technology jobs from the US, our future success lies in how well we promote entrepreneurship and innovation. If we all work together, the future will be bright.