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Week of March 17 - 23, 2008 |
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Examining the Earliest Years of a New Business While it is widely accepted that new firms are critical to economic growth, little data exists to support the development of policies to encourage entrepreneurial businesses. A new report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation aims to fill that gap. As the largest longitudinal study of new businesses ever conducted, the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) follows nearly 5,000 businesses founded in 2004 and tracks them over their early years of operation. Data are being collected annually from the same firms, centering on the topics of debt and equity financing, employee benefits, business innovations and outcomes such as sales and profits. The study found that while about 80 percent of businesses had some positive equity investment in their business in the first year, the vast majority came from the business owners themselves—just 10 percent of the businesses used external equity sources in their first year. Other highlights include:
Access a copy of the Kauffman Firm Survey: Results from the Baseline and First Follow-up Surveys, March 2008. |
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Emerging Entrepreneurial Hot-Spots
A new National Venture Capital
Association/PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis examines US regions that
have seen the biggest jumps in venture capital investing since 1997.
Silicon Valley and New England are still the nation’s biggest players in
terms of venture capital, but they are not the fastest growing regions
in terms of attracting new investments. That honor goes to (in rank
order): New Mexico, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Los Angeles, and the Washington
DC metro area. All of the regions have seen venture investing grow by
more than 130% over the last decade, with New Mexico enjoying an
astounding 375% growth rate in total dollars invested. The report
includes a snapshot of each region, but all of the high performers share
several important traits. Most importantly, they all have developed a
critical mass of top-quality companies and entrepreneurs, and have built
the foundations for a strong regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. |
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Moving Energy Research to Market
The US Department of Energy is growing more
serious about its efforts to help commercialize federally-funded energy
research. The latest example of this trend can be found at the
Department’s new Entrepreneur in Residence Program. On February 28th,
the Department announced that it had selected three venture capital
firms who have been selected to work with Energy Department laboratories
to identify technologies and products that could be commercialized. The
three firms are: Venture Partners; Foundation Capital; and Kleiner,
Perkins, Caulfield & Byers. These firms will work with the National
Renewable Energy Lab, Sandia National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory. |
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When it comes to Idaho’s economy, it’s no
longer about potatoes. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that
it’s about semiconductors and other high-technology products and
services. Idaho, especially the region around Boise, is on the verge
becoming a major center of high technology and entrepreneurship. A new
study from Idaho Tech Connect examines how the region is performing.
Overall, Boise’s technology sector remains small when compared to major
tech centers like Seattle or Silicon Valley. But, the technology
industry is growing rapidly. Technology-related jobs grew by twenty
percent between 1999 and 2005, and the region ranks high on various
measures of entrepreneurial activity. The study notes that Boise can
serve as a model for other small cities that are trying to build
technology industries without local access to a major research
university. The report also includes a great map of the “universe” of
technology firms in the Boise region. |
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New Green Entrepreneurship Program Unveiled
Venture capitalists are hot on the trail of new investment opportunities
in clean tech and other green technologies. Entrepreneurship educators
are also getting the message and starting to design new programs focused
on green entrepreneurship. The latest offering comes from the University
of California-Davis, which will be hosting a Green Technology
Entrepreneurship Academy, sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation. If you’re interested in learning about the latest trends in
green entrepreneurship, or if you’re interested in visiting Lake Tahoe
this summer, this academy might be right for you. |
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The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. |
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National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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stories © 2008 The Public Forum Institute
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