JumpStart is a nationally recognized venture development organization that accelerates the progress of high potential, early-stage businesses to create a more prosperous future for Northeast Ohio.
Many times in my past life as an entrepreneur, I found myself incredibly close to the details of the business I founded. Needless to say, making payroll every two weeks when you’re bootstrapped has a way of keeping you focused!
Sometimes, it’s good to step back and take a look at some broad, strategic issues of a more general nature that can get you to think not only about the world at large, but may even bring a fresh perspective to your own business or situation. These great podcasts allow you to do just that and gives you really interesting perspectives from some of the world’s sharpest minds. For instance, check out the recent lectures from Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer. The following video podcast, titled “The Future of Microsoft, The Future of Technology,” really got me thinking and it just might get your wheels turning as well.
You may not agree with the almost-always-bombastic Mr. Ballmer, but you have to appreciate his zeal, even after all the years he’s been at it and with how many people want to take down his company!
John Dearborn is the Chief Development Officer of JumpStart and brings experience as an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at companies across the US and Europe over the last 25 years to the pursuit of economic transformation in Northeast Ohio.
I’ll admit it. I was beginning to think that Twitter’s Oprah-inspired hype was starting to die down, the people who have tried it and deserted are settling out, and the base of constant and committed users was becoming more apparent. I was — almost — starting to look for the next new thing. But along comes the election in Iran to remind us that Twitter is still King, at least for now. Not that Twitter has the biggest reach, or the most credible and accurate information (that’s a pretty funny idea!). It’s the very democracy of the vehicle, and the way it can be used by a relatively small number of people to influence opinion, which makes it so powerful.
As entrepreneurs or marketers in early-stage or small businesses, Twitter is, at a minimum, an easy way to listen to what people are saying, communicate your questions and help people get to know your brand. The real power comes, though, when you can use it as a positive “pyramid scheme” of sorts, with the pyramid occurring only when the content is of real value. As mentioned in his article about the recent Twitter Revolution, Noam Cohen writes that “a popular, trusted user matters more” than other users. Similarly, IdeaCrossing (the online matching service which creates connections between entrepreneurs and investors, among others) recommends that entrepreneurs “retweet posts if they’re valuable to your network.” With whatever time we can dedicate to this addictive vehicle, we should all choose to create valuable, credible content that really benefits the community and works to achieve the marketing objectives of getting the message out (and hopefully, building reach) while also gathering insight by listening and participating in conversations.
By the way, this summer, JumpStart will be expanding its social media presence beyond this blog, by actively participating on Twitter. Watch soon for our Twitter user names and let me know how we do on adding value.
Cathy Belk is the Chief Marketing Officer of JumpStart. She specializes in branding, marketing communications, and business management. She brings 16+ years of experience in a variety of marketing and business roles, but gets her energy from working daily with entrepreneurs and their growing companies.
For those entrepreneurs and businesses in the community in search of growth capital, and happen to be physically located in what are commonly referred to as the region’s “inner city” neighborhoods, please be aware of an exciting opportunity to learn more about available capital resources specifically for inner city businesses.
One of JumpStart’s national partners, The Initiative For A Competitive Inner City (ICIC), is putting on its annual Inner City Capital Connections Conference (ICCC) which is a national program designed to stimulate equity capital flow to underserved inner city markets by matching inner city businesses with investors.The conference will take place this year in New York City on November 18th and 19th, and provides select entrepreneurs with the opportunity to present directly to a group of private equity funds keenly interested in supporting high growth inner city firms.Entrepreneurs will also learn about national efforts underway to direct additional capital to inner city businesses, and how to best prepare your business for consideration.
In addition to the Capital Connections Conference, ICIC is also sponsoring a monthly ICIC CEO Series that features some of the world’s most influential practitioners sharing their successful, innovative business strategies. The series is presented via conference call, and has the following lineup over the next few months:
July 22, 2009 – Protecting Assets and Clarifying Transactions
September 16, 2009 – How to Use Private Equity to Achieve Your Goals?
October 7, 2009 – Creating a Finance Plan for the 21st Century
To learn more about the Inner City Capital Connections Conference and the CEO Series, please visit the ICIC website, or contact Hyacinth Vassell at hvassell@icic.org or 617.297.3120.
Darrin is Chief Economic Inclusion Officer of JumpStart and President of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors. He founded and ran his own strategic planning and management assistance firm and spent 16 years in the commercial banking and finance industry. Darrin has an MBA from Baldwin Wallace College and an undergraduate degree from Mount Union College. He has led a series of workshops and seminars on matters of economic development and diversity.
I do not envy anyone in State leadership today. The tsunami in our national economy which first hit Washington DC has now come to Columbus.
Since the state of Ohio, from a constitutional perspective, cannot have a bi-annual budget deficit, now is the time for some very hard decisions. No matter what the final decisions are, all of us are going to feel real, significant financial pain, or at least real disappointment.
Every decision has significant pro’s and con’s — spending cuts, increased taxes, gambling. The fact is there are no perfect solutions to help Ohio move easily forward.
Now is the time where government leadership really counts and while the decisions have not been made to date — but will be made by June 30th — I have to say that I have been impressed by the leadership in the State across the board.
Like it or not, these decisions and their impact on Ohio’s future may very well be the most important decisions in our lifetime.
Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.