JumpStart: IdeaExchange Blog

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.

Press clippings that speak to this challenge include: Columbus Dispatch, Dire costs to fixing budget hole, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Both parties in the state budget debate fear decisions that could leave them vulnerable to campaign attacks, and Akron Beacon Journal, Closing Ohio budget gap would be painful.

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.

Everyone is aware that this is a tough economic year, and that job prospects for new college graduates are not great. This has severely affected student internships, which provide not only short term talent for companies, but also important work experience for students, a long term talent pipeline for companies and vitality for our region. These issues and opportunities are particularly key to the continued entrepreneurial development of Northeast Ohio. A number of programs, three of which JumpStart TechLift Advisors either manages or promotes, are driving student internships into our entrepreneurial companies and organizations: 

• The JumpStart TechLift Business Intern program is in a pilot phase this year, thanks to a generous grant from the GAR Foundation. The goal of the program is to place Northeast Ohio students in business applications at entrepreneurial technology companies in the region, with a focus on the Akron area. The program is completely filled for the 2009 season. Sixteen students from nine different Ohio universities and colleges will work with a wide variety of technologies including software, internet marketing, new energy solutions, clean technology, advanced materials, robotics, military electronics and medical devices. The internships are in human resources, marketing, market research, accounting and intellectual property. In addition to their work experience, interns will attend events to learn about venture capital, entrepreneurship and business networking. 
• In 2008, JumpStart TechLift Advisors announced an exciting new program with Purdue University called Interns for Entrepreneurship for internship experiences at Northeast Ohio entrepreneurial technology companies. Four students, two from Northeast Ohio, one from India, and one from New Jersey will participate in the program, which, in addition to their work experience in medical devices, nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing, includes in-depth studies in entrepreneurship, business planning and venture capital.
• Ohio’s Third Frontier Internship program is one of the best in the nation for its flexibility and resulting success in placing science, technology, engineering and math students into Northeast Ohio technology companies. JumpStart TechLift Advisors was involved in helping at least 30 of these internships happen in 2009 alone. 
• Additional interns are working in economic and entrepreneurial development organizations, including JumpStart, NorTech, the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition, BioEnterprise, Entrepreneurs EDGE and others, through various other internship programs, most notably Summer on the Cuyahoga.

So what is the benefit of all of these programs and internships? In order for Northeast Ohio to develop and grow a self sustaining, fast moving, entrepreneurial culture, we need a constant supply of young talent, exuberance and creativity. Programs that are helping to make this happen are making a real difference and are probably among the best “bang for the buck” opportunities for growing the talent pool in the region.

Chris Mather is President, JumpStart Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Previously, he managed a number of technology initiatives in Northeast Ohio for NorTech. Before entering the economic development world, Chris ran a number of technology companies in Northeast Ohio and New England, including Ion Optics Inc., where he raised $6.7 million in venture capital, and Apsco Inc. and Gould Instrument Systems. Prior to that, he spent 13 years in sales, marketing and management roles with Hewlett Packard after graduating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Electrical Engineering.