Does Your Region Experience Brain Drain Of Technology Entrepreneurs?

By guest author Irina Patterson

For the past three decades, serious technology entrepreneurs have come to Silicon Valley to seek help with their early-stage businesses. Ms. Sramana Mitra, the owner of this blog, founded the One Million by One Million program (1M/1M) so that they wouldn’t  need to come to Silicon Valley.

1M/1M is a global initiative that aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs worldwide reach a million dollars each in annual revenue and beyond by 2020, thereby creating a trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs.

1M/1M supplements regional economic development resources with Silicon Valley’s expertise, methodology, and connections.

The 1M/1M platform allows entrepreneurs worldwide to stay home and get the same quality of help and connections that is available to those entrepreneurs based in Silicon Valley.

Being part of 1M/1M, entrepreneurs worldwide don’t have to spend money on relocation. They can even keep their day job until they are ready to work on their own business full time. When they succeed, they will contribute to their local economy, not Silicon Valley’s.

If you would like to learn more about the program, please join us at the next 1M/1M Strategy Roundtable any Thursday. Everyone is welcome.

Note: The 1M/1M team has invested significant resources to engage with and understand the challenges of the Incubator industry around the globe. You can sign up for our opt-in mailing list to get this information via email on an ongoing basis.

Business Incubator Series: Dave Knox, The Brandery, Cincinnati, Ohio (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Dave: When we select our companies, we’re trying to get a feel for who the entrepreneurs themselves are. Are they ones who would benefit from a mentorship-driven network, in terms of being coachable and being open to change?

The final thing is just looking at the team’s – for lack of a better term – hustle, drive, and passion for creating a meaningful company. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Dave Knox, The Brandery, Cincinnati, Ohio (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What are the core benefits that your accelerator provides?

Dave: The Brandery is about accelerating the path of a startup. We’re lucky to have a great network of mentors, ranging from startup founders to venture capitalists to consumer marketing professionals.

Through that mentorship we provide a very deep network of connections for our companies.

The second thing that we provide is a focus on the brands and consumer marketing of the startups. That’s something that most others don’t offer. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Dave Knox, The Brandery, Cincinnati, Ohio (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Dave Knox, one of the co-founders of the Brandery, which is a mentorship-driven 12-week business accelerator based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 2010, they are part of TechStars Network, have similar format, and offer early stage entrepreneurs $20,000 in financing. They particularly focus on startups where design, branding, and marketing can be a serious competitive advantage. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Micah Kotch, NYC ACRE At NYU-Poly, New York (Part 4)

By guest author Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What help do you offer in terms of financing?

Micah: Before a company is going to go out and raise capital, we want to make sure that the founders have a good sense of their market and, if possible, show revenue.

If a business is revenue positive, they could have more leverage with investors than if it is just what we refer to as an “aspirational business.” >>>

Business Incubator Series: Micah Kotch, NYC ACRE At NYU-Poly, New York (Part 3)

By guest author Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Micah: For the most part, the entrepreneurs who are on our waiting list are looking for physical space. We refer them out to other spaces. We’ll refer to Deb Johnson (Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation), or there’s something here called the Coalition of Office Space Providers. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Micah Kotch, NYC ACRE At NYU-Poly, New York (Part 2)

By guest author Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: At what stage do you usually prefer that businesses apply for incubation?

Micah: We like to see them before they’ve closed their Series A round of funding, so anywhere between friends and family [funding] and revenue.

Companies can come in with some revenue. But if they’ve closed their A round and they’re already more than 15 people, then they’re probably too late. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Micah Kotch, NYC ACRE At NYU-Poly, New York (Part 1)

By guest author Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Micah Kotch, who serves as director of operations for NYC ACRE at NYU-Poly (the New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy). NYC ACRE is seeded by a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority).

NYC ACRE was created in partnership with the  New York City Economic Development Corporation, the New York City Investment Fund, Columbia University, Pratt Institute, and NYU.

NYC ACRE is a subset of the NYU-Poly Varick Street Incubator, which Micah also helps to run. >>>