Read. This. ............Now!

Seth's Blog: http://www.stopstealingdreams.com is ready to read and share 


Remember my earlier post about Seth Godin's notion of Type 1 & Type 2 teachers? This really builds that out.


And also remember that while most b-school educators *think* they are Type 2s, they simply are not. 
The best entrepreneurship educators ARE Type 2's


Would love YOUR thoughts - that link has free downloads in multiple versions (PDF, HTML, Kindle, Nook, etc.)

Ideas to Reality: World Class Training in Technology. Now.

Q: What’s the Best Online Training for Lean Startup?

Q: What’s the Best Online Training for Technology Commercialization?

A: Steve Blank’s new Stanford-based Lean Launchpad class

http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad/
[more on lean: http://bitly.com/bwC3XF & especially http://bitly.com/dOv5zh ]

The Start: Maybe the premier technology entrepreneurship course at Stanford, Lean Launchpad [http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad] teaches the Lean Startup model (eg, Steve Blank’s Customer Development model) in-person to advanced science & engineering students at Stanford and Berkeley. Can you imagine getting brainiac techies actually talking to customers? And does that mean there is hope for some of you! ;)

Proof of Concept: The NSF put this at the heart of their new Innovation Corps to serve the 100 best technology commercialization teams for novel NSF-developed technologies.

The Payoff (for Us): The course is being offered now as an online course (over 60K has already signed up, including me!) as a series of 10 1-hour video lectures bundled with its textbook, The Startup Owners’ Manual. Free, except for the textbook.

But Wait…There’s More! Why Not a Blended Course?

My dear friends at Startup Weekend have commissioned (and threatened, LOL) people to organize local meetups. The video lectures will likely begin later this month but the pacing is up to us (lectures are archived).

It probably means 10 weekly 2-3 hour meetups or more likely 5 weekly/biweekly meetups of 4-5 hours for us to share what we are doing, what we are learning and how we can help each other. This is for anyone willing to take the plunge – I’m a b-school PhD in entrepreneurship and I’ve been a tech entrepreneur and I’m taking it! (Of course, my past “experience” means I’m the perfect candidate, LOL)

Initial feedback will let us set the schedule (most likely a weekday evening, though I’m hearing that many meetups are scheduling Sunday afternoons).

The Startup Weekend crew will be sending me Eventbrite invitations to share – expect a ping as early as this weekend. We estimate a ticket price of $50 to cover the text and refreshments. (Not bad for a Stanford MBA/MSEE-level of education even without the meetup!)

Obviously sponsors and prospective hosts are welcome …and anyone who’ll provide coffee, beer and/or pizza ;) Please email me: Norris.Krueger[at]gmail.com if interested!

For You?

Plan A: Respond “Yes!” to the eventbrite invitation & let me know your best/worst days

Plan B: Be hip but boring and simply sign up for Steve’s class & do it on your own 

Plan C: Wear a permanent “L” on your forehead & not even try to take Steve’s class ;)

p.s. But, Norris! I don’t live in/near Boise!  So host your own meetup – I will help!

Can you or your organization host/sponsor? Call me.

Want to do this outside of the Treasure Valley? Call me.

Want to seize this incredible opportunity? Say “YES!” to the invitation.

Entrepreneur UP. Y’all!

Norris

Growing jobs is inherently entrepreneurial....

... bureaucratic processes simply cannot generate serious entrepreneurial outcomes.

ONLY entrepreneurial processes yield entrepreneurial outcomes. So.. why do we keep trying to 'tweak' bureaucratic processes when we should know it just doesn't work?

Back in 2004/05 I was commissioned by the City of Boise to do a white paper on what it REALLY takes for communities & universities to collaborate to drive economic development. Thank you for the great feedback so far- it needs an update, so comments still welcome! [http://www.slideshare.net/norriskrueger/bridging-town-and-gown or http://goo.gl/h848J ]

In my world this is a hot topic - and it is scary to realize that globally there probably aren't more than 20 universities who are truly moving the needle. But interestingly, these pretty much overlap with the <20 schools who are off the charts on "getting" technology commercialization [one version here:http://www.vcplist.com/].

When 'best practice' = 'worst practice'?
We've been studying these role models and what they do differently. They share several vital, necessary characteristics. (You will be 'shocked' that the key practices are polar opposites of what almost every university does. Ouch.)

For Idaho?
Bad News => we are not even average
Worse News => the average university is dreadful
but...
Good News => it can be fixed.
consider that list of the 'best of the best' in 2005/6 would've been shorter BUT you'd also see Boise State's name.

We know how to get the mojo back.
Want to try??




p.s. Thanks to all of you who have responded with questions, kudos and the occasional (deserved) brickbat over my recent blog posts and Facebook/tweets. Even when we don't agree, it's nice to know that I'm sharing useful stuff.(In fact, when we don't agree = the best kind of feedback. Only way to learn!)

So What IS an “Entrepreneurial” Ecosystem

Any economy is an ecosystem – all the pieces are connected, often in surprising or indirect ways. But what makes it “entrepreneurial”?

How can we measure its “entrepreneurial-ness”?

In honor of TechStars’ David Cohen coming to town, I’ve updated my thoughts about how we take the state of the art of what we know and… put it to good use!

We have now officially reached over 100 different formal definitions for “industry cluster”… mostly circular. With entrepreneurial ecosystems, the most common one is “has a lot of entrepreneurial activity”… LOL but what if we want to predict? Wouldn’t a few metrics and a few slam-dunk policy prescriptions help?

Reality #1: A healthy ecosystem is one that encourages and nourishes the entrepreneurial mindset. (I know, I know... we don’t have good measures for that either…)

It nourishes it broadly & deeply – in healthy communities, people “get it” – not just the entrepreneurs and maybe service providers, but it’s in the air. I had been in Malmo, Sweden’s great MINC incubator for 30 minutes & I felt like a slacker, I need to start a venture. Had the same feeling in Chalmers’ Encubator. Or anytime I walk on Stanford’s campus. In those places, opinion leaders, especially the media get it. The “person on the street” gets it. (There are places that never get it – b-schools are remarkably blind, painfully so. But the students can get it!)

Reality #2: We do know critical predictors of entrepreneurial activity. There are three proven predictors and isn’t that a good place to start? [And, yes, I talked about this in an old blog post [http://goo.gl/zHAQQ ]

Short version? Entrepreneurial Capital includes…

                                           Human capital.

                                           Social capital

Human Capital?

Simply ask: How many people believe they are personally prepared to be an entrepreneur? Not just prospective entrepreneurs, but how many NON-entrepreneurs understand what needs to happen? How else can an inherently bottom-up phenomenon take off?

Can this be an illusion? Sure. The data reflects people starting businesses not whether they succeed, so we are already back to the entrepreneurial mindset. Knowing facts and even learning skills is NOT enough, not remotely enough. You must cultivate the mindset of an entrepreneur. Better still, cultivate the mindset of an expert entrepreneur [in the cognitive sense a la Gladwell’s book “Outliers” – if you haven’t put in your 10,000 hours, don’t tell me you’re an expert, ok?]

What does a healthy ecosystem provide to grow entrepreneurial human capital?

Training, sure, but it has to be REAL learning. To move from a novice to an expert, you need metacognition [knowing your own mind, which means intensive reflection].

You also need peer mentoring and support. It’s a lot easier to shift mental models when amongst friends. Why do think immersion events like Startup Weekend kick so much butt? [read me for more: http://goo.gl/K6TBn]

You need expert mentors; we all need people who are at our level or higher to coach us through the often harrowing shifts in mental models. Or why TechStars kicks so much butt…

And you need a maestro or two to make all this work. (And what’s funny? There are NEVER the people whose job title says so.. But in a healthy ecosystem everyone knows who these liaison-animateurs are! [google it!]

METRIC/PREDICTOR: How many deeply experiential learning activities are going on? How many groups are just meeting up, whether social media or digital imaging or hackathons or… ?

p.s. Did you know that Steve Blank is making his killer Lean Launchpad class from Stanford available online... for the cost of the text? And the Startup Weekend gang has recruited volunteers to hold in-person meetups staring in late March? If you want in, call me. If you want to help, call me. (Even if you’re not in Idaho, I’m happy to hook you up!)

Social Capital?

What would your momma say if you started a business? We are blessed in the US to have reasonably supportive social norms but it’s not quite universal. Does the media celebrate entrepreneurs? Do our civic leaders? (And do they actually get it?) Do our other institutions really get it? Even the most bureaucratic institutions can think they are pro-entrepreneur but if they don’t understand how entrepreneurs think, they are at best limited and at worst counter-productive. (Odds are, they think they that they DO get it… Yikes and…. Sigh.)

EMPHATIC POINT: Bureaucratic thinking will never get entrepreneurial thinking. Institutions operate top-down/ They LIKE top-down. But they CAN be helpful.. IFF the right people get it.

A healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem is a framework that enables and encourages the emergence of opportunities.

METRICS/PREDICTORS? So how do we know when Very Important People get it? Good place to start: Do they understand how an entrepreneurial economy works?

Do they get… churn? That to grow 1 million jobs could mean creating 10 million new jobs while 9 million jobs exit. It’s normal, it’s healthy & it freaks people out.

[Actual data from mid-2010 to mid-2011: 41 million people took a new job while 40 million left a job. Crazy? Yup. But healthy.]

Do they get… execution is far more important than ideas? The more ideas/intellectual property we have, eventually we get more ideas implemented. BUT the more ideas get implemented, it has a big (and quick) effect on ideas. The innovation pipeline is like pushing on a string. Why not pull instead?

In practice, this means… invest heavily in execution/implementation not on “creativity”. [p.s. Dick Florida agrees, btw.]

Do they get... distinctive competence? Do people in your community migrate toward roles where they add the most value to customers. Not what they do best (a/k/a “core competence”) and certainly not to what they WANT to do (or claim their charter or funders or board insist...) but where they add the most value. If people buy this, turf issues are far more manageable. So are your service providers doing things that add the most value or doing what they feel entitled to?

The same is true for economies. Ireland became the Celtic Tiger by focusing on 4 niches where they already had a sustainable competitive advantage that they could build on – all university research money went to applied research in just those 4 areas plus all industry incentives. It paid off almost overnight (and when they forgot those lessons... oops!) So in your community are leaders focusing on niches where we already can compete or worrying too much about the past?

Do they get… the economy is an ecosystem? That it is a messy web of networks? That we need to encourage connectivity? Read this: http://bit.ly/Karen_S

Who are your community’s “influentials”: Are they the people that control access to resources? Or are they the people who connect? (You can’t do both, alas; if you do both, you’re a resource-controller.)

Are your connectors truly liaison-animateurs? [I told you to google it ;) ] Are they proactive? Are they helping others to become connectors too?

In a healthy ecosystem, more and more people know more and more about the ‘map’ of the ecosystem and proactively share that intel. (Again look at Stephenson’s diagram…) Alas… very, very few communities have a detailed (and accurate) shared map of the ecosystem. If they have a map at all, it’s just a laundry list of the ‘players’…which tells us NADA about how to play the game.

p.s. Do they get… the economy is an ecosystem.. redux? Something entrepreneurs can lose sight of is that it’s an ecosystem that is highly and unpredictably interconnected. It’s NOT just new firms but also older firms. Not just small firms but large ones too. Urban & rural. High tech & low tech. Growing & shrinking. For-profit & non-profit. Even public sector & private sector. We’re all in this together folks.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Now that I’ve probably depressed you or inflamed your “Boulder Envy” or “Malmo/Gothenburg Envy”… anything we can do right now? Affordably? Let me offer several ideas where Norris is the Big Slacker - feel free to kick my butt into gear, ok?

Educate Opinion Leaders

Experiential entrepreneurship training by our best & brightest – and start nourishing the mindset broadly & deeply across your community. Find the fertile ground – youth entrepreneurship is maybe the #1 no-brainer for development. Seniorpreneurs are red hot as are disabled veterans, etc., etc.

Policy briefings for civic officials. [OK, Norris is really the slacker here...] Tell them that we bring good news.. ‘cause we do! also...

‘Visioning’ is such a New-Agey term so lets call it a ‘listening session’ – bring together a cross-section of the entrepreneurial community [broadly defined, see the “p.s.” above] and figure out where would we like to be in, say, 2020.

Everyone a Liaison-Animateur?

Why not REALLY map the entrepreneurial ecosystem in your community? Not just make lists of entrepreneurs, service providers, etc. but a real map of the playing field. (Karen Stephenson charges up to $100K to do studies but we can get a rough map for far less & mostly sweat equity. I have the software.)

The visioning, er, listening session connects with this beautifully – gives us a killer roadmap for moving forward productively. Also cheap to do. And there are terrific experts to help us pull it off… magnificently.

Maybe start with asking your community’s entrepreneurs what will trigger them forward. NOT what they are lacking and NOT what the barriers are, but… “What’s the one thing that would trigger you to start (or grow) your venture?”

                  [hmmm. .I suppose that’s one more diagnostic: Do we focus on what we have or what we don’t have? Whether it’s a civic leader or a trade group leader or… ourselves!]

I am really, really interested in your thoughts on this. Please pass this along to anyone else who might want to strangle me, er, buy me a martini. It was fun to write – thank you for reading this far.

Who’s with me????? [not to sound like Bluto in Animal House ....;) What AH character should I be?]

The REAL hero of "Students Are Our Secret Weapon"!

All too quietly a landmark was passed in Idaho. Nancy Bergmann, INL's Wonder Woman of economic development formally retired. Some of you know just how much she mattered to Idaho, the rest of you in Idaho need to find out. In fact, I am convinced that we need to do much more to honor Nancy. Anyone else in?

For those of you outside of Idaho - PLEASE go find your own local "Nancy Bergmann" and... appreciate them. Ask how you can help.

Some of the best things that has ever happened in Idaho to make Idaho more entrepreneurial could not have happened without her. I refuse to take credit for any of what I did without invoking her name. When someone in another state or country yells at me "Students ARE Our Secret Weapon", I remember how she championed my students to greatness.

If you know her (or not) send her a note ASAP. Nobody did more to grow jobs in Idaho; nobody did it more graciously.  nb-woa@hotmail.com 

I know that I owe her more than words can convey. So much so that as I drove over to the lovely retirement party INL threw for her, I was actually nervous over what I'd say, if asked to share my thoughts and feelings. Here's what I would've said (assuming that I didn't get too choked up, a definite possibility).


"Dear Nancy,

If there is one thing to say about our collaborations, it is this:

    'We Were Ahead of the Curve!' and... People. Remember.

Last fall I visited Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. They have the most amazing program using students to turn local technologies into viable businesses (check out their School of Entrepreneurship and their Encubator). As they were ramping up they noticed what we were doing in Idaho. I'd like to think that we gave them bona fide evidence that students really can be deployed effectively to turn ideas into reality.

There are no more than 15-20 universities able to pull this off. [http://www.vcplist.com] Nancy, back when we got TRAILS/TEAMS rolling, that list would have been half as long.. but WE would've been on it.

Nancy, I know that you would rather not grieve about what might have been and instead celebrate. So, let's... celebrate!

My friend and great economist David Audretsch argues that despite all the seeming bad news, this IS the Century of the Entrepreneur. In recent years, the number of schools on that list? It has grown and the things they're doing have grown even more.  I really wish that we would have been allowed to stay the course. But even if it isn't in Idaho....the torch is still burning.

    TRAILS/TEAMS proved that:
* Entrepreneurial learning is deep transformative learning.
* That "hands on" is not nearly enough. You need the right processes and the right people.
* Genuinely experiential learning will help people closer to the expert entrepreneurial mindset
* AND the right processes just happen to be the #1 best way to help turn Ideas Into Reality.

    The best and brightest in the entrepreneurship education world now know:
* What that usually-undefined "entrepreneurial mindset" really is
* And how to get there. How to get there effectively and joyously.
* And the clear policy implications for growing a great entrepreneurial ecosystem.

    The evidence?
* Problem-based learning is on the rise. It's 95%+ outside 4-year schools [think Startup Weekend, the lean startup model, etc.]
* The best programs put the entrepreneurs and the learners first - TRUE immersion
* The best entrepreneurial programs now focus on mindset and ecosystem.
* Empirical evidence overwhelmingly shows the keys are growing human capital and social capital
    (Removing barriers helps, of course.)
TRAILS/TEAMS showed all of this - but we could not have done it without your ideas and energy!

[for those of you who have no idea what TRAILS and TEAMS program was about, here's the back story. A problem-based learning project that partnered INL, my Boise State classes, the economic development community and an assortment of Idaho's great entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Student teams would identify, plan and execute projects that made a difference. Helping potential gazelles, helping economic development projects, helping social venture and most fun of all, help technology commercialization! [more here, here]

Serious funding from the Kauffman Foundation. Three national best practice awards, including NGA, SBA and Kauffman [http://bitly.com/d3FzcW] Honors for INL from DOE. Great student learning. A better Idaho.]

    Nancy, be very proud.
    INL, be very proud.

To further embarrass Nancy: Back in our heyday, a few of us conspired to nominate Nancy for one of EDA's National Awards. Some of you wrote totally brilliant letters. After submitting, I got a call from a higher-up at EDA. who said "You know that we never consider individuals for this award, yes?" I stammered something like "I know but Nancy so deserves it." He replied, "I agree. It will be taken very seriously. Can't win, probably, but after reading it, I assure you it will be a finalist." Those of you who know Nancy B are nodding your head and smiling, aren't you?

In the last year, I've had national-level officials from DOE, NSF and EDA all ask when we are going to re-boot TEAMS. (In one case, let's say the officials was less than polite in his language, LOL.) EDA
was actually willing, it seems, to help us reboot- we had full funding lined up from another group. The biggest obstacle to funding the next version isn't the funding so much as much higher the bar has been raised by Chalmers' School of Entrepreneurship, Utah's Foundry, the Danish Entrepreneurship Foundation, Aalto plus long-time role models at Stanford and Babson. Definitely grounds for us to celebrate!

Nancy,if  we weren't ahead of the curve, we were surfing near the front of the wave. You should be VERY proud. INL too should be very proud of their support (without Chris Hertz, Tom Harrison and the tireless Ray Barnes, who constantly challenged us to go to the next level. Thank you all. I never say that enough.

    Ideas into Reality: The "ABC's" of Tech Commercialization?
Maybe TEAMS died an untimely death but, Nancy, it did play a part in advancing The Cause, that the answers are indeed Entrepreneurial! Research has advanced. Pedagogy has advanced. Turning university/lab research into reality has advanced.

What our students did gave us new insights. Nancy, we kicked a few pebbles down the hill and today the avalanche is starting to grow. The steps were small but we can celebrate how right we were. Rather... How right YOU were, Nancy.

I am honored, blessed and humbled to know you. Thank you.

p.s. and knowing Nancy, she would INSIST that I also thank all of you who have helped the world move toward a more entrepreneurial society. I am honored, blessed and humbled to know you as well."

N.B.: Again, her email address still works - send her a note ASAP. Nobody did more to grow jobs in Idaho; nobody did it more graciously.  nb-woa@hotmail.com 

Have you emailed her yet? ;)

2012 - A Year For Gratitude

Even if we end up in a nasty double-dip recession.. I see so many things to be grateful for. 


I've been saying this mantra almost obsessively of late...
"Celebrate, Educate, then.... Initiate" 


Growing a more entrepreneurial community (or organization) requires all three. 


In Idaho, I'm grateful that we are getting better at "Celebrate"!
I'm even more grateful (and humbled) that in this winter's recent Idaho Innovation Awards, i was actually a finalist for "Innovator of the Year". Totally blown away. 


If I had won, I would "have" to give a 1-minute speech. (I think it was 2-3 minutes, but they knew they'd better tell me "1"... LOL) 


But in the spirit of gratitude, here's what I would've said to that beautiful audience: 


My 'would-have-been' acceptance speech for Idaho Innovation Awards
                        (only get a minute at the mike, so...)


[while walking to the podium]
"Do you want to grow a more entrepreneurial Idaho? Do you?
Then stand up. STAND UP!" 


[at mike]
"This is beyond humbling. This is truly about you. It's a 'we' thing not a 'me' thing 


Whether growing entrepreneurial mindsets or growing entrepreneurial ecosystems two things are key: 


1) Do the Right Things the Right Way... and for the Right Reasons 


2) Celebrate. Educate. Initiate.
Tonight is evidence we're getting better at celebrating!"


[Raising my hand] "Let's celebrate entrepreneurs!... how many of YOU are entrepreneurs? [raise both hands] PROVE it!" 


"Repeat after me... I. Am. An. Entrepreneur! (http://www.slideshare.net/norriskrueger/i-am-an-entrepreneur ) 


[this gets under a minute but I'd hope that the final 'bit' took us a little longer... or maybe a LOT longer! ;) ]


Why, yes, I AM an entrepreneur...


And time to rock 2012!!

HAPPY GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK 2011!

HAPPY GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK 2011!


"Celebrate, Educate and Initiate"

Who would have thought a few years ago that entrepreneurship would explode in the consciousness of so many people?

It now looks like:
         2010    2011
Countries 70    123 (so far)
Participants 7 million     15 million

Whoa. 

There have always been "how to start a business" books but the last year-plus has seen some marvelous books (hmm... another blog post? But take a look at "Entrepreneurial DNA" by Joe Abraham)

Personally, I have been slacking on getting people engaged in GEW -for that I apologize (How can I make it up to you?) However, if you have ANY interest in waving the entrepreneurial "flag", the week is not over yet! [In fact.. it is NEVER over.. Like Christmas, we should keep the spirit year-round, yes]  Just head over to http://www.gewusa.org & sign up as a Partner. Costs nothing AND gives you an opportunity to brag on any entrepreneurial events you might be doing or might have done (October & December events are ok, not just November!)

Too Much Travel, Not Enough Monetization? ;)
As I type this I'm in Denmark to speak to the Danish young entrepreneurs group - the Danish Entrepreneurship Awards which may draw more than 5,000 attendees. Gulp. Anything you'd like me to share with this audience?

Denmark is still about as egalitarian as you can get.. however they have tranformed themselves into what might be the most entrepreneur-friendly country on earth. Overnight. Soooo.....

Why can't WE? 


From Ideas to Reality
My prior trip was a week at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. How good is their technology commercialization program? Top 15.

They really have a marvelous model. (They claim they stole part of it from my old TEAMS/TRAILS program with INL but if they did... they took to the next level, hell, took it up several levels, LOL) Anyway, check 'em out at http://www.entrepreneur.chalmers.se - the website doesn't do it justice but I have additional information such as their program for vetting new technologies!

The short conclusion -- there is much we can do, so let's.. well... DO!


My promise to you? Time for Norris to get busy. Suggestions welcome.

"Ecosystem" or "Ecosphere"?

"Ecosystem" or "Ecosphere"?


Warning: Cool... and important... trivia ahead!


As I type this I'm somewhere in the air en route to another expedition, this time to visit Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. They have a killer program for university-based technology commercialziation, partly stolen from.. us! (My old INL/BSU "TEAMS" program)  However, it's only a small part of their overall effort. And... they want to expand and do even more. Should be fun! (I also get to teach and engage the local ecosystem and work with junior scholars to help them with research, teaching & community involvement. Funny how the formerly ivory-tower European schools now get it that teaching, research & community outreach are synergistic and that they get the synergies only if they get fully immersed in the ecosystem!)


Recent debate has bubbled over whether we have beaten the term "entrepreneurial ecosystem" into oblivion. (We now have more than 100 formal definitions of "cluster".. are we headed for that?) The reality is that the entrepreneurial world really IS an ecosystem in the biological sense with many implications we still need to wade through. On the other hand, where it really ISN'T is already leading us astray... needlessly. What might be different? Consider these cool stats:


1) Did You Know? In the last 12 months, ~48 million people were hired for a job? That 47 million people in the last year left an existing job? An awful lot of action for a net of +1 million jobs? The magnitude of that 'churn' is:
a) Normal and
b) Healthy
We're just a 'bit' low on job creation (the norm is a net of nearly 3 million new jobs.) 


2) That every year, more people QUIT their jobs than are fired/laid off? That is, at least 50% of people leave their jobs... voluntarily. I did not know this (or #1) but apparently this is common knowledge in workforce development circles. Think about it: Even during a recession, 23-24 million Americans chose to leave a paying job. And it's normal. Wow.


3) EMSI (data rock stars in Moscow, Idaho) recently discovered that the US has at least 40 million "1099 workers" - who are not formal employees of a registered business. Some are business owners, some are independent contractors, etc. This number is growing nationally through good times & bad and Idaho has an above-average number of these. They maty not be entrepreneurs but they are most likely entrepreneurial.


4) Data from the NETS database & elsewhere show that existing middle-market forms (20-500 employees) are by far the biggest generators of net new jobs and of innovation, of patents, of exports, etc. Startups are still incredibly valuable but the real economic powerhouse for jobs & GDP are entrepreneurial growth firms, typically over 20 employees. 


Just as policy makers need to find ways to help -and not hinder - startups, especially high-potential startups... policy makers need to remove barriers to job creation by their older cousins. Labor regulations appear to be a particularly horrendous barrier.


There is such a thing as an "entrepreneurial ecosystem" but it has some amazing properties that make it both more like biological ecosystems and more unlike them.  (I'm still wrestling with inventing a new term like "ecosphere")... so what do YOU think?


          About "ecosphere" versus "ecosystem"?


          About the 4 realities listed above?


Please feel free to comment here or on twitter [@entrep_thinking], facebook or email

Growing the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: What It REALLY Takes

I had the fun of being Allison Warren's last interview for KTRV Channel 12  before she takes the red pill &makes the entrepreneurial plunge. Of course, of all the good stuff I gave her, they used the most controversial comment, LOL. 


What I want from you, my readers, is to contact KTRV (@12KTRV or @SkryNEWS12; comments@12ktrv.com) and sell them that they become THE station to cover entrepreneurial issues ( technology issues too!) for Boise and beyond. They are in the middle of reinventing themselves entrepreneurially so... what a great fit! And not saying there's Pulitzers out there but there is no shortage of killer stories to tell. So call them, email them, tweet them & let 'em know that you will love it if they do! 
And, before you read further, please check out these slides -[ goo.gl/8GiuU ] and be thinking what *Norris* needs to do and.. .what YOU could do.. tomorrow.


A "gentlemen's C"
Old-school term, used to nudge students to do better. It's not so much a measure of "average" but a signal that an "A" is still within reach (but so is an "F".. hope that makes sense.) 
Remember - Fred Smith's initial plan for FedEx only earned a "C"... it sure didn't take long to get a whole lot better, eh?
       My full quote was to give a grade of "Incomplete" with an "A+" for potential. And, to be honest, we were no better than a "D" when I moved here. Anyway, Allison wanted me to sound bolder, I guess... LOL. 


The best stuff was the mantra of what we need to do -
Celebrate 
Educate
...and...
Initiate


Celebrate what we DO have, a focus on our assets not our liabilities is critical. What better way to start bringing the ecosystem together productively & get past the turf issues, the grudges and often just a lack of communication.


Educate - nurture the entrepreneurial mindset broadly & deeply across Idaho (not just Boise) -remembering that the only way that someone can 'get it' is to immersed (not just engaged) in the ecosystem. The slides give us some strong directions of what can be done... right now!


Initiate - "Entrepreneur" is a freakin' VERB, folks. If I have failed Boise, if I've failed Idaho.. if I've failed Norris... it's in not taking bold action. 
              That WILL change. Be watching on LinkedIn etc. 


Back to the slides... I have talked about the real "drivers" of entrepreneurial activity earlier in this blog.. but let me briefly recap. Years of data from dozens of countries & millions of people tell us there are 3 critical drivers of entrepreneurial activity:


#1 is Entrepreneurial Human Capital: The quantity and quality of our potential entrepreneurs.  
      How many people truly understand the mindset ? Do they feel personally prepared to be entrepreneurial? Boise (and Idaho) could do one helluva lot better at nurturing the mindset. We simply have not stepped to grow entrepreneurial human capital. We are capable of doing that; we have chosen to NOT do it. Hard to grade this much higher than that 'gentlemen's C' - when the quality of entrepreneurial training has declined and the best programming comes from internal efforts like how EO helps their members and from IDLA's online HS course...we could do so much better. But it requires commitment that I cannot see happening from our institutions. 
What DO We Have? We have entrepreneurial passion & brains out the wazoo.. The tinder is dry, the kindling is handy. We just need to get busy. 
What must Norris do? Time to finally start some world-class entrepreneurial training. Be watching for the first salvo, my Minimum Viable Product!


#2 is Entrepreneurial Social Capital: How connected, how supportive is our entrepreneurial ecosystem? 
We have a long way to go here, but we do have social and cultural norms that many places would envy. People here appreciate the role of entrepreneurs, not just in the economy but in society. (We also have turf issues that Chicago might envy, LOL.) We have institutions who don't get it.. but we also have those who do. Let's encourage them. Hard to grade this higher than a C+ & that's only because of the grass-roots rise of new organizations like TechBoise, ITC , Innovation Council and (of course!) Startup Weekend.
What DO We Have? Entrepreneurship is in the DNA of Idahoans. Clearly, entrepreneurship is desirable and feasible in the eyes of many citizens & taxpayers. It amazes people to hear that the Idaho Rural Partnership gets it, that IACI (supposedly big business) gets it, that some of out banks (like Zions & Washington Trust) get it. How many of you have heard of EO?
We need to beat the drum about what we DO have. There are so many great entrepreneurial stories in Boise and in Idaho that nobody knows about. In every corner of the state, young firms & old, high-tech & low-tech, male & female founders, even large firms & small.          We need to CELEBRATE those stories and learn from them. (Our entrepreneurial champions too.) Lt Gov Brad Little has already expressed that he wants to start identifying Idaho's "Entrepreneurial Heroes" and we should help him!
       What must Norris do? Almost every city out there needs a first-rate map of its ecosystem. OK, it's time. But we have to do it right. (There's even funding for this.) We also need a visioning effort, but there too, we must do the right things the right way. (Funding is out there for that too.) Once we have these two pieces, we can start moving forward rapidly.


#3 is The Ease of Starting/Running Business: Here we look pretty good. The first two are far more important but this is still something that we can build on. And I think we've made additional progress of late. (Especially compared to DC... yikes!) Grade = A- (good results, good effort)


p.s. Of course...  I really hoped that KTRV used the "Boise, take the red pill" quote. There is no 'safe' in this economy; ignorance is not bliss. We're all in this together, so let's get busy... together!

June AdVENTURES! Startup Weekend, Babson & ICSB

p.s. Don't forget to sign up for Idaho Startup Weekend 3, June 24-26 -- you WILL like. http://idaho.startupweekend.org. Think of it as our first real salvo as we gear up for Global Entrepreneurship Week (www.gewusa.org). You want Idaho to move forward? Just remember that "entrepreneur" is a VERB! Time for all of us to get busy.

I'm home for a day+ between a trip to the magical Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference in NY and the huge International Council for Small Business meetings in Stockholm.

The Babson shindig is THE cutting edge of great research on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. I felt surrounded by rock stars... think "We are the World" without the weirdness. It is such an honor. My paper was essentially on the impact of entrepreneurship education/training, focusing on assessing the deeper, more constructivistic elements. You can see the slides at www.slideshare.net/norriskrueger [also look at the prior blog post!] but the paper was NOT the story.

I was the 3rd of three presentations, starting with two of Babson College's own veterans who had surveyed >4000 alumni...

Would you be shocked to know that business plan training still sucks? ;)

But the real fun was that we were at the end of the day AND had a rock star audience. Of the top 20 minds in entrepreneurship education.. at least 10 of them were in the room. So, I shut up & let the rock stars, well, rock! Anyway, we kept discussing for another 30-40 minutes, spilled into the hall for another 10-15, then ended up for another 30+ in the bar.. and the discussion is not going to fade out. (And it validates that my teaching ideas & practice don't just work.. they *ought* to work, LOL. I think I need to write more on this.) These are the days you want to live forever!

Also, lots of timely discussion re the recent Big Win for university researchers AND the entrepreneurial community with the SCOTUS bitchslap in Stanford v. Roche. The proper reading of Bayh-Dole is very liberating. (There's a really blunt blog on tech transfer issues that has huge readership but little PR... www.rtei.org/blog) But again, far-ranging discussion of how
entrepreneurial technology commercialization is the key, no, the only key to tech transfer. (And that most universities will hunker down & try to avoid listening to the Supremes, LOL)

I head out today to Stockholm - looking forward to reprising my role as the World's Great Magnet for Screaming Babies. :) The ICSB conference will likely be nuts -way too many people and way too many distractions. ("Oh, I am*required* to meet some people at the Ice Bar... and it's an open bar?" OK, maybe I can do that, LOL)

The doctoral consortium is Wednesday - you should be encouraged by the steady stream of young brainiacs entering the field - most of whom are recovering entrepreneurs and kickbutt teachers. There is ZERO excuse for any university to hire some to teach anything related to entrepreneurship, innovation who doesn't have sterling academic credentials, serious research
chops, equally serious teaching skills and direct entrepreneurial experience. (And even... social skills? Hmmmm, maybe the world IS going to be OK!)

I am 'junior' author on Thursday on two papers - the senior authors' ages add up to less than mine (gulp) but so glad to be helpful rather than taking the lead. The first is a young Swede who stumbled across a treasure trove of accurate, timely data on Sweden's innovation systems. It will drive forward our ability to quickly & skillfully assess entrepreneurial ecosystems. The
second was a study of South Asian immigrant entrepreneurs that offers powerful evidence to support the Startup Visa (and some alternative strategies should the Startup Visa continue to languish). [I also get to present another paper on how entrepreneurship education makes an impact with Europe's #1 mind on this topic, the brilliant Danish scholar, Helle Neergaard.]

Finally, I'm chairing a quasi-workshop on how to convert research findings (in combinstion with expert findings in the field) to inform public policy - what will work AND how to sell it. If even our own government seems willing to support entrepreneurs, imagine what other places might be willing to pursue! You can see the workshop overview also at slideshare. This too is a signal honor. Talk about bringing together rock stars... very exciting but very, very humbling.

I know I still owe you some reflections on my trips to Germany & Spain - I promise to get to them.

And did I mention Startup Weekend? Go to the main site, www.startupweekend.org - read about Startup Weekend CAIRO, the joint Israeli-Palestinian events, Startup Weekend Mongolia (Mongolia? Whoa.) So sign up... don't make me hunt you down. ;)