Rochester Featured in Forbes Magazine
May 14, 2010
Rochester, NY was featured in Forbes Magazine as New York’s Home for smart business. The article was done as a direct response to last year’s record attendance at the Eyes on the Future Conference. The magazine article - distributed internationally - mentions Rochester’s high “IDQ” - Intellectual Density Quotient, a measurement of Rochester’s high proportion of college educated innovators, workers and companies. The ranking, done by a 3rd party organization, shows many of the advantages Rochester has over other metropolitan areas when employing local workers.
In addition, the article mentions Rochester’s famous short commute times. GRE’s Mark Peterson says: “A 100-person company in Rochester saves $128,300 per year over the same-sized company in Los Angeles, because the Rochester employees are spending 6,000 hours less per year delayed in traffic.”
For the full text of the article visit Forbes Magazine. For more information on the advantages Rochester has to offer visit the Rochester GRE website. To download a copy of the article check the PDF Link.
Abby gets it wrong….
December 5, 2009
In her December 5th, 2009 column famous columnist Dear Abby (aka Jeanne Phillips) gets a letter from a reader who has come into some money which would give her a “cushion” to use while she tries to build her own business (basically it would cover a year’s worth of her income). The letter writer goes on to say that she’s dreamed of being an entrepreneur all her life but in the past has not had the opportunity that this inheritance has given her. Her friends and family are telling her she’s “crazy” and will end up “blowing her inheritance” on this dream because small businesses are destined to fail. To any of you who are entrepreneurs you are already laughing. She’s just going through what every single entrepreneur on the planet has been through. But the real problem comes with Dear Abby’s reply.
Abby’s (aka Jeanne Phillips) sage recommendation (which she obviously didn’t ask any REAL entrepreneur’s about) is to write up a business plan (ok so far) and present it to a bank and ask for a loan. Supposedly if the bank says “yes” to the loan then the idea is a sound one. Does anyone else see the silly irrationality of this “test” to see if the business idea is valid? No? Well let me spell it out. The bank will either say yes or no - based on it’s own interests - not the validity of the business plan:
- YES - ok, rule number one - bank’s will only loan you money when you don’t need it. So if they say “YES” to loaning money on this plan it will be for one reason only - that this young lady already has enough money and assets to act as collateral against the loan they are giving. They know that any bet on an entrepreneurial venture is a long shot - so they won’t loan her any money she can’t already cover. They’ll ask her to put her home equity, personal assets and everything else up against the loan and then will only loan her a portion of that total. As a test for whether this is a “good idea” this fails miserably.
- NO - this is the most likely answer. Banks don’t take “angel capital” style risks. You could walk in with the full business plan for Facebook(before Facebook was created) and they would say “that’s a nice idea. Where’s your income stream or other collateral that we can hold in case your silly idea fails? Your booked A/R? Your history of past performance? Oh you don’t have any? Sorry no luck.” This poor woman would walk away thinking she can’t be an entrepreneur because the most fiscally conservative organization you can find won’t invest in her.
So if Abby’s foolish advice is NOT the route to take - what should this woman do? Well the first thing she needs to do is that business plan - she needs to fully flesh out her business idea and examine it critically. She needs to bounce it off other entrepreneurs, and preferably get an experienced entrepreneur mentor (Try SCORE, or social media to connect to one) or gather a board of directors made up of other business owners she knows together to review the plan before she spends her effort and cash on it. Just because she has a dream does not mean she has a marketable idea. If there are startup resources (say a Springstage Blog) in her area she should go to them to help connect her with others who have been down the road she wants to take.
In addition she needs to approach this venture with some reality checks in mind:
- The likelihood of successfully starting a business and maintaining your marriage without your spouse’s full buy-in is vanishingly small. Starting a business will affect everyone in her immediate family. She needs to have their support, help and understanding to succeed. It may actually come down to “which is more important - your dream or your marriage”. Better to decide that before she starts the business.
- Does she want to build a business as a consultant, a lifestyle business, or an asset that she will eventually resell, or retire from and will provide her with long term wealth. Those are different routes, with different risks and rewards. She should choose which she’s going for on purpose.
- She should read a couple of excellent books*. I’ll make some specific suggestions here, but I’m sure my readers can recommend others.
- She should start with E-Myth Revisted (Michael Gerber) to wrap her brain around the concept of exactly what kind of business she wants to start, and what the differences are between business types.
- Purple Cow (Seth Godin) - What about her business idea makes it unique and special. Why would people buy from her? How will she convince her potential customers of the uniqueness of her idea or proposed service?
- How to win friends and influence people (Dale Carnegie) - this book, written over 60 years ago - still applies today. She must live this concept to succeed in business. Does she already? or is there still work to do?
- Think and grow rich(Napolean Hill) - does she already adopt the positive mental attitude she will need to succeed? Building a business is very hard work, and you must be willing to commit to it inside your head before you even start working on it. She need self confidence that borders on egomania or the world will beat her down.
- Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki) - does she understand the difference between a “good” and “bad” investment?
- Executive EQ(Robert Cooper/Ayman Sawaf) and Now Discover your Strengths (Marcus Buckingham/Donald Clifton)- she should take a personality profile check and fully understand her strengths and weaknesses as a person. No two people are the same, and there is no “magic formula” for being a good entrepreneur - but if you understand where your weaknesses are you can hire to compensate, and if you know where your strengths are you can create a business role for yourself that takes advantage of those strengths.
- She should examine her own motivations for starting a business and do a reality check with real business owners about whether they are realistic. Think you’re going to do it so you can “set your own hours”? Think again - most small business owners work more hours than their employees during the startup phase. There are many other myths about entrepreneurship that she should examine and debunk before proceeding on.
- She should be prepared to fail. Boundaries need to be set for how much to invest, what the final endplan might look like if the business does not succeed, and how she will protect her personal assets as much as possible. The reality is that most successful entrepreneurs have a few failed business ventures under their belt before they hit one out of the ballpark. If you fail - fail in a recoverable way.
Finally though - she should not be dissuaded by nay-sayers. Whether it’s friends and relatives or the bank - if entrepreneurship is in her blood, she’ll never be satisfied until she tries it to see if it’s really for her. Success will depend on preparation, having the right business advisors around you, having a great idea, hiring the right people to implement it for you, and supporting those people with the proper investment in marketing and sales.
* Full disclosure - if you purchase books through these links Amazon pays me some miniscule commission on them. Don’t feel obligated - it’s just easier for me to organize them all in one place this way.
Sorry for the long hiatus - exciting things in Rochester
September 25, 2009
I apologize for how long it’s been since I posted - life has been busy (which is good) and I had a number of family obligations which came up unexpectedly. We should be back to a more regular posting cycle now. Here’s a summary of some of the latest Rochester news in the Entrepreneurial world:
- In August, Aaron Newman -Techrigy/Alterian’s social tracking guru gave a talk at a recent Rochester Open Coffee Club on entrepreneurship in Rochester and how he built Techrigy into an acquisition target in just a few short years. I’ll be posting a more detailed in-depthlook at Aaron’s speech later this month.
- In September TEN graduated a recent class, and a new batch of TEN students entered the queue. TEN continues to be one of the most valuable entrepreneurial resources in the Rochester area. I’d encourage you to take advantage of their services. As a TEN graduate myself I am feeling for the current students who today are deep into the 2nd day of Jack Derby and George Simmons firehosing information into their brains. I know my brain was tired by about the middle of day two :)
- In national news today the US Commerce Department is establishing a new Office for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, specifically to help startups make workable businesses out of great ideas by giving then training, funding, advisement, data access, andhelp with business start-up red tape. Gary Locke, the new Secretary of Commerce and creator of the OEI has a history of examining innovation roadblocks, including looking at the US Patent Office backlog. A direct quote of Locke’s sums it up: “Instead of working to build a great company or discover a new invention, too many of our brightest minds were busy engineering credit-default swaps”. This blog fully supports the idea that government investment in innovation and entrepreneurship can only improve our national economic status.
- They Eyes on the Future conference is only 21 days away. Please be sure to visit the website, register for and attend this free economic summit and (new this year) career expo, so that we can all learn how to keep Rochester in the top 20 once the boom cycle begins again. That’s right - we’re in the top 20 cities nationwide for retaining salaries, housing values, cost of living, etc. So despite how tough the last year has been - it could be much tougher if you live in other cities. Edith Lank in a recent article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Real Estate column published letters from other cities and towns in the country illustrating families who are in danger of having their houses foreclosed on and taken from them after job loss, or being upside down on their mortgage and having been transferred or moved. We are lucky to be in Rochester.
- A new conference to help small businesses keep up with the latest on how new labor rulings affect local businesses has been announced by Genesee Valley Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (GVCSHRM) will be holding a conference and legislative luncheon on October 1st. There will be a solutions exhibit area, Andy Feld author of “Why the current economic crisis is our most wonderful wake-up call” will keynote. Senator Robach, andAssemblywoman John are expected to attend and present at the conference, as well as sessions on EFCA, NLRB, COBRA, and a social media presentation. Afternoon sessions will include Title7, ADEA, FSLA, ADAAA and a session on building capacity. The conference is from 8am-4:30pm. Fees are $147 for GVCSHRM members and $167 for non members. There is a lunch only option for $55.
- A new organization that is charged with retaining NY State investment dollars within NYS has been formed. www.seedny.org is a cooperative venture created by Excel Partners to try to encourage keeping our dollars at home when investing. Loaded with great information for entrepreneurs and funders alike, this site explores the whys and hows of where investment dollars go, and how we can influence their use to better all of NYS. They just held an event in Syracuse and are scheduled to go to Albany on October 13th. From their website: “…Its goals are: to create a public awareness campaign focused on informing all community stakeholders about the critical role that seed funding plays in establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem that can transform New York into a innovation-based economy. “
That’s all for now - please, attend events, network with your peers, and create a buzz about Rochester and how well we’re doing!
Only our highest achieving children being left behind.
August 28, 2009
In a recent post by Tom Loveless and Michael Petrilli on the NY Times editorial page they go into a detailed analysis of a recently touted study that showed that our highest achieving children were also benefitting from NCLB (the No Child Left Behind Act). In a rather thorough debunking they showed that, in fact, the rate of growth in achievement of these highest performing children had decreased over time (not the growth - the rate of growth) and that it fell far behind the improvement curve of the bottom section of the bell curve. While our lowest performing children improved by as much as 25% under the new system - higher performing children improved by no more than 5%, a slower rate of growth than in times previous to the enactment of NCLB.
Furthermore the studies had some significant statistical WTFs. Improvements in states such as North Dakota were weighted the same as states such as California - despite the fact that California has 60x the students of North Dakota.
As a parent of a high-performing child I can tell you from personal experience that the NCLB program and “experiential learning” experiments like “fuzzy math” are failing our high performing children. The saving grace is that private enterprise and colleges are stepping in to assist where schools are leaving off with programs like FIRST Robotics and John Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth. The fact of the matter is though that these programs - which generally require either substantial financial resources or corporate sponsorship - are having trouble helping bright children in the most economically challenged sections of our country. Think what could happen if the government got behind not just lifing up the lower 1/3 of our performers, but in enhancing the education of the top 1/2 of our performers. How much more productive could we be if our best and brightest were even better and brighter and were encouraged to succeed rather than beaten down into the general average population? Programs like FIRST and CTY show that it can be done - we just need to produce the will to do it.
If you don’t believe this is true look at your local school’s budget. How much of that budget is dedicated to assisting children with disabilities of one kind or another vs enhancing the education of our top performers. Now I’m not suggesting we reduce help for children with IEPs - they need that help to make them productive members of society. Is it so hard to envision though a scenario where we not only help our disabled children but we truly challenge our smart and creative ones? These are our next CEO’s, entrepreneurs, engineers, software developers, and visionaries. Our current educational system fails these kids in a fundamental way - by forcing them into an environment where they must “conform to the norm” instead of “exceed to succeed”. My son’s public school for instance (a well funded suburban school) fails to offer advanced software development classes, entrepreneurial programs or other challenges for high end performance. Getting teachers involved and reimbursed for helping with these programs is always last on the agenda, because the state and federal government mandate that they must spend so much on servicing the bottom 50% of performers.
So how do we change this? We need to take action at the grass roots level - every entrepreneur in America - to encourage our leadership to look at how we can best enhance programs like FIRST and CTY to push them into every school, even the disadvantaged ones. My son’s FIRST (Penfield Robotics team 1511) team adopted an inner-city team (team 2999) and helped them through their rookie year with money, mentors and facilities - if our children can step up to help why can’t we? Take some of your entrepreneurial dollars and dedicate them to your future by sponsoring a FIRST team, creating a CTY scholarship, or just volunteer to help and assist a program like Science Olympiad or Mathletes. It’s a great way to give back to the community and help create the next generation of employees, entrepreneurial partners, and industry visionaries.
According to a recent study Rochester is in the top 20 metro areas!
June 19, 2009
Rochester’s regional economy is in the top 20 of the 100 most populous metro areas. A study by the Brooking Institution divided the top 100 metro areas into groups of 20, ranging from strongest to weakest - and Rochester was in the top 20 for a strong economy. Rochester rated well in areas such as employment, housing prices, foreclosure rates and overall regional economic growth. We did rank dead last for wages however. So what does that mean? A thriving economy with an inexpensive workforce! So entrepreneurs from all over - come to Rochester. Our highly educated, inexpensive workforce and our thriving economy makes the perfect location to create a new business. Our low housing and commercial property prices will also make setting up your first office attractive and inexpensive. Husband your cash and make it last longer by living in a region with lower wages and a better standard of living than 80% of the metro areas in the US. If you are a NY State resident consider that our area ranked better than New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and the Hudson Valley region.
Our recession in Rochester is being considered “recession light” compared to the rest of the country. We’re one of the few Northeastern cities where that is true - others in that category come from Texas and the Plains states.
Our overall growth rate is now stagnant - but by coming to Rochester and setting up here you can help turn that around! Our stable housing prices means you don’t have to worry about losing 23% of the value of your home overnight, like in cities like Miami and Las Vegas. While the rest of the country showed a 6.3% decline in housing prices ours climbed by 2.5% - 10th best rate in the country.
And Ventures and Angels - the next time a Rochester entrepreneur approaches you be aware that they are building their company in an area with a strong economy, a low cost of housing and wages, and a thriving real estate and rental market. Your investment dollar will last longer, and be more efficiently used by investing here in Rochester.
The Lamentable State of Rochester Media
March 25, 2009
Penfield Robotics Team wins Chesapeake Regional
I guess I just don’t get it. As a long term investment in the future of our region, training, retaining and attracting scientists, engineers, programmers, skilled technical people, and smart kids is a sure win. And yet our media does very little to feature success in these areas. How can we get them to “change their ways”?
As a contributing member to the community I and other scientists, engineers and business people dedicate a fair amount of time to mentoring programs like the FIRST Robotics program. The team I mentor (Penfield Robotics Team 1511, Rolling Thunder) is a contender for an international award for their community outreach, community service, mentor involvement, business involvement and school relations. We actually won the award in the highly competitive Chesapeake Bay regional competition at the US Naval Academy in Maryland (not even relying on how well known we are in our own area). The team has already won 3 awards (Entrepreneurship, Imagery and Website) so far this year, was a finalist in the local robot competition and has qualified for the international competition every year for the past 5 years.
The average kid on the team (Rolling Thunder’s presentation team) puts in a year round effort that adds up to hundreds of hours, and mentors work essentially 2 jobs during build season - their regular employment and almost another full time job’s worth of time to mentor the students and help them to do an awesome job. The kids learn leadership, engineering, math, science, teamwork, technical writing, PR, speaking and presentation skills, and other highly valuable life skills that are all the things that schools seem to struggle to teach our kids. The nature of the program is that it also grabs kids that might be good with their hands, but have learning disabilities with classroom settings, and puts them on the straight and narrow. They dedicate to the team year round, including the summer. 100% of the alumni from Team 1511 have gone on to college. How many sports teams can claim the same thing?
And yet, when you go to the media to cover this fantastic testimonial to how industry and education can work together (and I’m talking ALL the media, newspapers, webzines, television, local magazines) they at best relegate you to page 2 of some inner section of the paper, or a short blurb about the “geeks and their robots” - if they cover you at all. And this isn’t true of just FIRST - it’s true of any academic competition: Science Olympiad, Mathletes, FIRST Lego League, even spelling bees. We’re frequently told “there wasn’t room” in the print edition. Meanwhile of course high school and college sports get full color 1/2 page feature articles, detailed student statistics on how each player performed and weekly coverage.
Now you might say we’re not doing our job - but that’s not true either. We have an extensive website with pictures, videos, etc. all released for use. We have signed releases from every student and mentor on the team. We pre-announce events through press release and send out event results through press releases. And still it’s page 3 in the corner somewhere along with “man loses cat up the tree”.
There have been occasional high spots, feature articles, in-event media coverage, video or picture specials as part of some other section (our kids were featured in the Penfield Neighborhood section because I suggested it to the Penfield editor), but they are few and far between. Meanwhile the kids pour their heart and soul into these highly productive and beneficial programs and get ignored when they succeed.
So what is the answer? I’m asking you all for suggestions for how to get academic achievement and academic competitions better featured in each of our local regions, but especially the Rochester area. How can we be sure that our community is known for the fantastic kids, mentors and parents we have who don’t happen to enjoy baseball or football (or enjoy them along with their academic achievments) but would rather create the next generation of scientists, programmers, and engineers? Should we team up with all the competitions and try to coordinate PR? Should we storm the steps? Comment in newspaper blogs and comments? What has worked for you?
