JumpStart Blog

As someone immersed in the business and tech spheres, I’m always looking to build community and make connections with like-minded women.

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The inaugural class of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Cleveland program is in session! The students in this business management education program are developing the practical skills they need to grow their companies—thanks to a series of one-on-one business advising sessions from dedicated professionals, a focused curriculum, peer learning and greater access to business support services.

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The inaugural Cleveland session of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program is now accepting applications, but only until Monday, July 2—so be sure to apply today!

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Area small business owners can now apply for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses beginning at Cuyahoga County Community College in September 2012. Selected participants can access one-on-one business advising sessions from dedicated professionals to help develop a plan specifically tailored for their growth. Here's why you should apply to Northeast Ohio’s newest resource . . .

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Lots of innovators fail because they don't know how to take their ideas from drawing board to marketplace. Some business plan competitions address this problem for students from the region's higher education institutions by providing much-needed advice, mentoring, technical assistance and cash. And, for those students whose ideas don't win, success often lies in the clarity of thought and confidence that's learned along the way.

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For a nonprofit organization like JumpStart, tasked with reporting to multiple funders and stakeholders on the progress of young companies and outcomes of our work, we have to determine what is “just right.”

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JumpStart is not a partisan organization, but we are almost always in support of programs, activities, policies, and legislation that help entrepreneurs achieve their goals more quickly and create globally-competitive, high-paying jobs at their companies. As such, we’ve learned about a Senate bill that will make it easier for entrepreneurs to grow their companies to generate wealth and jobs for the country.

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Now that we’ve all recovered after staying up too late Sunday night watching Billy Crystal simultaneously recognize and lampoon this year’s big screen bests, I find myself wondering who we would ceremoniously lavish with praise in the entrepreneurial world? Who among the investors, entrepreneurs and advisors should be specially commended for their startup savvy and used as a benchmark for performers in years to come? Read more...

America must identify and nurture its best and brightest entrepreneurs if it wants to break the bonds of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Read more...

The main concept behind The Point -- to use the power of a group to create opportunities for individuals -- is unchanged, but the application of the idea has evolved significantly. It's a great example of what is known in business as a "pivot," or taking a "left turn." It's a common phenomenon, occurring as a business evolves from an idea into a product or service that effectively meets the needs of a market. There's never perfect information at a company's launch, when an idea is imagined and cultivated. But as feedback is gathered from customers or investors, or as the product or service sees new challenges or opportunities, there's often a progression of strategic forks in the road requiring a relatively dramatic shift. Read more...

PEHub’s recent article ‘Midwest Predicted To Be Fastest Growing Venture Market in 2011’ featured stats from three national databases as well as commentary from Koleman Karleski (Managing Director at Chrysalis Ventures), and JumpStart’s Ray Leach. Read more...

Stagnant economy and low valuations and “right-sizing” of VC industry… oh my! 2010 could have seemed like just another tough year for entrepreneurs. But there are always glimmers of light and this year, those glimmers were more like fireworks. Read more...

The 2010 State New Economy Index report came out last week from The Kauffman Foundation. This report, which measures the degree to which state economics are knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, IT-driven, and innovation-based, ranks states in total and then across a variety of categories (which all contribute to that total ranking). Ohio moved up Read more...

Two years ago, Ray wrote a blog indicating that he had listened to a particularly insightful lecture from Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series, all of which are available to listen to via podcast, or for select speakers, watch via video. This lecture series is a real class in entrepreneurship (for which students receive credit) and I feel like I'm stealing course credit from Stanford when I listen--it's that good. Read more...

I read with interest Malcom Gladwell's most recent article in The New Yorker, "Small Change: Why the Revolution Won't be Tweeted". His thoughts are provocative and, perhaps oddly, always relevant in some way to entrepreneurs. Mr. Gladwell's premise is that real, hard, social activism - his example being the Greensboro, NC Woolworth sit-ins from the 1960s - cannot occur via Twitter, despite recent media coverage and expert opinion indicating otherwise (with the most common example being protests in Iran). Read more...