One of the best lines I’ve heard from old-school economic developers is that they aren’t interested in pursuing Entrepreneurs because it doesn’t allow for “quick wins” on a “short timetable.” Temporarily suspending disbelief that 2-year goals are a beneficial horizon for economic development, let’s take a step back and look at why old-school economic developers might disdain working with Entrepreneurs. It seems to boil down to this myth:
Entrepreneurs Cannot Compete With Large Corporations
Translated: helping an Entrepreneur bring in 3 or 4 jobs won’t get a mention in the newspapers and/or won’t gain the respect of other old-school economic developers. As a way to mask that to the general public, some economic developers spin it as a classic Catch 22 problem that damns the Entrepreneur to economic development oblivion:
Entrepreneurs Cannot Handle Large Opportunities
Admittedly, any Entrepreneur worth her salt will go through the various stages of euphoria, shock and fear upon winning a large order; I remember several Entrepreneurs signing up for assistance once they had received word that Wal-Mart was interested in purchasing a product from them - the abject terror of filling such a big order wasn’t helped by the fact that Wal-Mart itself admitted, during a World Trade Center meeting in Geneva that I attended, that it wasn’t the best-behaved client for many small businesses.
But the fear and trepidation also has a beneficial side effect, pulling the Entrepreneur into a deep reality check that allows her to most often accurately gauge whether she and her company are up to the challenge of opportunity.
Entrepreneurs are often frustrated when they approach government agencies, especially after attempting to run the gantlet or weave through the labyrinth (or whatever form of slow and methodical torture most suits the analogy). The frustration lies in being asked to do, and doing, what turns out to be the busy work of getting registered and ready for opportunity. I’ve described it this way to small business counseling clients and incubator tenants I’ve worked with: the amount of work you’ll do just getting ready to knock on the proper government agency’s door is at least equal to twice the length of time required for your typical private enterprise sales cycle. And then, perhaps, you actually get the contract, but have to wait for Congress to enact or lift continuing resolutions, wait for the budget to be balanced, wait for any number of reasons.
So the myth, busted, better reads:
Entrepreneurs are capable of providing quality service to large corporations and government entities, provided the corporation or entity knows how to work within Entrepreneur’s constraints, and provided the Entrepreneur can survive the morass of getting to the table.
For those of you who are Entrepreneurs, ever heard this one: We agree that you can provide the (product, service) but we’re concerned about your financial and business longevity. How can you guarantee us that you won’t go out of business just after we award you this contract?
More on that in the next posting.
Entrepreneurs Cannot Compete With Large Corporations
Translated: helping an Entrepreneur bring in 3 or 4 jobs won’t get a mention in the newspapers and/or won’t gain the respect of other old-school economic developers. As a way to mask that to the general public, some economic developers spin it as a classic Catch 22 problem that damns the Entrepreneur to economic development oblivion:
Entrepreneurs Cannot Handle Large Opportunities
Admittedly, any Entrepreneur worth her salt will go through the various stages of euphoria, shock and fear upon winning a large order; I remember several Entrepreneurs signing up for assistance once they had received word that Wal-Mart was interested in purchasing a product from them - the abject terror of filling such a big order wasn’t helped by the fact that Wal-Mart itself admitted, during a World Trade Center meeting in Geneva that I attended, that it wasn’t the best-behaved client for many small businesses.
But the fear and trepidation also has a beneficial side effect, pulling the Entrepreneur into a deep reality check that allows her to most often accurately gauge whether she and her company are up to the challenge of opportunity.
Entrepreneurs are often frustrated when they approach government agencies, especially after attempting to run the gantlet or weave through the labyrinth (or whatever form of slow and methodical torture most suits the analogy). The frustration lies in being asked to do, and doing, what turns out to be the busy work of getting registered and ready for opportunity. I’ve described it this way to small business counseling clients and incubator tenants I’ve worked with: the amount of work you’ll do just getting ready to knock on the proper government agency’s door is at least equal to twice the length of time required for your typical private enterprise sales cycle. And then, perhaps, you actually get the contract, but have to wait for Congress to enact or lift continuing resolutions, wait for the budget to be balanced, wait for any number of reasons.
So the myth, busted, better reads:
Entrepreneurs are capable of providing quality service to large corporations and government entities, provided the corporation or entity knows how to work within Entrepreneur’s constraints, and provided the Entrepreneur can survive the morass of getting to the table.
For those of you who are Entrepreneurs, ever heard this one: We agree that you can provide the (product, service) but we’re concerned about your financial and business longevity. How can you guarantee us that you won’t go out of business just after we award you this contract?
More on that in the next posting.
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