Connecting Entrepreneurs in Central New York: New Website

Enitiative, a coalition of six campuses in Central New York that promotes student and community entrepreneurship, has a new website aimed at connecting Central New York entrepreneurs with the resources available to help them launch and grow their ventures.

Students, faculty, staff and community members can visit www.cnyentrepreneurship.com to find resources they might need at any stage in their business. From conducting basic market research to forming legal structure and designing a marketing campaign, fledgling and established business owners can find both university and community resources that are there to help them succeed.

“There are many organizations, college courses and seasoned entrepreneurs in Central New York that offer services, knowledge and experience to those entrepreneurs who are just starting out or who want to take their business to the next level,” says Bruce Kingma, associate provost for entrepreneurship and innovation at Syracuse University. “We wanted to provide a single place for entrepreneurs to get this important information.”

Enitiative worked with organizations and colleges across Central New York to compile the resources listed on the website. Any organization that would like to be included on the website as a resource for entrepreneurs should email the Enitiative office at excel@syr.edu.

The SU-led Enitiative is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., focusing on entrepreneurship in the arts, technology and neighborhoods. SU’s academic and community partners in this initiative include Cayuga Community College (CCC), Le Moyne College, Morrisville State College, Onondaga Community College (OCC), the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), the Central New York Community Foundation, the Gifford Foundation, CenterState CEO, Messenger Associates Inc. and National Grid.

New nonprofit aims to spark growing firms

The Central NY Business Journal reported that a new nonprofit group has launched to encourage the development and growth of more small, innovative companies in upstate New York.

The organization, Upstate Venture Connect, aims to increase connections among mentors, entrepreneurs, and those interested in working for young, growth-oriented firms. Group leaders also want to spark more collaboration among business groups, universities, and economic development organizations.

Upstate New York isn't likely to generate major job growth by attracting large companies that will hire hundreds or thousands of people, says Martin Babinec, founder and chairman of Upstate Venture Connect, which started in January.

"That's yesterday's industrial model," he says. "But it's not reality with the way things currently work."

A better path, Babinec says, is to focus on developing numerous smaller companies. The group will concentrate on firms that can attract private-equity financing since they tend to be those with the best shot at growth. Read more here.

Famous Entrepreneurs Series (FES): Central NY Resouce

The Famous Entrepreneurs Series (FES) is a business membership organization created to fuel the entrepreneurial flame in the Greater Syracuse and Central Upstate New York region. Through FES, admired CEOs and management thought leaders join us to share their successes, failures and bold visions in an effort to create inspired discussions within our local community.

4th Annual Series Continues
with
Vijay Govindarajan,
author of "Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators"
Wednesday, March 24
Onondaga Community College
Storer Auditorium, Ferrante Hall

Build a Stronger America: Join the Entrepreneur' Movement

The Kauffman: The Foundation for Entreprenuership offers this new resource and website:

If you are like 80 percent of Americans, you believe that the U.S. economy has been, and will continue to be, built by entrepreneurs like you. Accordingly, if the U.S. economy is going to have a sustained recovery, it will be up to its entrepreneurs to lead the way.

But entrepreneurs cannot create jobs and growth without a level playing field. Federal and state governments cannot continue to favor large, established businesses at the expense of startups and entrepreneurs. Here are five things that entrepreneurs need now:

• Health care reform
• Better access to credit
• Cut payroll taxes to create and save jobs
• Tax reform
• "Entrepreneur's Visas" that enable non-U.S. native college and university graduates to create new jobs now

Kauffman believes that entrepreneurs' voices need to be heard in Washington, DC, and will work to educate government officials about the important role entrepreneurs play in our economy.

Join the Entrepreneurs' Movement today.

Online Entrepreneurial Forums: Ask Questions and Network

Interested in a forum to ask for assistance or float ideas? There are a number of online resources that offer an opportunity to network and connect with other individuals and businesses looking at new ideas and ways to generate money. One example is a newly launched resource I came across.

EntrepreneursBoard is a fresh, budding new online discussion forum dedicated to providing all entrepreneurs with a niche in which they can network and share ideas with other like-minded entrepreneurs.

Have other suggestions? Share them here.

Aspen Institute Looks at 'Capitalism and the Future' During Two-day Event in NYC

Is capitalism broken? Will a new business ethic emerge in the aftermath of the financial meltdown? And is the financial crisis actually a crisis of failed leadership? The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program will explore these questions with thought leaders from business, government, religion and the nonprofit sector in a two-day program modeled after the successful Aspen Ideas Festival, held each summer in Aspen, Colorado.

The two-day program begins with an evening panel on Tuesday, November 3rd at The New York Public Library, as part of the Live From the NYPL series. CEOs Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and Eric Schmidt of Google, will join authors Niall Ferguson (The Ascent of Money) and Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Black Swan) in a discussion moderated by Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson. The event starts at 7:00 p.m. and will be held in the Celeste Bartos Forum, at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street at Fifth Avenue. Tickets, which are $25.00 ($15.00 for students and members), can be purchased by going to theLibrary's Web site, www.nypl.org/live.

The second day continues at Bloomberg corporate headquarters in New York City, with panels on business innovation, a look at the problem of short-termism in capital markets, the conflict between beliefs and business and a discussion of the relationship between Washington and Wall Street. Bloomberg, which is Aspen's media partner for the two-day event, will provide moderators for the panels and will be broadcasting parts of the program on Bloomberg Television. Tickets are sold out for the second day.

Panelists include:
-- David Blood, Senior Partner and Co-founder, Generation Asset Management
-- Bill George, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard University and former CEO, Medtronic
-- Jeffrey Hollender, Chief Inspired Protagonist, co-founder and Executive Chairperson, Seventh Generation
-- The Very Reverend James Kowalski, Dean, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
-- Pamela Passman, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Global Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
-- Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO

Peter Weinberg, founding partner of Perella Weinberg Partners, will be interviewed at lunch by Bloomberg Television journalist Erik Schatzker.

The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program develops leaders for a sustainable global society. Through dialogue, business education and research, BSP creates opportunities for executives and educators to explore pathways to sustainability and values-based leadership. For more, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/bsp.

New York Entrepreneur Week Launches the Most Encompassing Entrepreneurial Movement in New York State History

-- Today marks the official launch of New York Entrepreneur Week (www.nyew.org), the first and largest statewide movement unifying the most important entrepreneurial groups with the vastly diverse entrepreneurial community. Taking place from November 16-20, 2009, NYEW will feature 350 all-encompassing events including; keynote speeches from recognized business leaders, expert panels offering relevant mission-critical advice, third party events and the movement's flagship RELENTLESS business plan competition.

Unlike diluted start-up or small business events, NYEW is New York State's premier forum joining together founders, angel investors, venture capital firms and top connectors from around the world and across diverse industries. NYEW brings together groups ranging from enterprising young idea-stage innovators to hundred million dollar revenue generators. The NYEW movement provides the framework and catalyst for conquering New York's economic challenges by aggregating disparate entrepreneurial stakeholders from around the state with remarkable entrepreneurs from around the world.

NEWS FACTS:
-- Featured, confirmed speakers include:
- David S. Rose, Founder of Rose Tech Ventures, Chairman & CEO of Angelsoft
- Marc Ecko, Chairman & CEO of Marc Ecko Enterprises
- Steve Mariotti, Founder of the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
- Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Co-Founder & CMO of Gilt Groupe
- Barry Silbert, Co-Founder & CEO of SecondMarket
- Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder & CEO of Meetup.com

-- NYEW is a 501c(3) non-profit organization founded by 26-year-old serial entrepreneur Gary Whitehill. Inspired by the TED conference and Renaissance Weekend, Whitehill is empowering entrepreneurs from around the world to "Stand Up and Come Together" at the worldwide hub of business, commerce and innovation.

-- NYEW is the largest aggregator of entrepreneurial events in the world during Global Entrepreneurship Week, slated to have over 350 events throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Syracuse, Rochester, and Binghamton.

-- NYEW is the only event in New York State to unite entrepreneurs with real, local, regional and international funding sources. These groups include: angel investors, venture capital firms, banks as well as non-profit and public sector agencies.
Read more here.