Helping 1,000 startups in 2,000 days

Veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Babinec is looking for an Albany-area university to team up with him.

Babinec, of Little Falls, N.Y., founded Upstate Venture Connect in January and already has partnered with Cornell University, Syracuse University and LeMoyne College in Central New York to make it easier for technology startups to succeed.

Babinec formed UVC with a goal of helping entrepreneurs team up with advisers and find access to investors to increase their odds of survival. UVC seeks to help create 1,000 technology startups in upstate New York over the next 2,000 days.

“For entrepreneurs to get connected here is extremely difficult,” Babinec said.

UVC, a nonprofit, is developing a database and social network for mentors, advisers, startup companies, incubators and investors.

Teaming up with upstate universities to create a network of resources to help entrepreneurs solve funding, marketing, sales and commercialization problems is a key that Babinec said will help upstate encourage the development of more startup companies.

The resident of Herkimer County, N.Y., spent 22 years building TriNet HR Corp., a San Leandro, Calif.-based human resources outsourcing company, into a national firm with $200 million in annual revenue and more than 2,800 clients in the Unites States.

Babinec, who remains on the TriNet board and is the second-largest shareholder of the private company, said he is dedicating the next 10 years to bringing some of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurship culture to upstate New York.

UVC is run by Nasir Ali, president of The Tech Garden in Syracuse.

Last month, UVC opened an office in Saratoga Springs. Greg Gibson, an entrepreneur who moved to Saratoga Springs from Boston two years ago, is running the local office.

“Upstate has many of the assets necessary to build an innovation-oriented economy,” Babinec said. They include 113 universities and colleges, roughly 500,000 students who attract more than $3 billion in research funding each year.

Those assets are spread out and do not work together as much as they should.

By partnering with universities throughout upstate, Babinec said he hopes to start changing the entrepreneurship culture here.


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Read more: Helping 1,000 startups in 2,000 days The Business Review

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 York Entrepreneur Week April 12-16

New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) is a non-profit movement formed around a single belief: entrepreneurs change the world. And now is the time for entrepreneurs who have the will and drive to prove they can achieve anything, to stand up and come together in New York State for another groundbreaking NYEW event.

With over 100 speakers from 40 cities, 15 states and 3 continents, NYEW unites the state’s diverse entrepreneurial community; giving you the opportunity to connect with and learn from New York’s best and brightest entrepreneurs who are relentless, driven and dedicated to improving your business and the economy. View the full agenda here.

New York Entrepreneur Week encompasses five days of innovative and hyper-targeted events, including:

* Inspiring keynote speeches from recognized business leaders
* Riveting panels delivering relevant mission-critical advice
* The flagship RELENTLESS business plan competition

Entrepreneurship study ranks New York near the bottom

The Albany Business Review reported that New York continues to be among the three least entrepreneur-friendly states, according to a new report by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

New York ranked No. 48 in 2009, followed by California and New Jersey. The District of Columbia ranked last as a region.

The council’s 14th annual “Small Business Survival Index,” released Tuesday, considers 36 costs to small businesses that are imposed by or reported by the government. Most factors are taxes, including personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, property taxes, unemployment taxes and health insurance taxes.

Also factored in are energy costs and crime rate.

The top five most entrepreneur-friendly states are South Dakota, Nevada, Texas, Wyoming and Washington.

The Oakton, Va.-based Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit small-business and entrepreneurship advocacy group.

To read the study, click here.