A New Model to Support Emerging Businesses. Minnesota Chamber Grow Minnesota Program and local chamber partners offer business assistance to help businesses stay and grow in this state.

1. How Many Stars Are in the Night Sky?
How Many New Businesses Are There?

2. It Depends Who Is Doing the Counting
and Defining.

3. This is What The Federal Government Sees

4. A Business Doesn’t Exist Until there Is an Employee
With the Naked Eye, You Can Only See 2,500 Stars

5. The SBA Defines a Small Business as
Having 500 or Fewer Employees

6. Here is What Venture Capitalists and Many
Public Policy Experts See.

7. …a Small Subset of the Universe.

8. 88 Constellations.
On Scale, about 37 Venture Capital Deals Per Year

9. This is What the State Sees.

10. There were 58,260 New Business Filings In 2013.

11. Compare
State Fed

12. Why Does It Matter?

13. Why Does It Matter?
Bad information leads to bad policy. We need to have consistent
definitions and consistent methodology to make informed policy .
It is not helpful when we have conflicting reports; one labeling
Minnesota a failure in creating new businesses, and one saying we are
breaking records for creating new businesses.

16. Conflicting Schools of Thought
1) Anyone engaging in business activities -- whether full-time or
part-time, at the industrial park or the garage, in addition
to another job or not -- should be counted as a business.
2) The census bureau's non-employer statistics over other sources --
the census only counts people who reported self-employment
(Schedule C) income of more than $1,000, possibly weeding out
some side-workers who pay self-employment income tax but do
not operate independent businesses.

17. Adopt the Broader Definition of Business
“The problem with ambiguous definitions of what counts as a
small business is that they may make it more difficult for
policymakers to really understand and address the unique
problems that businesses of different sizes are confronted
with.”
-- Tracy Clark, associate director, W. P. Carey School's Spirit of Enterprise Center,
Arizona State University

18. A New Formula Is Needed

19. Old Formula
B (Business) = Oy (Owner) + Ex (Employees)

20. What Do Policy Makers Really Want?
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!

21. Employment = Jobs = Making a Living
E E E E E E!

22. A Traditional View of a Business
B = O + (E + E + E + E + E + E + E + E)

23. After Layoffs
Original Business - B = O + (E + E )
Shedding 6 Employees

24. After Layoffs
B = O
B = O
B = O
B = O
B = O
B = O
The Former Employees “E”
Start Their Own Businesses
and Become Owners “O”

25. Self-Employment Trend
In March 2011, the Number of New Self Employed Who Had Been Unemployed
in the Prior Year
Was 900,000, or 5.5 Percent of All Self Employed.
-- SBA Office of Advocacy Report

26. What Next?

29. Who Helps New Businesses Now
• SBA – SCORE Volunteer Mentor Program.
• SBA – DEED – Small Business Development Centers
• Education Institutions Offering Entrepreneurship Programs Such
as Dakota County Technical College.
• Workforce Training Centers.

30. Venture Capital?
Most VCs like to invest in ventures after the potential has been proven and the
risk reduced. In the first quarter of 2012,
only 3 percent of VC funding went to start-ups.
Typically Averages $243 Million Invested in 37 Deals Per Year.

31. $24 Million State Job Creation Fund?
To qualify, a business must:
• Invest at least $500,000 in real property improvements.
• Create 10 new full time permanent positions within two years.
• Have other location options outside of Minnesota.
• Cause no undue harm to Minnesota business competitors.

32. A New Model to Support Emerging Businesses

33. A New Model to Support Emerging Businesses
• Emulate the Legal Profession’s Pro Bono Initiative
• Harness Business Professionals Already Committed to Service
• Acknowledge that Sole Proprietors, Freelancers, Consultants, etc.,
Are Actually Businesses.
• Drop the “It’s not a real business” attitude.

34. Start Collecting Data
When a business registers ask:
• SIC Code?
• Plans to Hire?
• Full-Time or Part-Time Venture?
• Full income or supplemental?
• Interested in Mentorship?
• Need Assistance of Business Professional?

35. What Can Chambers Do?
• Identify Members that Are Willing to Mentor.
• Welcome Startups to All Events.
• Offer 1 Year Membership at No Cost.
• Offer Networking Training.
• Help Members Develop Pricing For Startups.
• Make Chambers The Place Where Entrepreneurs / New Businesses Can Turn
to for Help.
• Help Lobby the Legislature to Appropriately Fund Current Programs that
Need Help In Reaching Their Client Base.

36. New Business Survival Rates
• Year One – 85%
• Year Two – 70%
• Year Three – 62%
• Year Four – 55%
• Year Five – 50%
• Year 10 – 30%

37. Taking Care of Business