Silicon Valley= Last Year. Social Enterprise Hub= Today's Innovators (Jenkins A- session 3)This is a featured page

Facilitator: Michael from Greenfire
Participants include:
Tom -- Novozymes
Jill -- Duke CSI
Interesting model is gaming incubator:
* Brings in iPhone developers and other software developers
* 3 month program
* Advisors and business planning help
* "Graduation" is a pitch to VCs
How to build an incubator for social enterprise startups?
* Need for a more general incubator, since the space is so broad
* Like the model of RTP -- collocation is key to develop common intellectual capital, connect with universities, productize research
* Reputation drives more interest, more capital, more innovative startups coming
* Turn the Triangle into a "must-move-to" destination for social enterprise, geographic hub with a physical campus
* Would tie to a virtual component, but would be grounded in shared geography for the core
Not a lot of established financing for cutting-edge renewal energy technology, difficult for investors to see renewables startup as "just an energy company"
Need expertise across the board for all stages of businesses -- for example, startup funding is needed for early-stage companies, but to help companies grow beyond that, need people with success growing later-stage businesses to mature companies (e.g., Burt's Bees). You need that expertise locally.
Key takeaway from unconference should be clear, tangible -- developing a group in the Triangle to stay engaged on the topics of the unconference and carry this forward for the specific geography of the Triangle
Virtual networks can't necessarily do the heavy lifting--hard to beat face-to-face networks
How does this fit with what SJF, CED, and others are doing?
Must also tie together resources at UNC, Duke, NCSU, NCCU
Build better connections among all the things that are going on in the Triangle
Not just access to capital, but also access to supply chains, mentoring, etc.
Silicon Valley struggling to succeed at renewable energy because of their commitment to a VC model looking for specific exits which renewable energy companies may not meet
Triangle has an opportunity to create new models to match capital with social ventures in a variety of areas
B Corporation fits in well here -- helps organizations be disciplined not only about how social enterprises use capital, but how they measure their social impact. Metrics keep organizations honest to their own mission, whether non-profit or triple bottom line
NC Economic Development Board should play a role
Need a media plan, physical presence (campus), funding
Need to coordinate so there is less duplication of effort
Hub is the right concept -- collaborative, not controlled by any one entity in the space
Another component is to drive interest in entrepreneurship not just in universities, but in middle schools up
Leverage educational social enterprises in Triangle, NC School for Science and Math, and other groups
What is the right sequence to create momentum behind the idea?
Create a hub for patient capital / socially-focused capital; Triangle already has success stories to sell to these investors, and the process of making the Triangle a destination for both investors and entrepreneurs becomes a virtuous circle



ctessone
ctessone 		Latest page update: made by ctessone , Jan 28 2010, 3:51 PM EST (about this update About This Update ctessone Edited by ctessone


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