Articles

A venture capitalist in San Antonio seems to be focusing on the right target: home grown businesses.

When Maytag shut its doors recently in Newton, IA, the civic leadership was understandably shaken. But the answer to Newton's challenge is not to try to recruit another company like Maytag, but it is to grow another company like Maytag.

The same is true for San Antonio, where AT&T recently announced it was moving its headquarters.

As the San Antonio VC puts it:

"We have to make sure we continue to cultivate homegrown companies because they are more sticky. If they move here that means that they left somewhere else. Companies that grow here have deeper roots."

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Prosperity demands rapid adaptation or, if you prefer, resilience.

Building a stronger regional economy comes from seeing with new eyes. How can our existing assets connect to new opportunities?

Here's an article out of Akron about the adaptation of manufacturing firms to new opportunities in health care markets. The trend revealed itself recently in a forum in Northeast Ohio. Read more.

As Doug Hall, former P&G exec and founder of Eureka Ranch notes, innovation opportunities can emerge anywhere. The process, however, requires discipline, and Doug has been introducing this discipline to smaller manufacturers nationwide though the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Here's an example of an opportunity: Replacing vinyl shower curtains with less toxic materials. Folks in Massachusetts are looking at that one: "New shower curtain smell’ dangerous to health, environment".

The opportunities will multiply as our universities and businesses learn to collaborate. Read this opinion piece out of Seattle: Educating a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs