CT Small Business Climate

I recently attended the 2010 Connecticut Gubernatorial Forum on Jobs, Innovation & Technology sponsored by the CT Technology Council. The event was held at GE’s edgelab (edgelab.ge.com) at the UCONN campus in Stamford. Both Democratic and Republican candidates (11 in all) participated. The format was a question and answer panel discussion. It was not a debate.

The audience was composed of representatives from the technology and business community. The intent of the forum was to hear each candidate’s position on the issues facing CT technology business. Specifically job growth, transportation, energy costs and in general, simply improving the business climate in CT via innovation and technology.

First a few stark quotes about the current state of CT business from various candidates:
1. CT is last (50 out of 50 states) in job retention
2. CT is 46 out of 50 states in small business growth
3. CT has the most expensive energy costs (76% above the National average)
4. CT is losing more young people than any other state
5. Only CT and Michigan have had 20 years of negative growth

The picture painted was bleak, especially considering that CT has a $3-$4 billion deficit looming in the coming years. All candidates were in agreement that the same-old way of doing business has failed and MUST change. They recognize that small companies are the engine of job growth in CT and that CT MUST get better at attracting and keeping business. It must create an environment where small business and innovation can flourish.

How can CT redefine itself? Few specifics offered, but some general themes emerged.

Create an atmosphere of consistency. Frequent legislation and tax code changes in CT has created an atmosphere of uncertainty. Candidates stated that CT companies do not feel they can not place any credibility in a 5 or 10 year-plan. One example was the favorable tax climate to attract and grow media and movie business in CT. Unfortunately this was followed in just a few years by a turn-around in policy.

Many candidates stressed the need for the Governor to be more open and proactive in attracting business. Become an effective partner with the business company. One way of accomplishing this is to combine the more than 220 State Agencies and then streamline their operations. This was considered essential however due to its disruptive nature in displacing workers very difficult to achieve.

Leverage the many Universities in the state to create a culture of innovation. The success of the Yale and biopharma industry or the GE edgelab and UCONN relationship were cited as success stories. All except one candidate wanted to expand the funding of the very successful Connecticut Innovations quasi-state agency to start-up new tech businesses.

So whoever is elected as the next Governor of CT will face a huge set of challenges but could really make a difference.

The Next Generation of Techies Part 2

When can a fourth grader kick the butt of a seventh grader? At the New Haven Science Fair!

As I mentioned last week, I had the privilege of judging the first round of the New Haven Science fair on Tuesday. Many of the entries were great but there was one in particular that just blew me away. A fourth grade team did their project on which crop would produce the best bio-fuel. An admirable project to be sure, and one that was of particular interest to me since I’ve been following the Alternative Energy market. But what really impressed me was the way that they went about it.

For any of you that have not been involved in a science fair – it’s really not about making the correct hypothesis, it’s about the process, and the process that these kids came up with was quite impressive. They only had a short time to work these projects so what they did was break it into two phases. First they grew three different “crops”, soybeans, sunflowers, and radishes. They measured the output – quantity of bio-matter – grown in a specific length of time. Then, because they did not have the ability to convert it into bio-fuel, they took already prepared oils, sunflower and soybean, and measured the heat output. Now I realize that there could be a lot of factors in the conversion process, but remember – these are fourth graders.

Not only was the way they designed the experiment impressive, but their analysis was thorough and their explanation clear and complete. If this is our future, I’m a little less worried!

The Next Generation of Techies

One of the issues near and dear to me is the lack of engineering talent, especially at the entry levels. Without these young people going into engineering, sciences and other technical fields I just don’t see how we can compete in the world economy. So when I have the opportunity to do something to support this goal, I jump on it. Next week I’ll be judging my first Science Fair for the City of New Haven. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve judged events like this before – most recently the Invention Convention up at UCONN last year, and boy was it fun! I can’t wait to see what these bright young people have come up with.

For more information, or to become a judge yourself, here’s the link:
http://www.nhsciencefair.org/

My Doubts About Social Media

I know that seems like an odd title for a blog post, but for the longest time, I’ve been hesitant about the value of social media for growing a business like ours. I can see why it works for retail or B-to-C business but for some reason I had doubts about using social media for growing a B-to-B service business. Personally, I would engage a firm like ours after getting to know the people in it or based on a referral from someone I trust, but I know not everyone does everything exactly as I do ;-).

That said, I’m putting my skepticism aside and jumping in with both feet! Those of you that got one of the 70-something LinkedIn invites I sent this morning probably know what I mean. (I just figured out how to import my contacts into LinkedIn).

We have dabbled in social media before, and even that may be a generous characterization. We realized that to be successful at this we needed help so we hired Response Marketing and have been very pleased. We’ve been reconnecting with old friends, clients, and acquaintances. I’ve already had multiple requests for conversations about how we could work with various firms. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder that we’re still around!

It’s certainly fun, and I truly enjoy connecting with people. As far as growing our business - I sincerely hope to be proven wrong!

Referral Karma

I give and get a lot of referrals. In fact, just this week I referred a company I had just met to my business banker, who has been a great resource for us. I was happy to do it, happy to be able to help my new contact, and certainly happy to give my banker the opportunity. Now in the interest of full disclosure, the new company is a prospect, but I have done the same, many times before, for companies and individuals that were not prospects.

Recently we’ve had three different people ask about compensation for referrals that lead to business. I have to confess, I was a bit surprised – I had never thought of doing that before.

I’m happy to give referrals without any expectation of getting something in return. Especially, in the kind of economy we’ve had for the past year or so, I feel like anything any I can do to help a good business prosper is a positive contribution, and besides, it just feels good! We’ve gotten so many referrals over the years, so I also feel a bit like I’m paying it forward. I also like to refer business in which I have confidence.

I wonder, is there a “conflict of interest” if you are receiving payment? I can’t help but wonder, what do others do? Do you pay for referrals? Do you expect something in return?

Stop Trying so Hard

Last year one of our big initiatives was to find strategic partners – companies we could work with, offer more to both of our clients, and help both business grow. We really did look hard and didn’t have much success.

When doing our business planning this year we decided to try other things. After all, that did not work out so well.

Well funny thing is happening – all those valuable strategic partnerships we were dreaming of seem to be falling into place. Who knows where they will lead, but it sure is funny that they’re happening now. Maybe there’s something to the theory of relaxing and letting things happen. Sure seem to be working for us!

Can the iPad help to usher in a new age in medical record keeping?

Now that the dust is settling and millions of words have spewed forth over the eventual “success” of the yet to be sold iPad, I would like to weigh in. Most of what I have read about the product and its potential has to do with the consumer. I am confident that Apple’s marketing clout will make the iPad a hit among consumers even considering the relatively high initial price. I feel I am in good company here, since many analysts are predicting millions of units sold in 2010 alone!

However I am more interested in the use of the iPad as a business application device. This is the first hand-held “tablet” which in my opinion could really facilitate the transition from a paper based medical community to a digital one. There are many reasons why I think this product may be a game changer.

PC based tablets have been around for a number of years. They are typically small notebook computers with a touch screen that can be inverted and lay closed over the keyboard. A typical weight is about 3+ pounds. Kind of heavy to carry throughout the day up and down the halls of a typical hospital while making rounds. They are typically pen or keyboard based. A bit clumsy to use when on the go.

On the other hand the iPad addresses several of the negatives preventing widespread adoption of the PC tablet. Here are some of the major ones. It is a relatively light-weight (1.6 lbs) device with an amazing display. User interaction leverages the multi-touch iPhone/iTouch gestures that are familiar to millions of users. When needed a virtual keyboard facilitates data entry. The 9.7 inch screen with 132 pixels per inch resolution screen (1024 by 768 pixels) is sufficient for viewing medium resolution medical images along with patient information. WiFi and 3G connectivity allow access to medical data from anywhere.

With the creation of novel medical software applications, the iPad may just accelerate the change over to the digital age replacing the medical profession’s clipboard and paper based systems