I’m an optimist.

The glass is half-full. We have a terrific message to share, but we are not making the case for the entrepreneurial future of Idaho. What excites me about Tac’s initiative is that we have not even made that case to…. ourselves. Let’s share the good news. Put another way…

When the “tech funding” flap arose, it seemed clear to me that we had not crafted a good sales pitch for entrepreneurial development to ourselves, never mind government. Butch asked to be “educated”, so where do we start with the message?

First, it’s NOT about “tech”… it’s about JOBS.

It’s about nurturing a resilient, self-renewing economy where new and better jobs are continually arising, where a changing world is a source of new opportunities. How do we help Idaho toward that resilient, self-renewing economy?

Good News: We know a lot about where new jobs come from. Did you know that… businesses that are more than one year old - every year, they lose jobs? Older, but fast-growing businesses also create significant jobs. New businesses and growing businesses create jobs. Period.

We need entrepreneurs to start up businesses; we need entrepreneurs to grow businesses. Idaho is the #1 state for startups, but those startups don’t grow and create many jobs (Idaho is near the bottom). Policy makers have to ask: “OK, why are we not growing our businesses? What can we do to help them?”

More Good News: We know even more about how to nurture growing businesses. We have terrific models that we already learn from. For example, Idaho TechConnect draws on multiple key strategies that work the world over. Others imitate our mechanisms using students to help make Idaho more entrepreneurial. Together, we’ve even won national best practice awards. We can build on our successes. http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/conf_summary.pdf
(For Idaho, see p. 109: http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/appendix_b.pdf )

Still More Good News: Whenever I travel to talk about nurturing entrepreneurship, I am always asked by top experts “How is the Idaho Model doing?” (Gulp.) People in high places are watching us and know much more about us than you realize. (Double Gulp.) The next thing I’m usually asked is “When are you sending me a plane ticket?”

While unnerving that the best and brightest are watching us closely, isn’t it exciting to know they want to help us? It wouldn’t take much to bring in world class experts to help. Time to take advantage of that!

OK, time to do what Tac asked me to do, LOL: Who am I and why do I care?

I’m an entrepreneur turned academic turned ??? (LOL) My entrepreneurial background (e.g., sordid sidetrip into SIC 3679) leads me today to a wonderful adventure in a new social venture to help the disabled, but it’s also key to my success in academic research. I’m considered one of the top research minds in the field, but that means nothing unless my work gets directly applied to understanding entrepreneurs and in helping teaching. I couldn’t do cutting edge research on expert entrepreneurial thinking if I didn’t walk the walk. That’s why the TRAILS/TEAMS programs honored by SBA & Kauffman work for students and the community.

Yet More Good News: There’s funding out there to support student-centric programs like these. Time to take advantage, yes?

Finally, it particularly excites me that our surprisingly deep understanding of entrepreneurial thinking applies to creating jobs. We now know how to craft public policy to build a resilient, self-renewing economy. But first we need to share the good news, especially with each other. How can I help?

Tac, thanks for lighting this match…

Norris Krueger

April 2007

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