UEDA Summit 2013 - Awards of Excellence - Research & Analysis - The Iowa Business Concierge
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The MyEntre.Net Business Concierge October 2013 Patrick Luensmann, Program Manager UNI MyEntre.Net [email protected] UEDA Awards of Excellence
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Entrepreneurs often need key business intelligence to make decisions associated with starting or growing a company. Market and customer demographics, industry trends, competitor data and email/mailing lists are critical, yet most information of this kind is out of financial reach for young companies. The UNI Business Concierge provides on-call and online business intelligence for free, to startups and young companies in Iowa. UNI’s Entrepreneurship Outreach team assembled existing university database resources and trained a business concierge to offer custom and timely business intelligence to entrepreneurs, then connect them with the service providers needed to move them forward. All online. The Business Concierge is marketed by service provider partners who upload a iframed Business Concierge module into their own websites, where it is marketed as a free, local resource for small business through the city, county or regional economic development organization’s website. Early outcomes suggest the Business Concierge is effective. Between June 2011 and December of 2012, more than 840 small companies were served by the Business Concierge, averaging 3 hours per business served. Of 127 Business Concierge survey respondents, more than one third reported opening or expanding a business. Twenty three reported starting a new business and 13 more reported launching a new product or service. Many reported hiring employees (14 FTE jobs and 48 subcontract positions). UNI has scaled the technology, formalized the approach and is in early conversations to beta test the approach outside of Iowa as a cost effective, outcome driven resource to serve young companies. Read the Case Study: http://universityeda.org/value-to-members/best-practice-sharing/awards-of-excellence/awards-of-excellence-2013-finalists/the-iowa-business-concierge/
Transcript of UEDA Summit 2013 - Awards of Excellence - Research & Analysis - The Iowa Business Concierge
The MyEntre.Net Business Concierge
October 2013Patrick Luensmann, Program Manager
UEDA Awards of Excellence
Our Common Challenge
Young Companies Need Business Intelligence
Expensive
Difficult to Find
Complex Data
What If We Could Provide
On Demand Business Intelligence to
Small Businesses?
Multiple Success Measures Provide Easy Access Eliminate the Cost Issue Translate the Data
Actionable Information
The Business Concierge
Martha Norbeck, C-Wise Design Consulting
Services, Iowa City , IA
The Business Concierge
D&B MDDI
DemographicsNow
FINTEL
Jigsaw
ProfitCents
Salesgenie
Moz
SitetoDoBusiness
ReferenceUSA
LexisNexis
IBISWorld
Small Business
Reference Center
-Ask Us Anything
Mailing listsPricing
ComparisonsDemographics
Competition info Industry trends
Sources for Grants/loans
Bedbugs!
How Big is the Problem?
Universities and Community Colleges?
What is the Market Share?
Is it Growing? Declining?
Midwest Mailing List
The Business Concierge
Josh Rzpeka Enviropest Solutions, Waterloo,
Iowa
“Your service is beyond invaluable when I did not even know the questions to ask”
-Gail Chavenelle, Chavenelle Studio Metalworks
The Business Concierge
Online TechnologyChat, Email, Phone or OnlineRapid Turn-AroundReferrals
Program FormatStudent Research TeamsInterpretive
256 Served in Six Months
11 New Business Starts
2 Businesses Acquired
8 New Products/Services Carolyn Corbin ConsultingDecorah, Iowa
Industry Statistics & Customized Mailing List
The Business Concierge
500-600 Requests Annually
3-4 Hours Per Request
I-Frame Available to Iowa EDO’s
Benefits SeenEntrepreneurs
Students
Higher Education
The Business Concierge
Going Forward
Resources on Every Campus
Student
Baseline Databases
Sharable Technology
I-Frame
CRM w/TrackingPatrick Quinn, TechnologyAssociation of Iowa
List of every Iowa technology Company < five years old
The Business Concierge
