Startup Talk: Study analyzes economic impact of ‘gazelles, cheetahs and unicorns’
by June 9, 2016 5:34 am 223 views
Editor’s note: Each Thursday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Startup Talk,” a round-up of startup, technology and entrepreneurial news.
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KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION STUDIES ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HIGH-GROWTH STARTUPS, ‘GAZELLES, CHEETAHS AND UNICORNS’
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released its latest findings from the “Kauffman Index,” a widely-followed series of reports on startup and entrepreneurship activity across the U.S. The latest Entrepreneurship Policy Digest highlights these national trends:
• Growth entrepreneurship is increasing, though not at historic highs
• High-growth average employment growth rose
• High-tech is not a pre-requisite for high-growth; other sectors are growing too
• The number of high-growth firms varies within industries from year to year
The digest also recommends key strategies that encourage growth entrepreneurship, including increasing college completion rates, welcoming and retaining immigrant business owners, and limiting non-compete agreements. To read the complete digest, click here.
WINDSTREAM MOVES INTO NEW QTS CHICAGO MEGA DATA CENTER
Little Rock’s Windstream Communications announced this week that it is one of the first telecom carriers to establish a presence in the QTS Realty Trust’s new downtown Chicago mega data center, set to open July 1. Windstream already has a presence in two other QTS data centers – one at 1033 Jefferson St. in Atlanta, Ga., and another at 6000 Technology Blvd. in Sandston, Va. As an anchor service provider in the QTS Chicago facility, Windstream said it will continue its aggressive network expansion strategy to provide secure, high-performance connectivity solutions to wholesale and enterprise customers.
The Chicago QTS operates an interconnected global platform that offers a hybrid suite of cloud computing and infrastructure services ranging from data center outsourcing, colocation, managed hosting and private cloud, managed storage, server virtualization, backup, replication, and managed security services, Windstream officials said. It is nearing completion of a highly secure 317,000-square-foot mega data center in Chicago’s downtown corridor scheduled to open July 1 with a grand opening event July 15. As QTS Chicago customers come on board, Windstream officials said the Little Rock telecom’s fiber network is now the nation’s sixth largest spanning more than 125,000 miles.
ENTREPRENEURS’ HIRING PLANS INCREASE AS CONFIDENCE IN GLOBAL ECONOMY HOLDS STEADY
According to the EY Global Job Creation Survey 2016, entrepreneurs are more than twice as likely to be hiring new staff this year compared to large corporate counterparts. The survey of nearly 2,700 entrepreneurs globally also finds that disruptive and innovative entrepreneurs are growing their workforces at a much faster rate than more conventional startup business owners.
According to the survey, over half (59%) of the entrepreneurs from 12 key markets surveyed expect to increase their total global workforce in the next 12 months, up from 47% in 2015, a jump of 25% year-on-year. Also, the proportion of entrepreneurs planning to hire this year is more than double that of large corporations (28%), according to EY’s latest Capital Confidence Barometer.
Taking into account all anticipated workforce changes for 2016, entrepreneurs expect to grow their overall global workforce by 9.3%, and expect 12% of new hires to be young people in their first jobs. For the full report, click here.