Startup America Partners Hold Discussion With Little Rock Entrepreneurs

Traveling startup entrepreneurs from the Midwest and West Coast shared their adventures, successes and travails at this week’s edition of the 1 Million Cups at the downtown Little Rock Venture Center.

Jake Hamann, president and CEO of Peoria, Ill.-based One Fire Media, and Kyle Ashby, who bills himself as Chief Instigator at Startupsb.com in Santa Barbara, Calif., were in Little Rock on Wednesday as part of the Startup America Partnership, which supports a national network of startup communities across the U.S.

During an hour-long discussion and question and answer session, Hamann and Ashby engaged the overflow crowd with stories of their ups and downs as entrepreneurs in Santa Barbara and Peoria, communities on opposite ends of the so-called “startup ecosystem.”

When asked how he was able to help develop the Startup Santa Barbara chapter, Ashby said at first it was difficult but collaboration and networking efforts among the community’s varied startups and entrepreneurs is starting to bear fruit.

“A lot of good things were already happening, but they were all taking place in their own silos,” said Ashby, whose StartupSB hosts events similar to 1 Million Cups to foster networking and business opportunities among local entrepreneurs. “What we’ve been able to do is bring everybody together to create opportunities for everyone.”

Hamann told the roomful of local entrepreneurs and small business developers that Peoria’s startup community is centered on the area’s manufacturing base, the healthcare industry and a burgeoning agriculture technology community.

He said the best advice he has received as an entrepreneur is when he talked to former AOL CEO and Startup America Founder Steve Case, who advised him to spend at least a year talking to other entrepreneurs and learn from their mistakes and successes before launching into uncharted waters.

“That is the best entry point and the most non-threatening way to become a (startup) entrepreneur,” Hamann told the Arkansas entrepreneurs. Currently, Hamann’s firm provides consulting on digital strategy, design and technology to businesses and corporations in both Houston and Peoria, including farming and agriculture manufacturing giant Caterpillar.

STARTUP COMMUNITIES ACROSS U.S. FACE EARLY STAGE FUNDING STRUGGLES
Both of the out-of-state innovators said their communities run into some of the same challenges that other startup groups across the U.S. face – early stage investment and angel funding.

But Hamann told local entrepreneurs if they have a good idea, then they should not let the lack of financing prevent them from moving forward with their business plan and development.

“You don’t necessarily need investment and capital to get started,” he said.

Both entrepreneurs also suggested there is a natural distrust between the startup ecosystem and the established business community and government, but they agreed that local impresarios should reach out to “Old Guard” companies and executives that can help them move beyond the startup level.

The Startup America Partnership was launched at the White House in January 2011 with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which founded 1 Million Cups, and the (Steve) Case Foundation providing the initial funding.

Today, the organization is dedicated to helping create startup ecosystems in every state, including theStartupArkansas.com chapter that launched in March 2013.

Follow StartupArkansas on Twitter here or the StartupAmerica Twitter page here.