STEVEN HAHN DIRECTOR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SYSTEMS SPARTANBURG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ENTREPRENEUR To create a tangible and vibrant local entrepreneurial community, it takes collaboration. It’s never one visionary business person, an adventurous venture capitalist, or a single campus based research effort; it takes a village. Quick: who started Silicon Valley? It was not a single entity, but rather a community effort comprised, over time, of “geeks”, visionaries, financiers, bankers and academics. It took an entire village. Between the rolling hills of northern California, one pioneering business inspired other startups and, in the early 1980s, the term “techies” was first coined. A profitable loan attracted further investment, and suddenly “venture capitalist” became a new job description. The snowball effect created an avalanche. A well-equipped incubator amounts to very little without a group of burgeoning startups, an angel fund without prospects sees no return, and an entrepreneur with neither facilities nor capital is doomed. Community collaboration is the key. As an example, you need look no further than Spartanburg, where every single person whose responsibility it is to support our entrepreneurial culture is an active member of an organization IT TAKES A VILLAGE About the author... Steven Hahn is a former partner in a management consulting firm, and has launched several successful businesses. He presently serves as the Director of Entrepreneurial Systems at the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce. we call the Spartanburg Entrepreneurial Resource Network (SERN). Specifically this includes the local Small <strong>Business</strong> Development Center executive, the Managing Counselor at Piedmont SCORE, the Economic Development Directors for the City of Spartanburg and Spartanburg Community College’s Tyger River <strong>Business</strong> Accelerator, the Dean of the USC-Upstate School of <strong>Business</strong>, the Director of the The Space in Mungo Center at Wofford College and my office at the Chamber of Commerce. A true collaborative effort with diverse backgrounds and skills, the group meets regularly and is fully committed to assisting all entrepreneurial efforts within the county by sharing projects and resources. Additionally, SERN members have direct access to more than a hundred of Spartanburg’s most influential business leaders to serve as mentors—all told, a formidable team indeed! The result of all this collaboration is several exciting new entrepreneurial programs, including The Iron Yard’s Digital Health program, more total incubation space than any county in the southeast, and dozens of startups—some small, some big, but all well on their way to success. Ultimately, the goal is to cause a tangible shift the business culture of a community. And while that may sound daunting, it simply takes a village. 48 For more on this topic visit Inside<strong>Black</strong><strong>Box</strong>.com/entrepreneur
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