H E L P Pittsburgh

When will they ever learn!

Had lunch yesterday with an entrepreneurial friend. They're closing down their office and looking for jobs/consulting work, because there are bills to be paid. They are keeping the company alive as they believe in their product and still do have some "irons in the fire." However, they are not "holding their breath" that any of them will turn into what's needed to move forward.

They've been through the Pittsburgh Entrepreneurial Wringer. You know, the one that showcases ALL the organizations around town that are "busting their hump" to promote entrepreneurial activities. The general public is lead to believe that our "powers that be" are doing everything possible to nourish a cornucopia of startup companies, but it just isn't true.

Unfortunately the reality is that many of these organizations primarily exist to support their own infrastructure - high-paying positions and expensive offices (with perks like luxury boxes at the sports venues). Others are more interested in academic pursuits and being recognized by the community for their good intentions.

My friend is a life-long Pittsburgher who looked forward to growing a successful company for himself and our region. He had zero desire to leave town. To paraphrase what he said to me yesterday, "Why should I stay here? This town turns its back on entrepreneurs. I might as well move to some other city, where they encourage entrepreneurs."

Now this was incredibly reminiscent of what another friend, Hooman Radfar, said when he had to relocate his company, Clearspring Technologies, to the DC area. He loves it here and was striving mightily to not only get his company launched here, but was working with HELP to promote entrepreneurial activities; having attended several meetings we had last year with the Allegheny Conference.

Check out this recent post excerpted from Business Week online - -

"For those cities on life support, the ones that many have given up hopes of reviving as thriving hubs of entrepreneurial activity, CEOs for Cities, a nonprofit organization of mayors, university presidents, corporate executives, and foundation officials -- says think again. The Chicago-based group has decided to apply business-innovation strategies to ailing urban centers like Memphis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Columbus to resuscitate their city "brands" and attract new residents and businesses."

So we continue to ignore the local entrepreneurs who love this city, want to stay here and are enthusiastic about helping to grow our economy. Instead, let's try to attract outsiders to move here! And we wonder why we have the national reputation as stated above.

If you were an entrepreneur would you want to relocate to a city that seems to go out of its way to actively deter the entrepreneurial spirit???


Technorati Tags: Pittsburgh Business Week

posted by HELP @ 9:52 AM