Growth Strategy for Startups in Madison WI

A recent article called "Start Me Up" in a local magazine caught my attention.  Since I work primarily with startups and small/medium sized companies I find the topic quite interesting.  The list above is a great synopsis of what it takes to get the startup momentum in high gear!  Several statements are worth noting:

• Jobs follow people.  People are drawn to the cities and not rural areas.  Madison's tech boom and downtown apartment development is evidence of that.
• Placemaking: Communities that are strong on infrastructure and encourage entrepreneurism will thrive with the tech scene.  Madison has several groups that promote entrepreneurs including D2P, Doyenne Group, gBeta, Merlin Mentors (I'm a mentor) and UW Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic.  
• Net job growth comes from startups and smaller business with less than 50 employees.  Wisconsin is lagging here relative to the nation.   
• Tech is a growth industry.  Constraints are people and capital.  Taxes are irrelevant with many startup companies.  
• Tech is the future of the state.  Manufacturers in traditional supply chains for large corporations are competing on a PPU (price per unit) cost.  This is NOT TRUE of software which builds on high profit margins that reach millions of people and has low operating costs.  
• 2010-1014:  Job growth was up by 9.7% in Madison.  This was more than double (4.3%) for the rest of the state.  
• Dane County beats national jobs growth statistics with an 8.1% increase in jobs growth.  

The seeds of the startup community have been sown here in Madison.  As a community we need to continue  to invest in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to keep achieving high growth for the future.  Full article here:  isthmus.com/news/cover-story/wisconsin-needs-more-than-foxconn-to-fix-its-economy/