In an effort to connect and grow young companies here in the US, the Case Foundation and Kauffman Foundation with the support of President Obama and the White House launched the Startup America Partnership in early 2011. Startup America is an independent nonprofit with a mission to bring together the public and private sector over a common goal of entrepreneurship and acceleration of job growth in America.
One of their first action items was to help foster vibrant entrepreneurial communities all over the country through the creation of Startup Regions in each State. Each region is led by local entrepreneurs themselves and Maryland has begun to stand up a Startup Region of its own.
Earlier this month, a group from DC/MD organized a sold-out Entrepreneur Town Hall meeting which identified 4 initiative areas that, if addressed, could really help improve the entrepreneurial eco-system. Those initiatives were:
- Access to Capital and mentoring to get to a “fundable” state,
- Access to Revenue Opportunities,
- Resource Mapping, and
- Awareness and Celebration of entrepreneurs.
Committees of entrepreneurs then started to consider specific projects that could really have an impact on the Maryland ecosystem. Those projects will be refined at the next meeting which is tomorrow in Baltimore and completely open to the public. The objectives of the meeting tomorrow will be to:
- Hear from each initiative group on the top 2-3 projects they recommend to further their specific initiative
- Select 3-5 top projects overall to focus on in 2012
- Develop the Startup Maryland Mission statement
- Plan for a HUGE launch of Startup Maryland
WHEN
Thurs, March 1st, 2012
12 pm – 2 pm (box lunches will be provided, complimentary)
WHERE
UMBC Bio Park – Discover Auditorium, 1st Floor
801 W. Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
REGISTRATION
You still have time to register for the event through their EventBrite page.
