18 Ideas to Accelerate the City’s Entrepreneurial Trajectory

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Last week I put out a tweet to collect ideas for accelerating the entrepreneurial trajectory of Atlanta, and received a number of excellent ideas. Now, none of these ideas are limited to Atlanta and most are needed in all cities.

I'm looking for crazy ideas to accelerate the entrepreneurial trajectory of Atlanta. Some ideas:
– Buy 100 billboards and promote our up-and-coming stars
– Develop free programs to train 1,000 founders per year
– Open and staff five free startup facilities

What else?

— David Cummings (@davidcummings) February 16, 2018

Here are 18 ideas for accelerating entrepreneurship in a city:

Run a billboard campaign highlighting local startups
Provide free training and courses for local founders
Develop and support free/subsidized office space for startups like the Atlanta Tech Village
Organize an accelerator program like Y Combinator
Launch a YouTube video channel of local startup stories
Connect local mid-to-large companies with startups
Get large companies to commit to working on their procurement process to accommodate a certain number of startups
Drive a public relations campaign to spotlight local entrepreneurs
Coordinate an “after hours” program for entrepreneurs that have full-time day jobs
Facilitate formal internship programs across startups
Engage with local K-12 schools and get kids involved in entrepreneurship at an early age
Run speed dating events between entrepreneurs and angels
Partner with the local universities to help more students build businesses while in college
Educate potential angel investors so that they feel comfortable investing more
Bootstrapping programs to help startups do more with less
Curate entrepreneurs-in-residence that help startups
Find local mentors that want to help startups with no ulterior motive
Acquire housing options for startups

Wow, that’s a great list. I’m really excited about the ideas and eager to help accelerate the entrepreneurial growth in our community.

What else? What are some more ideas to accelerate a city’s entrepreneurial trajectory?

Comments

7 responses to “18 Ideas to Accelerate the City’s Entrepreneurial Trajectory”

February 20, 2018

Todd Savage

Congrats, David – sounds awesome!

Reply
February 20, 2018

Trey Roth

Wow is right. That is an excellent list. I especially like 11 and 12.

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February 20, 2018

Allan Griswold

Exciting time to be in Atlanta. Love the ideas. I’ll just say competition always breeds innovation

Reply
February 20, 2018

Nir Levy (@quizbiz)

Some ideas:

1. Free office space
2. Regular organized demo days for startups to pitch to groups of enterprise
3. Grants and RFP platform for startups to qualify for revenue opportunities
4. Significant discounts with service providers

Reply
February 22, 2018

Larry Hyde

Develop a reputable startup screening process that provides a risk factor startup assessment of failure or success. For low probability of success startups decisions could be made that would save costs and prepare staff for the inevitable. For startups with projected success it would motivate the team, plus provide a benchmark to leverage potential investors.

Reply
February 24, 2018

Chris Ruttle

Develop a shared services group to cover early stage companies’ needs at low cost. Create an Atlanta startup association that offers education and training for potential employees with badges so companies can recognize skills; benefits options; purchasing discounts for needed items; single stop company setup – this last one would take governments playing ball also.

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March 9, 2018

Anand Thaker

#17 – Check. Best in Metro Atlanta http://atlantatechvillage.com/sponsorships/mentors/

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