The Emerging Enterprise Center Introduces Growth Wheel® Program with Funding by TD Bank, Through the TD Charitable Foundation

The Emerging Enterprise Center introduces Growth Wheel, a visual toolbox for decision-making and action planning for start-up and growth companies. “We are excited to be able to make the Growth Wheel tool available to our EEC companies, as part of their counseling in the incubation program,” says Frank DeSantis, Program Manager, EEC, “and also to the entire small business community, through workshops in our Business Education Program.”

Entrepreneurs learn pretty quickly that having a great idea, a great product or service, and perhaps some great customers are only a small part of the puzzle when starting a business. To be successful, a business owner needs to develop a lot of different skills and this can be somewhat overwhelming.

The Emerging Enterprise Center provides a comprehensive incubation program, in a nurturing environment for early stage businesses. “Support, Access to Resources and Advice” has always been the commitment that the EEC makes to the start-up companies in the incubator program.  This approach has enabled the EEC to focus on the individual needs of each of its start-up companies so they could concentrate on growing their business, developing business skills and graduating from the program with a scalable business model.

Business Counseling

Growth Wheel was designed around the observation that all businesses – in all industries and life stages – have four lasting challenges in common: They must create an attractive Business Concept, build a strong Organization behind it, develop lasting Client Relations, and do so while maintaining profitable Operations. Within each of those four quadrants are 5 Focus Areas, as indicated below, that contain the business skills necessary to implement a successful strategy.

According to Frank DeSantis, “Growth Wheel is the perfect tool for us to use with our EEC start-up companies. It helps our companies focus, set an agenda, make decisions and take action!” The process starts with a self-assessment by the entrepreneur, which gives them a 360 degree perspective on their capabilities within each focus area. It will provide structure and a framework with which to develop business skills.

Business Education

Besides being a valuable tool used in the individual counseling of companies in the EEC, Growth Wheel will become an integral part of the overall 2016 Business Education Program that the Emerging Enterprise Centers presents. In addition to the longstanding series; Finding Your Next Customer and Business Fundamentals, 2016 will include a 5 session Growth Wheel Series, starting in January 2016 with an Overview and Briefing, followed by a quarterly workshop from a focus area from one of the four quadrants.

The Emerging Enterprise Center offers several types of Business Incubation Programs: Residential incubation, which includes affordable office space; Virtual incubation, for those not requiring office space; International Soft-Landings and a Pre-Incubation program for those serious, but not quite ready to commit. To find out more about the Emerging Enterprise Center, its Business Incubation or Business Education Programs, contact Frank DeSantis, Program Manager at [email protected], 302-294-2056 or visit us on the web at www.EECincubator.com.

Either Ride the Wave, or Watch as it Passes by

There’s a storm brewing in the business community. It’s building around technology, and Delaware just may be in the forefront. Delaware Innovation Week held last week, encompassed 20+ events across Wilmington and New Castle County. It brought together entrepreneurs, technologists, civic leaders and investors.

Two years ago, at the Economic Development Council Luncheon, presented by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, the keynote speaker was Steven Rosenbaum, Entrepreneur-at-Large for New York City. What resonated with me was him saying that it was “no longer just around biotech or medtech.

Traditional industries were being disrupted by technology. It was becoming “Industrytech”, like financetech and manufacturingtech. We’re already familiar with disruptive technologies. Companies like Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, LinkedIn, eTrade, Turbo Tax, and Expedia have revolutionized entire industries. These are frictionless business models, where technologies are used to identify and resolve inefficient processes in every industry. DeliveryCircle® , a Delaware start-up has done this for small package delivery; matching drivers, consumers and merchants in a fast, easy, seamless transaction. Soon, every company will be a software company.

Fast forward to today in Delaware. Established incubators, the Emerging Enterprise Center and Delaware Technology Park have been joined by the CoinLoft and 1313 Innovation, giving start-ups and entrepreneurs, different types of work spaces.

Zipcode, an intense 12 week program that trains people how to code was launched with the support of private companies like JP Morgan Chase, Capitol One and Chatham Financial. Techies have been getting together at Tech Mashups, and Global StartUp Weekends, to exchange ideas and build a community. Technically Media came to Delaware. Technical.ly grows local technology communities by connecting organizations and people through news, events and services.

Delaware Innovation Week ran November 13th -20th. There were events built around major tracks: Business, Civic, Creative, Dev (Development) and Media, plus events that companies and organizations staged that were incorporated into those tracks. Two specific events demonstrated why Delaware has become a Storm Chaser in this technology tsunami. At Technical.ly Delaware’s Stakeholder Luncheon, 40 people gathered to discuss the state of the tech community in Delaware. Someone commented, “it was a long way from the days when the same tech people sat around telling each other over and over again that something needed to be done”. You had Jeff Flynn from the City of Wilmington, the NCC Chamber of Commerce, along with graphic designers, developers, bankers, coders, and entrepreneurs sharing ideas, accomplishments, challenges and goals. It was a picture of diversity not typically seen in either a techie group, or in the boardroom. The 2015 Innovation Awards was another example. There were typical “tech-type” companies recognized,  but two were not typical; #HugACop, a viral campaign by the Newark Police Department and Delaware Libraries, for extending STEM & 3D Printing literacy to its branches.

Delawareans, coming together, can do amazing things. What I saw at Delaware Innovation Week makes me believe that our community can harness the storm’s energy and be the model for the new technology age that’s coming. Come join us!

 

By Frank DeSantis.

Frank J. DeSants, Program Director for the Emerging Enterprise Center, a business incubator that helps start-ups focus their efforts on driving business growth, developing business skills, and creating a scalable and sustainable business model, by providing support, access to resources and advice, in a nurturing environment.

It takes a village and 1 million cups

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The Emerging Enterprise Center (EEC) was born because of the belief by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce (NCCCC) that the same philosophy applies to the success of new businesses. Creating a nurturing environment in which early stage businesses could grow, develop and succeed was part of the vision in establishing the EEC. But the NCCCC also recognized the need to nurture the entrepreneurial eco-system by engaging and leveraging the great work done by a variety of organizations in place to support small businesses.

The EEC has grown from a NCCCC Venture, a key initiative of the Economic Development Council (EDC), to one that has continued to produce solid results. The EDC is a partnership between the New Castle County Government, Private Businesses and the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce. In a little over 5 years, the EEC has worked with 21 companies. Five companies have graduated the program, including 2 this year. Over a two year period, 2011-2012, EEC companies generated $13 Million in Revenues and employed 33 people. Two new companies have just been accepted to the EEC in 2013.

These results don’t happen alone. Both the Chamber and the EEC has actively reached out to the entrepreneurial community to partner on efforts to create awareness among small businesses and budding entrepreneurs and let them know that they are not alone; there are resources available to help them.

Here are just a couple of the things that have been done in this past year.

Swim with the Sharks Video Pitch Competition: Introduced as part of the revamped NCCCC Annual Dinner, early stage entrepreneurs were invited to submit a 3 minute video pitch about their business with the winner getting a cash prize to invest in their growth.  Twenty one videos were submitted.  The students in the Entrepreneurial Program at Delaware Technical Community College assisted in the logistics of the program.

New Castle is Open for Business: A monthly Open House event, where small businesses could come and get their questions answered was started in April. Originally 12 organizations, including the Small Business Administration, Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO), the Cities of Wilmington, Newark and New Castle County, and small business non-profit organizations came together to be available to small business and to share information amongst themselves. Since the first meeting, Delaware Technical Community College and the State’s Office of Supplier Diversity have joined the group. The partnership endeavors to reach the most number of small business owners by rotating the location of these Open Houses between Wilmington, Newark and New Castle. Attendance has grown each month.

Now, the next big thing ……

1 Million Cups™, a program created by Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation to engage, educate and connect entrepreneurs, launched today, in Wilmington, Del., on November 6, 2013. Wilmington is the newest location – and the 21st nationwide – to host the weekly gathering that is building startup communities over cups of coffee and conversation across the country. 1 Million Cups began in April 2012 in Kansas City, the hometown of its founding organization, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Kauffman Labs is a program of the Kauffman Foundation. 

The 1 Million Cups model is consistent in every market. Every Wednesday Morning, in each city, two early-stage startups present their companies to a diverse audience of mentors, advisers and other entrepreneurs. Each founder presents for six minutes and then fields audience questions for another 20 minutes. The program is run entirely by local entrepreneurs who serve as community organizers.

Entrepreneurs, innovators and interested community members from New Castle County and the surrounding region will meet at 7:30 a.m. each Wednesday at the Southeast Building Conference Center on Delaware Technical Community College’s Wilmington Campus located between 3rd and Orange street, Wilmington, DE. The first week’s presenters will be Rope It Golf, LLC, a golf startup that manufactures and distributes a revolutionary practice device, and Penguin Ads, an advertising startup utilizing an outdoor medium.

Come join our entrepreneurial village, any Wednesday, for a cup of coffee, networking and to hear about two great startups in our local community.

 

‘SHARK’ TEACHES BUSINESS GROUP

‘SHARK’ TEACHES BUSINESS GROUP

TV’s Daymond John shares advice at dinner

 Wilmington News Journal, March 19,2013

By Wade Malcolm

‘SHARK’ TEACHES BUSINESS GROUP
Daymond John (left) of the ABC show ‘Shark Tank’ listens as Marc Nagaswami (right) explains the business model for his company Penguin Ads at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce dinner Monday in Newark. KYLE GRANTHAM/THE NEWS JOURNAL

NEWARK — Entrepreneur and fashion mogul Daymond John had some honest advice for people looking to run their own business.

“Being a boss is this,” John said. “Your employees don’t like you. Your family doesn’t think you’re doing enough at home. You share the success with everyone, and the failure is yours alone.”

 That might sound like John, the featured speaker at the annual dinner of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, has a grim assessment of entrepreneurship. But that would be far from the truth. John could think of no better way to make a living than working for yourself, as long as you pour your energy into something you love.

“It takes courage to be an entrepreneur and start your own business, but does it take more courage to be in the hands of someone else and they might cut you after 20 years?” John said in an interview before the event. “So which one would you like? To be in charge of your own destiny or someone else?”

 John’s words rang particularly true on a day when the state learned one of its largest employers, drug maker AstraZeneca, would eliminate 1,200 positions.

 The theme of this year’s event, the 21st annual for the chamber, was innovation of entrepreneurship.

 Since it formed its Emerging Enterprise Center five years ago, the chamber’s leadership has focused in-creasing efforts on making the county a nurturing place for entrepreneurs.

The sobering news about AstraZeneca served as a reminder why Delaware can’t rely too heavily on big employers and needs to help homegrown businesses flourish, said Bob Chadwick, executive vice president of the chamber.

 “Everybody is always asking, ‘What’s the next big thing in Delaware?‘ We think it’s going to be a lot of little things,“ Chadwick said.

 “We’ve been blessed for a lot of years with really big employers, but some of those companies have started to contract a little. We think it’s a perfect time to focus on entrepreneurship.”

 The chamber picked a guest speaker to fit that focus. In addition to creating a whole new segment of the fashion industry – urban apparel – John made a small business he started in his mother’s basement into a multimillion-dollar powerhouse, FUBU. He’s since gone on to be an author, venture capitalist and co-star of the ABC reality show “Shark Tank.”

In a question-and-answer session, which gave audience members the chance to submit their own questions, John stressed that entrepreneurs have to pursue their dreams for the right reasons. They should have a love for the business, not a desire to be wealthy or famous. “Success only allows you to drive to your problems in a limo,” John said. With the member of the “Shark Tank” cast on hand, the chamber decided to host a video pitch competition as part of the event. The chamber received entries from 21 local entrepreneurs, which were narrowed down to three finalists. The winning pitch was awarded a $2,500 prize. More than 700 attended the dinner and listened to John’s speech at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center. The annual dinner is the chamber’s largest event, and organizers decided to give it a more dynamic, revamped format. Different portions of the program – cocktails, dinner, speakers, dessert – were spread throughout the facility, encouraging people to get out of their chairs and meet one another.

 “It accentuating the whole networking aspect, rather than having people stuck in their chairs the whole time,” Chadwick said. “We want people walking around, meeting new people, and finding people they can partner with.”

 Contact Wade Malcolm at 324-2386, on Twitter @WadeMalcolm or [email protected].