New job creation in New Jersey’s local economies increasingly depends on independent small businesses that deliver innovative, clean-tech products and services. Unfortunately, half of all new businesses fail within five years. In 2007, venture capital manager Fred Wilson discussed some of the reasons he has seen so many fail in this Union Square Ventures blog post.
Beating the odds against survival requires entrepreneurs to pick the right investments, get business basics under control, build strong key relationships, and maximize the business value of scarce resources.
That’s where we come in.
Critical Early-Stage Support
The Sustainable Business Accelerator helps independent clean-tech entrepreneurs get through their critical early stages and also past the five-year survival hurdle. For startups, we begin at the VERY beginning, helping new entrepreneurs
- Pick the right business opportunities. Not every opportunity is an opportunity. Startups often fail because entrepreneurs do not understand how to separate real opportunities from unrealistic dreams. Clean-tech startups are no exception. Our expertise, built on years of experience in business analysis, technology, sales, marketing, and risk management, can help entrepreneurs confidently pick the right opportunities and just as confidently avoid the wrong ones.
- Get business basics under control. Innovative, clean-tech products and services cannot stand on their own. Survival depends on getting the basics under control. A REAL business plan. Accurate accounting.ffective marketing and sales. Defect-free production. Responsive service. Unless a small business gets business basics under control, and fast, it won’t survive. All of SBA’s professional staff have lived these experiences, making mistakes, learning from them, and understanding how to coach clients into getting their business basics under control.
- Build strong key relationships. Clean-tech startups need financial support from investors, economic development support from their local communities, technical support from independent experts and research institutions, and business development support from sales and marketing channels. Attracting this support requires compelling value propositions that we can help our clients create and communicate.
- Maximize the business value of scarce resources. Many startups fail by burning through their resources with inefficient business and technology operations. We have decades of experience in helping for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies reduce the costs, while improving the performance of business and technology operations. Through training, coaching, and hands-on support, we can help startups extract maximum efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability, and business value from every minute and every dollar.