The natural world abhors a vacuum. And if you are a fan of Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand,” you will find the entrepreneur world also fills voids and gaps in its environment. Jack Wyant, founder of Blue Chip Venture Company, presented an overview of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association back in 2001. He described the ecosystem as a 9 piece interlocking puzzle with many sectors, industries and people involved. The GCVA continues to update the state of the ecosystem every year, and I would like to share with you the richness of our region and just how far we have travelled on the entrepreneurial journey. The nine pieces include Universities, Government, Angel Investors, VC Funds, Incubators, Events, Grassroots Initiatives, Networks and Support Groups. I’ll cover the first four this week and continue the discussion in a future column.
Universities
No other region in the country enjoys the privilege of 5 universities that ranked in the top 25 entrepreneurial programs over the last 10 years (UD, XU, UC, NKU and MU.) The university programs offer tools and connections to students giving them a solid foundation for their entrepreneurial adventures. While it is difficult to teach the passion and inspiration, our universities do a great job of attracting students with those qualities.