The Plan for Baton Rouge, part two: Where to Start

StepOne Ventures is a new non-profit that is being formed here in Baton Rouge to execute Jumpstart Inc.’s recently released business plan to build the area’s entrepreneurial community. Read about the plan here. Read the executive summary and full Regional Entrepreneurship Plan here.

The first six months of a new company sets the style and tone for the life of the company, so formative first steps have to be made well. Thousands of steps will follow, but these first ones set the direction.

Here are the first steps I suggest StepOne take right from the start.

• Problem 1: “Not enough early stage investment dollars available for new ventures.”

Where to start: Install key members of the existing investor community (at least one venture capitalist and an active angel) on the board to create an anchor at the highest level upon which to build the investor network, early and strong.

• Problem 2: “Female and African-American entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs are not materially engaged or supported in the area.”

Where to start: Actively recruit a female or minority for the CEO position.

I sat in an RPC board meeting last year and heard many of the board members* use only masculine pronouns when referring to the CEO position, which hints at a deeply disturbing bias within the ranks of the existing entrepreneurial support community. StepOne Ventures would be savvy to deliberately upend the status quo by hiring a top leader who visibly demonstrates that StepOne is an organization built for the global realities of our modern world. (*One notable exception: LSU President/Chancellor William Jenkins skillfully and deliberately used both gender pronouns. Well done, sir.)

• Problem 3: “Only a small number of high-potential firms are being founded.”

Where to start: Support activities that make Baton Rouge the type of place to which high potential founders want to “relocate and launch their businesses.

Right now, Baton Rouge isn’t quite cool enough. Make it cool. As Casey Phillips said succinctly at November’s Creative Louisiana presentation, “Let the weird happen.”

Would love to hear what you think about the plan. Share in the comments section below.