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Posted on February 25, 2009 - by Steven Miklovic

5 new initiatives for nyc entrepreneurs

On February 18th, 2009 at a newly-opened business incubator in downtown Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg announced a package of 11 economic stimuli designed to re-vitalize New York City. While some of the initiatives focused on the sickly finance industry, the others are meant for entrepreneurs.

"I couldn’t be more optimistic about the time to start a company and the place to start a company, meaning now and here," Bloomberg said. He was himself an entrepreneur many years ago.

Here, in our view, are the ones that matter:

  1. Create Incubators for Start-up Businesses 
    New York City is partnering with academic institutions, property management companies and commercial landlords to establish high-quality, ready-to-use office space that comes with basic business services and administrative support.
  2. Establish New York City Angel Fund
    The City will invest $3 million to create several funds totaling between $9 million and $10 million to make angel investments of $20,000 to $250,000 to New York City-based start-up companies. By the end of February, NYCEDC will release a Request for Proposals from private fund managers to operate the fund. It is expected that this fund will provide early-stage financing to 250 New York-based start-up companies over the next 8 years and will increase by 25 percent the angel funds now-available to New York-based companies.
  3. Open "VC Connect" Online Information Portal and Provide VC Support Services 
    Establishing a central information clearing house and support network for entrepreneurs and startup companies and publicizing the activity already occurring in New York requires a website that will include a calendar of seminars and networking events, real estate information, a discussion forum and other resources to help entrepreneurs. NYCEDC will release a Request for Proposals from website developers in the coming weeks, and the website will launch in Summer 2009.
    The City is also working to expand existing events in high demand in the startup community, such as seminars on writing business plans and pitching investors and networking events. For example, this summer at Columbia University NYCEDC will host a seminar on how to participate in the Federal Government’s SBIR program a program to help small businesses access Federal Research support.
  4. Begin the FastTrac Program to Help New Yorkers Start Entrepreneurial Businesses
    The program will offer two courses: FastTrac NewVenture, a six-session classroom-based "crash course" beginning March 23 that is designed to help entrepreneurs determine the viability of their business concepts and develop start-up strategies for their businesses; and FastTrac GrowthVenture, an eight-session classroom training beginning in mid-April that will teach existing 1-year-or-older businesses how to review and reshape their business models in order to meet the current economic challenges.
  5. Start JumpStart NYC to Help New Yorkers Join Entrepreneurial Businesses 
    This program will offer an entrepreneurial training "boot camp," after which participants will be offered a 10-week unpaid internship with a start up company with the potential of converting to full-time employment at the end of the internship.

Read the Mayor’s full press release here.


Posted on February 23, 2009 - by Steven Miklovic

What They Are Reading: 2/23/09

The best of what’s popular reading on the Internet for Monday, 23rd of February 2009.


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