LEAD: Eva - Cube Space Owner, and Policy Wonk Extraordinaire
Twitter: @evacatherder Blog: http://catherder.wordpress.com
Advisory to City Council's Portland Development Commission PDC is City economic development arm. Loans, grants. Up until recently purely a real estate redevelopment entity. 50% Done with Economic Recovery Plan in conjunction with Greenlight Greater Portland
Unfortunately, NO emphasis on small companies. SBA designations includes 50M and plan only mentioned the largest. Erin Flynn - new staff in PDC. Software Development, and Open Source not mentioned, this was a huge oversight. But Eva has gotten attention for small business and open source in the next 70% draft.
There is an oversight in economic figures: Sole Proprietors are not counted in economic census, a large number of small companies are more robust economically than a few large ones.
Portland and Multnomah counties are relativity efficient but trapped for funds.
For VC funds and westside tech focus see Steve Morris - OTBC - Beaverton's startup program, also Economic Gardening.
Oregon Tax structure: No Sales tax, High Property tax, Constitutional limits on spending Tax Changes in the works: Sole proprietorships seem to be protected from changes but Corporate kicker may be / should babolished.
Oregon Investment Fund - NO working with small bootstraps. Hired CSFB to manage fund, a few direct investments. Has brought some attention to Oregon start-ups. In end, Oregon start-ups have to compete with ROI in California start-ups.
Oregon growth account - 1M/yr over 3 years in Oregon Angel fund, 250K investments in their model. Would be great if we could expand similar programs.
New category of business B Corp - socially responsible C corp like entity. Another type is L3L - Low Profit Liability company to fill gaps in LLC type entities. Allows them to invest their corpus in responsible causes. Vermont is first to pass, 6-7 states have passed, currently in Oregon Legislature.
What YOU can do:
- Buy Local - promote your partnerships, this builds eco-system.
- Think of small businesses as we, work together.
- Consider everything in business climate and find your passion - livability, transportation, taxation, etc. Cover the topic you care about.
Make information about small business and government transparent. Comment on National Dialog http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/- Closes Tomorrow!!
License problems: 1M bond to sell flowers downtown, 28 entities to get for a business. See Portland city website.
Dan Soltzman - wonk. Randy Leonard - for the people Amanada Fritz - neighborhood activist Small business Fair has been postponed. Caludia Platza in charge but regrouping.
Free Resources: SBDC, SCORE, OTBC
SCHEMATIC URL:Small Business Ecosystem
Notes by: Mike @ Panometric.net