Startup Blog
Which comes first…?
When I first entered into this sometimes inscrutable profession of helping communities help themselves, the name of the organization I joined was the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. But community developers and economic developers were...
Eat local. Shop local. Fund local.
The presidential campaign is upon us and for the next 17 months our mailboxes, our computers and our television screens will be crammed with requests from candidates and supporters making promises and asking for money. One presidential hopeful recently said that...
It’s in your court.
Watching the current NCAA basketball tournament reminded me of when I was young, and like so many young people, imagined the excitement of my team making it to the final playoffs. I saw myself making that winning jump shot in the last second (I perfected making the...
Don’t be a sour puss.
What do you call a kitten that drinks lemonade? A sour puss. “Where is Maury going with this?” you are asking yourself. Well, here’s another one: What do you call a child that makes lemonade? An entrepreneur. While many adults spent February talking about the...
No, BRE is not a French cheese.
Here we are. February. The longest 28 days of the year that are usually too cold and dark with just a hint of soon-to-come longer days of light. Also, its the month of coming to terms with your new year’s resolutions that did not even last a month. (My chocolate...
Time to start a resolution.
January!! It’s the time for the thousands of years old tradition of making resolutions for the coming year. It’s the time of reflections and promises. And, for me, it’s the time to promise eating fewer chocolate chip cookies—oops, already broken—and for some, it’s a...
Happy sales to you…
Welcome to the holiday issue. For many economic development professionals, especially those working with entrepreneurs and local expansion of products and services, this time of year provides for an absolute no-nonsense metric: Sales over the course of a few short...
GEW – I’ll give it a week.
November is important to people in many different ways. This year it caps one of the most gorgeous autumns in recent memory but there are also public and private events and celebrations of traditions that include family and friends, from football and parades to...
There’s a trick to getting the treats.
October is here! The month that children get to celebrate Halloween by dressing up in scary costumes and extorting candy from their community neighborhoods. Kids and dentists love it. I have often said that economic development is like Halloween. When kids hear that...