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Brainstorm planing creative asian teamwork, Group of asia mobile phone app developer team meeting for ideas about screen display prototype smartphone layout, ux startup small business, top view
Brainstorm planing creative asian teamwork, Group of asia mobile phone app developer team meeting for ideas about screen display prototype smartphone layout, ux startup small business, top view
More than 50% of today’s Fortune 500 companies were started during a recession or a bear market, according to research by the Kauffman Foundation.
“While starting a business during a recession may seem ill-advised, studies show that economic downturns are a great time to launch a new company,” says Cameron Cushman, assistant vice president, innovation ecosystems at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
Technology companies like Airbnb, Uber, WhatsApp, and Square were started during the 2008-2009 recession and have become household names.
“Recessions put the startup community in motion. People who unexpectedly lose their jobs will often take action on that side gig they’ve been putting off; some may even use severance packages as seed capital to get started,” says Cushman.
Locally, American Airlines, Bell, Galderma, and Alcon were all started during recessions, meaning that companies starting today could be the next big employers in our area.
“We’re seeing a 30-plus% increase year over year in our pipeline of first-time franchisees and hearing of similar statistics from national brands we serve,” says Geoff Seiber, founder and CEO of FranFund. “This is significant as the early 2020 numbers were already at record levels.”
According to the Sparkyard 2020 Jobs Report, firms 0-1 years old accounted for more than 25,000 new jobs created in Tarrant County each year from 2013 to 2018. It is now more critical than ever to recognize the importance of startups in job creation and to support them so that they can lead the community back to recovery as job-producing engines.
Numerous efforts are underway to help catalyze and strengthen our entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Sparkyard, in its role of cultivating a connected and vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Fort Worth area, is collecting metrics that measure the area’s progress to build a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Global Entrepreneurship Week Fort Worth, a week-long series of events supporting the entrepreneurial and startup community, was the No. 1 GEW event in the country. GEW Fort Worth hosted 93 events, impacting nearly 1,600 entrepreneurs and business owners who are actively looking to grow their companies.
In 2020, the Fort Worth Chamber pivoted from its traditional programming and hosted free webinars for business owners on COVID-19 restrictions, funding resources, and workforce solutions. The Chamber also launched several resources and toolkits dedicated to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
“Small business and entrepreneurial communities are critical to economic growth in any community,” says Chris Strayer, executive vice president of economic development for the Fort Worth Chamber. “That’s why we put an emphasis on them in our economic development efforts.”
While many community partners are already working to further develop and amplify this community in Fort Worth, there are other ways for you to get involved.
- Organize a GEW event
- Attend 1 Million Cups chapters
- Nominate someone for the Chamber’s Small Business of the Year award
Fort Worth needs to support the development of the next Uber or Airbnb that is based in Fort Worth.
Whether you’re a corporate CEO or a retiree looking to make an impact, we all have to work together to develop, attract, and cultivate this community. The future of Fort Worth is counting on it.
Brandom Gengelbach is CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, a regular contributor to Fort Worth Inc.