Adobe
Fort Worth, the nation’s 12th largest city, continues to lag in startups, and more must be done to build political, financial, and institutional support for the local startup community, a new white paper published Monday said.
“Starting and growing a company is one of the hardest things most people do in their entire lives,” the white paper, written by a small group of leaders in the city’s entrepreneurial community, said. “The contributions of these makers, doers and dreamers is indispensable to our local economy and we, as a community, need to do everything we can to support them so that they can continue to do all of the things that entrepreneurs do for our economy.”
In one number, “Fort Worth now finds itself as the 12th largest city in America, but ranks 40th in early stage capital funding over the last five years,” the white paper said.
The paper was produced by a group including Cameron Cushman, assistant vice president, innovation ecosystems at HSC Next and the UNT Health Science Center, Fort Worth, hired by the university to help build Fort Worth’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The paper, timed to coincide with the change in leadership in the Fort Worth mayor’s office and on the City Council, contains several recommendations, including:
City of Fort Worth: “Make city government more innovative”
- Hire a chief innovation officer
- Hire one of the nation’s first chief entrepreneurial ecosystem officer
- Form a public/private partnership with The DEC Network to form the Eastside Entrepreneurship Center
- Expand funding for Sparkyard, a group that connects entrepreneurs in the city to resources
- Improve and innovate the City of Fort Worth permitting/inspection process
- Dedicate 5% of government procurement dollars to businesses less than 5 years old
Expand Organizations Supporting Entrepreneurs: “The Chambers Cannot Be Expected to Do it All; Chambers can be great for main street startups, but that does not encompass all the startups being formed in Fort Worth.”
- Fort Worth needs to diversify the number of organizations supporting entrepreneurs.
- Establish a center for new firm formation
- Start a seed accelerator program in Fort Worth
- Form an advocacy organization that focuses on supporting and advocating for new companies
- Inspire additional philanthropy in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship, research and education
- Start a matching - or sidecar - fund for investments in local startups
Education:
- Help Global Entrepreneurship Week Fort Worth become the SXSW for Fort Worth.
- Host an event in your district
- Fund additional Sparkyard research
Do you have a story idea you'd like to share with Fort Worth Inc. readers? Please send an email to our editor, Scott Nishimura.