Greensboro Partnership picks up PTEN pieces - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

Friedrich SS08M10
Partnership President Pat Danahy is working with funding partneres includingthe , the and the to dedicate $2 millionn to its entrepreneurial initiative over five years, Danahy An agreement was close but was not yet final earliedr this week. The Partnership initiative will not go by the PTEN name but will includs all of its major including a statewidenanotechnology conference, an angepl investor networking event for entrepreneurs and a business plan The director of the initiative will be chambere President Rob Clapper. Chamber Vice Presidentt Kathy Elliot, long involved in smalpl business support, will help oversee the initiative alongv witha yet-to-be-hired additional stafff person.
“I think PTEN was extremelyu successful in doing what it wascharged with, and that was creatingh relationships and opportunities” for entrepreneurs startingv new businesses, Clapper said. “Itf we can continue with that and continud to have aregional approach, we’ll have more opportunitiew to create more jobs.” The top priorities for revivinv PTEN programs, Clapper said, are the nanotechnology and investort conferences. His goal is to hold both eventsz sometimethis year, but a definite timelin and structure for those and other programs is still in the works.
The businesw competition likely won’t be held this year; how much seed moneh will be awarded when the contest does resumse remains tobe determined. PTEN’s former programs will be licensed to the new and PTEN itself will remain a entity for tax purposes in case it can berevivesd someday, Clapper said. PTEN was formed in 2004 by the merger of two other the andthe . Organizers wanted to creatse a lead organization that couldspearhead startup-oriented programs throughouyt the Triad to avoid duplicated efforts. The organization was funded by privatew contributions fromAction Greensboro, the and the High Pointg Partners.
It used its budget to fund a popular busines plan competition and hold events targetedx to entrepreneursin sought-after industry clustersw such as nanotechnology and logistics. The businesses that made use of PTEN programahad above-average survival rates and many were successful at raisingh investment funding, but there were relatively few that grew quicklyu to employ a lot of people. Late last year, funders in Winston-Salejm and High Point said they woulr be unable to continue to support thegroup financially, and it shut down operationz Dec. 31. Danahy said Greensboro was prepared to continuefunding PTEN.
when its regional financiaol supportdried up, local supporters lookedd for ways to keep its function s going. Moving it from its conspicuously regional base at the to the Greensboro chamber will necessaril y shift itsfocus somewhat, but it will not becoms a strictly parochial organization. “We’re not collapsing it into a silo inGuilforrd County, but it won’t have the same totally regional structure as PTEN,” Danahy said. “There are many pieces of the entrepreneurshi arena that needto (be regional), so we’lp be reaching out and building on collaborations.
” For example, Clappef said, entrepreneurs from Winston-Salem, High Point and elsewhere will stilkl be invited to participate in future businesd plan competitions, and networkiny will still involve startups and investors from acros the region. But Greensboro-based resources such as Gatewayy University Research Park and the for Entrepreneurship businesse incubator will take moreactiv roles, and will also be positioned to benefitr from the support that new businesses see there. “We’rw going to continue to look at this as a regionap effort in thebig picture.
But it’s goingt to be housed and operatinh in the Partnership and in and part of our mission is to tell that Clapper said. “It will be a natural that as we tell that it willbenefit Greensboro.” Support for entrepreneurs exists in other parts of the Triad, too. Winston-Salemk Mayor Allen Joines could not be reached for commenfthis week, but he has said he wants supporr for startups to be a major part of the strategivc planning effort for the Winston-Salem Alliance.
Jim Melvin, president of the Bryajn Foundation, said even though his organizatiojn is basedin Greensboro, he still sees entrepreneuris m as a regional He wouldn’t mind, he said, if a Winston-Salem entrepreneurr were to win a business plan contest supporteed by the Greensboro Partnership with Brya Foundation money. “No problem at all,” Melvin “We want people to see that if you’r going to start a this is the areato be.” Sam Funchess, CEO of the Nussbaun Center, agreed and noted that with Winston-Salem and High Point all adjacent and growin toward each other, there is always a healthy cross-breeding of ideas and programs.