On September 8th, the Flashstarts team attended the VentureOhio Gala in Columbus. Flashstarts alumni team, <remesh was named one of the top seed stage companies of the year (read their full story below), and Flashstarts CEO, Charles Stack, was nominated as a Social Impact Award Finalist. While the Social Impact Award ultimately went to Columbus’s Ryan Frederick, we think Stack’s acceptance speech is worth sharing.
Without further ado…
The Unvoiced Acceptance Speech of Venture Ohio Social Impact Award Finalist Charles Stack
I will keep my thank you’s to a bare minimum because I would like to take this opportunity to advance our agenda. Success of any kind is never a solo venture. Deep and heartfelt thanks to my business partners and to my life partner.
[pullquote]Our goal should be nothing less than making Ohio the most startup friendly location in the world.[/pullquote]
Our primary agenda has always been to generate wealth and jobs. Study after study has shown that startups are the primary generator of both wealth and jobs. Our goal should be nothing less than making Ohio the most startup friendly location in the world. And good news! We are making progress. According to the recent Kaufman Foundation report Columbus ranks 4th, Cleveland 19th. And Cleveland and Cincinnati showed the largest gains year over year.
Startups are built with people, ideas, and money. Two of those can traverse the world in about 600ms. From that we can conclude that regional advantage lies in creating and attracting entrepreneurs.
I would like to propose two simple proven initiatives to create and retain entrepreneurs.
First, I propose a global business plan competition modeled after the hugely successful $5m annual 43North competition in Buffalo, NY.
Second, I propose global entrepreneur centers for all Ohio Universities. This would be modeled on the efforts pioneered last year by the State of Massachusetts program plus the very recent Presidential Executive Order authorizing a form of startup visa for global entrepreneurs.
For more information please send me an email at Charles.stack@flashstarts.com
Thank you for the soap box.
