Month: August 2016

What makes a city a great place for entrepreneurs? Livability.com asked that question. While they normally are looking for quality of life aspects (Oh, do they mean things like most active cities, top college town and all around most livable? That sounds pretty familiar!)

For the list of best cities for entrepreneurs, they looked at  how great places to live attract great people and attract the businesses that want to hire them. They looked at both economic indicators and quality of life indicators to create a ranking of great places to start a business — in places workers will want to live (Here’s the reasons we came up with before this article hit).

They analyzed 17 economic indicators for more than 2,200 cities with populations greater than 20,000. These included: the growth in businesses and employees from 2011-2015; the city’s unemployment rate; the number of venture capital deals in the past 10 years; the city’s business tax rate; how much funding business owners received from SBA and 7(a) loans; the percentage of college-educated locals; the accessibility to high-speed broadband; projected household income growth between 2015-2020; and how much money residents spend within their community, as opposed to outside of it. Then they measured livability, including further economic measures as well as amenities, demographics, infrastructure and more.

State College was named number 10 in their national list of 50 best cities for your start-up, and mentioning,“Available to entrepreneurs in the State College region are organizations like the Centre Region Entrepreneur Network and the New Leaf Initiative. In addition, Penn State University has startup assistance offerings such as TechCelerator @ State College and Lion Launch Pad.”

Happy Valley offers a number of resources for startups, as well as established businesses. The incubator at Innovation Park offers space, shared resources, and business coaching from professionals. Entrepreneurs also have the opportunity to join the Centre Region Entrepreneur Network (CREN), which offers a forum for entrepreneurs in central Pennsylvania to get together with their peers and discuss business successes and struggles.

InventPennState was not directly mentioned in the study, but their efforts over the recent years have spurred development and entrepreneur-focused programs. This October, they are hosting an inaugural Venture and IP conference for innovators and entrepreneurs.  This exciting new event will bring together promising technology companies from across the country with investors seeking grund floor investment opportunities. For more information about PennStateVIP conference, or to reserve your spot, go to pennstatevip.com.

Article courtesy of www.HappyValley.com