Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Rod Ford: Little Rock Startup Scene Needs Capital

2 min read

Little Rock is on its way to becoming a true entrepreneurial hub in the image of inland startup hotbeds like Austin, Nashville, Des Moines and Omaha, writes local tech founder Rod Ford.

Ford, serial tech startup founder, former CEO of nGage Labs and Arkansas Venture Center board member, on Tuesday morning launched part 1 of a two-part discussion on the local growth of tech-based entrepreneurship.

Ford believes the first steps have been taken to grow a successful startup ecosystem in Little Rock:

The initial steps to create this ecosystem are well underway in central Arkansas. This infrastructure is critical if we hope to foster real entrepreneurship, attract and keep founder-level talent here. Arkansas, in particular, needs entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial success to improve and sustain its economic health. Communities similar to Little Rock like Austin, Des Moines, Nashville and Omaha are growing cities where startup ecosystems are prospering. Leading national support organizations and private philanthropists, such as the Kauffman Foundation, and Steve Case, founder of AOL, are investing in national support initiatives. In short, entrepreneurial activity is the cornerstone of any budding city – a must have for communities like Little Rock if the ‘brightest and the best’ are to stay in Arkansas, build companies and create jobs for the future.

Ford points out, though, that Arkansas falls behind glaringly in one area: access to capital. Finding seed capital is a daunting task for local tech-based startups looking to gain traction:

Private Equity at Work, an organization that researches the private equity industry, reports that Arkansas is distressed and not near at par with our neighboring states in the availability of capital for emerging companies. Private equity sources made 2,670 investments in Texas, 439 in Tennessee, 370 in Missouri, but only 63 in Arkansas (2013 data).

In my businesses through the years, capital raises have always taken me two times the amount of time I envisioned while they were four times more difficult. It’s time as we make great strides towards the emergence of an entrepreneurial hub we get busy ensuring there will be oxygen in the tank before to fund the new ideas exiting our ecosystem investment into job creating commercial successes.

You can read Ford’s full post here

Send this to a friend