Evidence-Based Entrepreneurship
My long-time co-conspirator and current business partner Kevin Johansen wrote a good column last fall that got picked up recently at Entrepreneur.com.
He highlights how the tools at the core of the Entreprenurial Standards Forum provide a statistically-based gap analysis for entrepreneurs.
Data generally finds its way into a database through the application of a mix of archival, collective and “swarm” intelligence. Archival intelligence is about what worked in the past. History, which we are doomed to repeat if we don’t study it, is archival intelligence. Collective intelligence is about what worked today. Collective intelligence is best-practices sharing. “Swarm” intelligence is about problem solving and making things work better.
Building a database–a knowledge archive–of almost any sort is an investment the builders hope to see pay off. In the case of the Angel Capital Summit, a community-wide event hosted by the Rockies Venture Club on Nov. 13, the Entrepreneurial Standards Forum, a Colorado-based nonprofit, made this investment. They did it for entrepreneurs in specific and investors in general. For the ACS, it paid off well.
It sure did.
What’s the nuance? Our tools radically improved the fundamental performance of this annual conference where entrepreneurs pitch potential investors, which had been staid for over a decade. Not only was the Rockies Venture Club (RVC) able to review more than 4 times as many applicants, but they saw more companies present, and a much higher percentage (probably a 7x multiplier) receive funding, making it both qualitatively AND quantitatively the best of these events in Colorado in at least 15 years.
Next up is the Colorado Capital Conference, and the upcoming launch of our own platform, the Business Catapult. Stay tuned here for more information this spring.