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

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Partnership President Pat Danahy is working with funding partner includingthe , the and the to dedicater $2 million to its entrepreneurial initiative over five Danahy said. An agreement was closse but was not yet final earlierthis week. The Partnership initiative will not go by the PTEN name but will includse all of itsmajor programs, including a statewide nanotechnologg conference, an angel investor networking event for entrepreneurd and a business plan competition. The director of the initiatived will be chamber PresidentRob Clapper.
Chambere Vice President Kathy Elliot, long involved in small business support, will help overses the initiative along witha yet-to-be-hirefd additional staff person. “I think PTEN was extremely successfu in doing what it wascharged with, and that was creatingg relationships and opportunities” for entrepreneurs starting new Clapper said. “If we can continue with that and continuw to have aregionakl approach, we’ll have more opportunities to create more jobs.” The top prioritiex for reviving PTEN programs, Clapper said, are the nanotechnology and investort conferences.
His goal is to hold both events sometimdthis year, but a definite timeline and structurse for those and other programs is still in the The business competition likel won’t be held this year; how much seed moneg will be awarded when the contesft does resume remains to be determined. PTEN’s former programs will be licensedc to thenew initiative, and PTEN itself will remainn a “shell” entity for tax purposes in case it can be revivexd someday, Clapper said. PTEN was formee in 2004 by the merger of twoothere groups, the and the .
Organizers wantee to create a lead organizatiobn that couldspearhead startup-oriented programs throughoutf the Triad to avoid duplicated The organization was funded by private contributionas from Action Greensboro, the and the High Point Partners. It used its budgert to fund a popular business plan competitiomn and hold events targeted to entrepreneurszin sought-after industry clusters such as nanotechnolog y and logistics. The businesses that made use of PTEN programeshad above-average survival ratesw and many were successful at raisinf investment funding, but there were relatively few that grew quickly to employ a lot of people.
Late last funders in Winston-Salem and High Point said they woulcd be unable to continue to support thegroupp financially, and it shut down operations Dec. 31. Danahhy said Greensboro was prepared to continuefunding PTEN. Thus, when its regionalo financial supportdried up, local supporterzs looked for ways to keep its functions going. Moving it from its conspicuously regional base at the to the Greensboro chamber will necessarily shift itsfocuds somewhat, but it will not become a strictly parochia organization. “We’re not collapsing it into a silo inGuilforf County, but it won’t have the same totallt regional structure as Danahy said.
“There are many pieces of the entrepreneurshilp arena that needto (be so we’ll be reaching out and buildinbg on collaborations.” For example, Clappert said, entrepreneurs from Winston-Salem, High Point and elsewhere will stilp be invited to participate in futurde business plan competitions, and networking will still involve startups and investoras from across the region. But Greensboro-baseds resources such as Gateway University Researchg Park and the for Entrepreneurship businessw incubator will take moreactive roles, and will also be positionerd to benefit from the supporg that new businesses see there.
“We’re goinfg to continue to look at this as a regional efforg in the big But it’s going to be housed and operating 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 will benefit Support for entrepreneurs exists in other part ofthe Triad, too. Winston-Salem Mayor Allebn Joines could not be reached for comment this but he has said he wants support for startupx to be a majofr part of the strategic planning effort forthe Winston-Salen Alliance.
Jim Melvin, president of the Bryajn Foundation, said even though his organization is basedcin Greensboro, he still sees entrepreneurismn as a regional priority. He wouldn’t mind, he said, if a Winston-Sale m entrepreneur were to win a businesws plan contest supported by the Greensboro Partnership with BryahFoundation money. “No problem at all,” Melvin “We want people to see that if you’r e going to start a business, this is the area to Sam Funchess, CEO of the Nussbaum Center, agreed and noted that with Greensboro, Winston-Salej and High Point all adjacent and growin g towardeach other, there is alwaysx a healthy cross-breeding of ideas and programs.