1. NCIIA 2012 Annual Meeting
Jon Down
down@up.edu
University of Portland
March 22, 2012

2. The State of Entrepreneurship in Portland,
Oregon addresses why entrepreneurship
matters, how Portland is doing in generating
entrepreneurship and what might be done to
stimulate additional entrepreneurial activity.
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

3.  Cross Sectional – 51 Largest MSAs
 Longitudinal – 15 yrs VC funded firms
 Interviews - 25 In-Depth
 Surveys – 30 targeted & 119 additional
 Comparison Cities – Austin, Cincinnati,
Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and
Seattle
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

4. NCIIA 2012 Annual Meeting – San
Francisco

5.  Entrepreneurship drives job growth – 3% of
new firms create nearly all new jobs
 Creation of a portfolio of high-growth firms
can lead to new economic clusters
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

6. NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

7.  Average Firm Size
 Small Firms per 1,000 Population
 Non-Employer Firms per 1,000 Population
 Percent Self-Employed
 College Attainment
 Creative Class
 Venture Capital Dollars per Capita
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

8. Non-
Small Employer Venture
Firms per Firms per Percent Capital
Average 1,000 1000 Self- College Creative Investment
MSA Population Firm Size Population Population Employed Attainment Class $ per capita
Atlanta 5,261,296 16.1 22.4 86.0 11.8% 34.6% 7.6% 77
Austin 1,592,590 16.2 21.1 82.5 11.8% 38.2% 11.0% 213
Baltimore 2,663,805 16.4 21.9 69.8 9.4% 34.3% 9.3% 76
Birmingham 1,108,672 17.4 20.8 69.7 11.2% 26.2% 5.2% 17
Boston 4,492,338 18.5 23.9 74.8 10.8% 41.9% 10.5% 541
Buffalo 1,126,513 17.3 20.2 47.8 7.8% 26.9% 5.5% 46
Charlotte 1,646,431 17.7 23.3 74.4 10.2% 32.0% 6.6% 14
Chicago 9,496,853 16.9 22.0 72.4 9.7% 33.0% 6.9% 44
Cincinnati 2,143,824 18.9 18.9 61.4 9.2% 28.1% 7.0% 16
Cleveland 2,094,885 17.3 22.6 64.8 9.5% 27.0% 6.1% 60
Columbus 1,753,010 19.3 19.4 72.1 8.9% 32.8% 8.3% 12
Dallas 6,153,474 18.6 19.0 80.2 10.5% 29.6% 7.3% 87
Denver 2,453,393 14.7 26.7 84.8 11.9% 37.5% 9.0% 169
Detroit 4,457,523 16.5 20.1 64.8 9.3% 26.5% 7.9% 19
Hartford 1,186,485 18.5 21.6 66.5 9.6% 34.8% 8.2% 3
Houston 5,597,958 18.5 18.1 77.6 10.7% 28.2% 7.2% 54
Indianapolis 1,692,737 17.9 21.9 66.1 9.5% 31.8% 7.1% 44
Jacksonville 1,297,813 14.8 24.2 67.5 10.3% 24.6% 5.2% NA
Kansas City 1,981,480 17.4 22.4 68.6 9.7% 31.9% 7.0% 20
Las Vegas 1,827,655 20.8 19.1 67.1 8.9% 21.9% 4.6% 4
Los Angeles 12,784,612 15.5 23.1 85.9 14.6% 29.9% 8.0% 135
Louisville 1,232,304 17.8 20.8 68.5 9.0% 24.0% 5.0% 17
Memphis 1,279,120 20.4 17.1 68.6 8.8% 24.7% 4.5% 16
Miami 5,392,118 11.4 29.9 121.8 PDX Entrepreneurship Study -
16.2% 29.5% 4.9% 10
Milwaukee 1,543,378 19.7 21.5 53.6 8.7% 30.9%
September 6, 2011 7.0% 2

9. New York 18,922,571 14.2 25.3 84.6 11.2% 35.2% 7.9% 94
Oklahoma City 1,189,158 14.6 23.7 80.8 11.6% 26.4% 5.8% 12
Orlando 2,028,669 16.1 25.2 82.7 12.0% 26.3% 6.6% 41
Philadelphia 5,823,285 17.1 21.9 63.4 9.4% 32.1% 7.7% 93
Phoenix 4,165,921 18.0 18.9 62.6 11.5% 26.5% 6.5% 49
Pittsburgh 2,354,159 17.5 21.9 58.6 9.0% 28.7% 6.4% 62
Portland 2,166,491 14.5 25.7 70.3 13.1% 33.3% 8.6% 69
Providence 1,598,348 14.7 23.7 64.6 9.6% 28.0% 6.2% 25
Raleigh-Cary 1,043,961 14.7 23.8 75.1 10.7% 41.5% 11.6% 243
Richmond 1,211,101 16.3 22.7 62.4 9.3% 30.6% 6.7% 10
Riverside 4,066,573 16.4 14.3 65.6 11.6% 19.0% 4.1% 0
Rochester 1,032,488 18.2 19.6 59.4 8.9% 32.1% 8.1% 10
Sacramento 2,082,186 15.1 19.5 69.9 11.8% 29.8% 8.2% 19
St. Louis 2,805,465 17.4 21.8 61.7 9.2% 29.0% 7.0% 158
Salt Lake City 1,095,362 17.1 25.7 73.8 10.2% 30.0% 7.3% 56
San Antonio 1,984,921 17.8 17.2 72.2 10.1% 24.6% 5.3% 404
San Diego 2,959,734 15.1 23.0 76.9 13.7% 34.2% 9.7% 1489
San Francisco 4,216,125 15.8 24.8 85.7 13.5% 43.4% 11.8% 2473
San Jose 1,786,355 19.9 22.1 69.7 10.7% 43.5% 17.2% 252
Seattle 3,298,225 15.4 26.4 68.7 11.5% 36.4% 10.9% 22
Tampa 2,715,273 13.9 23.8 75.6 12.6% 25.6% 5.7% 11
Virginia Beach 1,659,679 16.0 20.2 52.9 8.1% 27.4% 7.0% 2
Washington 5,302,295 17.2 22.8 81.3 10.0% 46.8% 13.8% 131
Mean 3,207,761 16.8 22.0 72.1 10.6% 31.0% 7.6% 151.74
25th Percentile 1,531,769 15.4 20.2 65.2 9.3% 26.7% 6.1% 14.50
75th Percentile 4,116,247 18.0 23.7 78.9 11.7% 34.2% 8.3% 93.75
Portland Rank 23 48 4 25 5 15 12 18
PDX Entrepreneurship Study -
September 6, 2011

10.  Interview results confirm
 Expert survey – 84% yes
 Open survey – 79% yes
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

11.  18th of 51 VC investment per capita
 189 Oregon companies received VC over 15
years – more than half still in operation
 5,000 jobs at these companies today
 Recent VC activity growing
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

12.  Funding
 Human resources
 Business and tax environment
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

13. Index of Entrepreneurship
Indicators
PDX Entrepreneurship Study -
September 6, 2011

14.  Support existing organizations:
◦ Educating entrepreneurs on business
and funding success
◦ Engaging creative, young, educated
talent in PDX
◦ Identifying and supporting possible
gazelles
◦ Developing a larger pool of angel
investors
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

15.  Draw in out of state resources:
◦ Buyers of traded sector goods
◦ Suppliers of venture capital
 Continue to develop PDX as a great place
to live, work and learn
 Use resources and know-how to leverage
existing organizations already devoted to
improving entrepreneurship
 Be entrepreneurial in trying new initiatives
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

16.  Promote culture supportive of
entrepreneurship:
◦ Continually streamline process of
starting a business
◦ Communication of available resources
for entrepreneurs
◦ Tracking and reporting of
entrepreneurship indicators
◦ Using real estate expertise to develop
physical spaces for entrepreneurs
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco

17.  Are there parallels between the Portland
study and your city?
 What works and what doesn’t work regarding
programs designed to generate
entrepreneurial start-ups and economic
development?
 Why should we care about the
entrepreneurship eco-systems around our
universities?
NCIIA 2012 Annual Conference – San Francisco