Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Jorge Guzman, Gantcher Associate Professor of Business in Columbia Business School’s Management Division, is described as an expert in entrepreneurship policy, regional entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial strategy, particularly as they relate to place-based entrepreneurship.

As such, he understands deeply the role that location plays in a business owner’s ability to make personal connections with others, as well as the impact of proximity to similar businesses. These factors can have serious implications for business outcomes; for example, starting a business in a location where many other businesses have seen capital acquisition can greatly improve the chances of acquisition down the road.

Guzman is the author of the Startup Cartography Project, which measures entrepreneurial quantity, quality, and performance across the country using predictive analytics. Even something as simple as engaging with other entrepreneurs in a certain location can provide access to unique ideas, relationships, and opportunities for collaboration that can spell success for an entrepreneur, according to Guzman in an interview with CBS News’ Jonathan Sperling.

His research relies on four distinct (but related) entrepreneurship statistics:

• The Startup Formation Rate (SFR) – the quantity of new business registrants within a given population;

• The Entrepreneurial Quality Index (EQI) — the average growth potential (or “quality”) within a group of start-ups;

• The Regional Entrepreneurship Cohort Potential Index (RECPI) — the number of start-ups within a particular location or region expected to later achieve a significant growth outcome (SFR*EQI); and

• The Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Index (REAI) — the ability of a region to convert entrepreneurial potential into realized growth (# of Growth Outcomes / RECPI).

You can find a link to the interview here.

 

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