Sheltowee Foundation Booklet

Sheltowee FOUNDATION

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2 Email: info@sheltowee.com Web: www.sheltowee.com Sheltowee Business Network LLC 7605 Woodridge Road, Louisville, KY 40056 Phone: 502-299-5079

TABLE OF CONTENTS From the Founder Get to Know Us Alex Day Background Five Objectives for 2023 Challenges with Historic Efforts in Kentucky Study Reviewing the Past 20 Years of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Support

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Proposed Outline of Retrospective Study Conduct State Wide Bench Marking Survey

Develop a 20-Year Strategic Plan Introduce 2024 Legislative Session Community Assessment Tool What We Did-Ask the Enterpreneurs Results of the 2017 Study

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From the FOUNDER

It is time entrepreneurs take a leadership role in charting our strategy for helping entrepreneurs in Kentucky.

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entrepreneurs and far surpassed Kentucky in the cultivation of their entrepreneurial ecosystems. It is time that entrepreneurs in Kentucky take a leadership role to build our ecosystem and work

have been an entrepre neur in Kentucky for the past 30 years. I have watched as our bordering states have developed strong programs for

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to help guide our state and local governments, on the programs and strategy that is needed. I founded the Sheltowee Founda tion to provide leadership in Ken tucky and around the country in helping entrepreneurs and startup investors create value and bring

amazing products and services to market. Our path in Kentucky will not be an easy or fast one. It has taken us years to fall behind and it will take us years to get to where we need to be. I hope you will join me on the journey.

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GET TO

he Sheltowee Founda tion is a non-profit that supports entrepreneur ial ecosystem building through entrepreneur and investor education. T

The Sheltowee Foundation pro motes the core values of the Sheltowee ecosystem and pro vides real-world solutions from our entrepreneurial founders.

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For an entrepreneurial ecosystem to be successful it must be led by entrepreneurs not other players like governments, universities or investors.

BRAD FELD, Techstars Founder

Core Values

Mission

• Help others • Conduct yourself in a kind, ethical and transparent fashion • Honor those who assume the risk • Expect a financial return on your interactions

Provide entrepreneurial leadership to help grow entrepreneurial ecosystems through education, provision of resources and support for entrepreneurs and startup investors

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BACKGROUND Alex Day

Studied at Western Kentucky University and the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute Physics, mathematics and Russian Language

Founded Sheltowee in 2000

Founded the Kentucky Life Sciences Organization in 2000

Served on the KSTC board (2001 to 2004)

Appointed by Governor Patton to serve on the Kentucky Tobacco Research Board (2002-2004)

Served as first manager of the Kentucky Natural Products Fund (Commonwealth Seed Capital) (2003-2005)

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Appointed by Governor Ernie Fletcher to serve as Chairman of the Governors Life Sciences Consortium (drafted strategic plan for growing life science companies in the state) (2004) Drafted strategic plan for Owensboro, KY on how to leverage life science assets for economic development, which resulted in over $100 million of investment in Owensboro

Co-Founded Kentucky BioProcessing (2005)

Secured $50,000 grant and orchestrated state wide survey in 2017 on entrepreneurism in Kentucky

Participated in MIT REAP program in 2020

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Five Objectives for 2023 for SHELTOWEE FOUNDATION

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Challenges with HISTORIC EFFORTS IN KENTUCKY

Efforts not led by entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs have not engaged to lead

Major changes in administrations Dependent on government funding Small business entrepreneurs feel left out and alienated

Collaboration hindered by turf building No one in state government ever asked the entrepreneurs what they need Rural communities were underserved

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Study Reviewing the Past 20 Years of ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM SUPPORT

We need to look back and see what we have done right and what we have done wrong in building our entrepreneurial

ecosystem in Kentucky. This calls for an in-depth analysis of our efforts from the past 20 years.

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To know where we are going, we need to understand where we have been.

Review how the funds were deployed

Review what agencies have

List the results from the individual companies

Review what legislation was passed

made those investments List all companies which received investment

List the results of the entities that placed the investments Compare Indiana, Tennessee, and Ohio results

Review what investments have been made

Review what funds were allocated

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1. 2. 3.

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Executive Summary Definition of entrepreneur Major pieces of legislation impacting Entrepreneurs Major programs for entrepreneurs Investment Tax Credits Commonwealth Seed Capital Keyhorse Capital

Major successful entrepreneurs in Kentucky Key organizations Companies that started here and left Investments by year Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee Program Comparisons Results of Survey

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RETROSPECTIVE STUDY Proposed Outline of

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BENCH MARKING SURVEY Conduct State Wide

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Survey six stakeholder groups

Establish a Bi-Annual Survey to track progress

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Entrepreneurs Risk Capital Corporates Government Entities Universities Service Providers

Utilize surveys in other states for benchmarking

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STRATEGIC PLAN Develop a 20-Year

Develop a plan based on

• Results of study • Results of survey

Suggested plans for growth

Target goals

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2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION Introduce Legislation for

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Keep legislators informed

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Develop recommendations from strategic plan

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Pass legislation

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Draft legislation to implement changes

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Community

3. ASSESSMENT TOOL

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In 2017, we conducted the Kentucky Entrepreneur Climate Survey. Based on what we learned in 2017, we developed a tool The Community Assessment Tool helps communities track their progress.

It is designed to be utilized on a routine basis to establish metrics for entrepreneurial ecosystem building.

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In 2017, Sheltowee secured a $50,000 grant to conduct a Study of the “Entrepreneur Climate” in Kentucky.

ASK THE ENTREPRENEUR What We Did

Key Questions

How is the Kentucky government doing at helping entrepreneurs?

Are you aware of the programs that exist?

As a small business owner, what do you need to grow your business that you are not being provided with?

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Results of the

STUDY *

Total of 840 respondents

74% of respondents (620) gave the state a failing score Only 13% of respondents thought the state was doing a good to very good job

Over half of the respondents took the time to leave comments

*2017 Kentucky Entrepreneur Climate Survey

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Research Legislation Strategy Support

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