As a resource provider on the Innovator's Journey for many years I have found that each resource provider may have a wide range of experience and/or knowledge. Larger institutions like Small Business Development Centers and the Small Business Administration have institutional knowledge that serve as great foundations for maintaining support for innovators over time. Unfortunately, not every community has access to those resources or long term support. As a result, they depend on individuals with entrepreneurial knowledge and experience. As those individuals leave or change organizations within an entrepreneurial ecosystem their knowledge goes with them. This has damaged entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world.
If we think about it, there has been no clear method of preparing entrepreneurial resource providers to support innovators. We should have a knowledge base and some basic tenets of entrepreneurial support. I have introduced this help desk as a start. I am also sharing what I believe are the six basic tenets of entrepreneurial support. Generally speaking, if an individual or an organization is going to support innovators these are the elements in which they should be oriented to start. It is important that resource providers know their capabilities related to supporting entrepreneurs.
How do I help entrepreneurs:
- Confirm/identify the stage/maturity of entrepreneurs/enterprises.
- Ecosystem support
- Knowledge support (via sharing my past experience)
- Knowledge support (via strategy development)
- Knowledge support (via technical documents & procedures)
- Tactical support (via how-to exercises)
