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Monthly Archives: October 2009

Bank born on September 11

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Ash Patel started Premier Commercial Bank at the worst time possible. Two months before opening the doors, September 11th happened. It was a challenge to raise capital while the nation was grieving. Despite the tragic event, PCB was able to achieve its goal. Today PCB is one of the most successful banks in Southern California with an asset base of approximately $400 million.

I heard his story tonight at the TiE SoCal event and was inspired because here was a man who did not have the right background, heritage or timing but managed to start a bank in 2001 and grow it to $400 mn in 2009.

Ash ended his talk by talking about the things that he has learnt along the way

  1. America is a merit based society. If you have an idea and are prepared to work hard, success is possible
  2. Never give up. Ash spent $15,000 on his initial business plan with a goal to raise an initial $10 mn and the tragedy of September 11 happened. But he did not give up and started the bank with the $7.5 mn that was raised.
  3. Always keep wanting to grow. Not necessarily to make more money, but always growing your goal. For example – Ash’s goal is to take his bank to $1 bn.
  4. When you succeed help others succeed

More on Ash Patel from the TiE website

I know there is going to be a video of his talk posted soon, so keep checking.

50 Best places to launch a new business

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Here is an interesting list announced by the Kauffman Foundation and Fortune Small Business. It lists the 50 best places in the USA to start a business. Topping the list are Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the no. 1 large city; Huntsville, Alabama, as the no. 1 medium city; and Billings, Montana no. 1 small city.

There are also some interesting findings and one of them is about location. It seems that now location matters even more than before. I was really intrigued by this and decided to see how the location of my business ranked along side the list which is available from http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/best_places_launch/2009/full_list/index.html

Now I am fairly new to the USA and have chosen to put my roots down in Southern California, which according to this list is not one the best places to start a business. So hang on, what about the tech innovation that is coming out of the Silicon Valley and Irvine?

Further investigation of the list also revealed that there is a ‘Near You’ tab. If I choose California my location ‘Ontario’ is nowhere close to one of the best places to start a business.

There is a note at the bottom that this data is from the US Census Bureau 2007 County Business Patterns. On reading that my first thoughts were that this is a data driven list and shows how many business have started up, not necessarily how many have survived or indeed succeeded.  The more relevant list is under the ‘Business Climate’ tab. It shows where the Fastest small business growth has taken place. Now that’s more like it.

Entrepreneurs-to-be learning tricks of the trades at community college

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When I read the headline of this article I was not at all surprised. Despite what ever you may have seen in the comedy Community, these colleges are really helping the new entrepreneur and by extension the American economy.

Community colleges are an increasingly enticing option for businesses wanting to start up, because they provide a space for quick, nuts-and-bolts training.

Small businesses are steadily popping up nationwide. The Kauffman Foundation’s Index of Entrepreneurial Activity calculated that 320 out of 100,000 adults created a business each month in 2008, up slightly from 2007.

Community colleges across the country have beefed up their offerings this year as laid-off workers search for training and tips on start-up success.

Chaffey College in Chino, California is introducing a simulation-based entrepreneurship course ‘Small Business Planning and Entrepreneurship’. Based on the award winning simulation – SimVenture – the course allows students set up a virtual company and run it.

In the days when business was not so competitive or so fast moving, learning from mistakes seemed worthwhile. But with today’s competitors able to copy our products, process and strategies at the drop of a hat the skills and capabilities of our employees and managers are becoming a vital source of competitive advantage. This is where games can have a tremendous impact on teaching and learning. 10 million people play the World of Warcraft. Even smaller simulation games like Dofus attracts 450,000 players (Source:mmogchart.com from the Kauffman thoughtbook).

An award-winning simulation game, the ‘Small Business Planning and Entrepreneurship’ simulation allows students to experience all the decision making without the consequences. They constantly balance time and money to try and succeed in business. Burglary, fire, personal illness and interest rate changes are just some of the many events that can pop up within SimVenture. Just like real life, the player has to deal with the issues, make decisions and move the business forward.

Read more on how community colleges are helping new entrepreneurs in this Dallas News article.

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