Articles

New Business Formation on the Rise

By Patrick Boulay, president and publisher, New Business Minnesota

At New Business Minnesota, the monthly resource guide for startup companies, we have discovered that new business formation in the Twin Cities has increased an estimated 5.8 percent over the past 12 months.

During that period, 25,400 new businesses were formed in the Twin Cities, 1,400 more than the 24,000 that occurred in the prior 12-month period. The figures are based on the number of filings with the Minnesota Secretary of State's office for all business formation categories.

We track the filings and mail a resource guide to all startups within 30 miles of downtown Minneapolis. Our publication also presents a "curriculum" of articles on the fundamentals of starting a new business and to get an introduction to the valuable resources in the community that can help them achieve their goals.

Statewide new business filings for the past 12 months were 48,391, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. That's 9.6 percent higher than the number filed in calendar year 2006. We knew that startups were a large, underserved business community, but we are continually surprised at how many people are starting or planning a business.

What wasn't a surprise, however, was that the rate of business formation increased at a time when the overall economy was faltering. When the economy gets wobbly, it seems that more people find the courage to take charge of their futures and new business formation accelerates.

The vibrancy of the new business community has become even more apparent through conversations at twice-monthly networking events called "Startup Meetups" hosted by New Business Minnesota. Since January, more than 800 startups and businesses that want to support startups have attended these networking events. More than 500 startups have registered to join the group, making it the largest networking group in the world under the "Just Started" category of Meetup.com, a social networking site.

One of the lessons learned is that the Twin Cities is fertile ground for growing entrepreneurs. Cold winters, inspiring summers, quality educational institutions are all possible reasons. The best answer we've come up with is that Minnesotans like to talk. They like to meet, commingle, discuss, chortle, share information, kibitz, and support each other...Network.

In the past year we've found there are also forward thinking businesses/resources that recognize the value in beginning relationships with startups when they are first launching. They recognize the truth in the old adage, "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." The forest is getting thicker.

For more information, call Patrick Boulay at 651-389-3030, ext. 10.