The availability of workers and managers and the need for more capital are among the top concerns for entrepreneurs in the Triangle area, according to the 2006 Entrepreneurial Satisfaction Survey Report from the Council for Entrepreneurial Development.
As they did in 2004, entrepreneurs participating in the fourth such survey conducted by the CED ranked the availability of qualified technical and non-technical workforce and the availability of qualified management personnel as No. 1 and No. 2 in importance for growing their firms.
While the respondents ranked workforce availability fourth in 27 categories on how well the Triangle performs, concern about manager availability drove that ranking down to 14th.
The Triangle ranked especially low in terms of financing for entrepreneurial firms, respondents said.
Thirty-four percent of respondents cited capital as the No. 1 ingredient lacking in the Triangle. That was up six percent from the 2004 survey.
The concern about capital didn’t surprise CED President Monica Doss.
The responses were “a function of how much demand there is, not purely how much supply there is,” she said. “Right now, there are so many companies getting started and being formed that there is a real strong demand for capital. That comes on top of the fact that we’re never awash with capital anyway.”
Increased concern about capital reflects a growing need for capital, she added.
“There are two prongs to the fact that we are way below where we need to be in terms of performance,” she explained. “The startup of new companies is very brisk, and that’s a good thing.
“We also have the economy. We truly have come out of the dark days of the tech bust, and some of the industries such as telecom, wireless and wireless content are growing quickly.”
Access to expansion capital was ranked as the third most critical need but ranked 24th in performance.
Access to alternative financing was ranked seventh — up from 16th in the 2004 report – but listed only 18th in performance, compared to 22nd in 2004.
Access to see capital came in at 10th place but was listed as 25th in performance.
Thirty-four percent of respondents cited capital as the No. 1 ingredient lacking in the Triangle. That was up six percent from the 2004 survey.
The survey was conducted last fall. More than half the respondents have started or held executive positions with two or more entrepreneurial companies.
Nearly 50 percent of respondents said their companies were in growth or expansion stage. Over 40 percent said their companies were at start-up/seed stage.
Survey Results
What follows is a list ranking Key Factors as cited in the CED’s new Entrepreneurial Satisfaction Survey report:
Key Factors, Importance, How Well Triangle Performs
To view the full report, go to: www.cednc.org/publications/entrepreneurial_satisfaction_survey/?link=navInternal
