Dr Jeff Cornwall

In my column for the Tennessean yesterday, I gave an overview of a new bootstrapping group here in Nashville.  It is a good learning model to try in any city to help bring entrepreneurs together to talk about their challenges and successes with bootstrapping:

Bootstrapping — the
collection of tools and tactics that entrepreneurs use when they have
limited resources — has become a crucial skill in today’s tough
economic climate, with its tight credit and shrinking pools of venture
capital.

Now there is a group in Nashville that hopes to help entrepreneurs become better at bootstrapping — Better Bootstrap.

Its
goal is to provide bootstrapping entrepreneurs, or the 99.962 percent
of business owners who never see venture capital, with practical tools
and encouragement to help build more viable businesses.

Meetings have three main features.

First,
a successful entrepreneur visits the group to offer on-the-ground
examples of what it takes to get a business cranking when resources are
limited. One founder spoke of polishing the tops of his shoes before
important presentations, while carefully concealing the duct tape that
covered the holes underneath. (His firm now has thousands of prominent
clients.)

A second
feature of each meeting is a brief of a business fundamental that will
help entrepreneurs realistically tie their day-to-day activities in
marketing, operations or finance to a long-term strategic goal.

Finally,
entrepreneurs practice marketing their enterprises by perfecting and
presenting 15-second “elevator pitches.” (The elevator pitch must fit
into the time it takes to travel between floors.)

It
is the first exposure some business owners have to the idea that a
sharp, compelling message about “not what you do, but what you can do
for me” creates the biggest impact possible with a limited budget.

Management
consultant David Ledgerwood, chief executive of ALOC Group, says, “The
real-life stories at Better Bootstrap really help me realize how
similar entrepreneurial experiences are. …

“I
get validation for what I’m already doing at times and get to see the
end-game success of people who are trying (to do) exactly what I’m
trying. Plus, there is real value in fellowship with others who are
facing the same questions I grapple with in my businesses.”

Bootstrappers
and soon-to-be bootstrappers from any industry are welcome. However,
the group is limited to actual bootstrappers of a business anticipated
to grow beyond a single-person operation.

Consultants,
vendors and professionals who hope to network with and market to
entrepreneurs can, in fact, expect to be “booted” out.

Otherwise,
the group is free, requesting only that participants buy something from
the restaurant where they meet to ensure that they will be welcome
again.

The next
meeting is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Logan’s Roadhouse, 2400 Elliston Place.
Jane Ferrell and Joyce McDaniel of community and government relations
and PAC consultation firm Ferrell McDaniel will speak.