Tech Talk: Making Their Mark Among the ‘Best’

We shared in late February the growing number of tech and innovation organizations being named among the Best Places to Work in Indiana. While 26 of the 125 winners for 2018 self-identified as being in the tech industry, a true sign of the times is the fact that many others are consultants or service providers in the tech/innovation areas.

At the awards celebration and unveiling of the rankings earlier this month, it was good to hear the names of so many familiar companies (Sharpen and Formstack each placed second in their respective size categories, to name just two; check out the full lists to see many more), as well as quite a few newcomers. The names are familiar due to their business growth and achievements; the Best Places honor signifies strong internal cultures that match and propel the external success.

You can check out the full coverage of all the companies in the current BizVoice® magazine. Some key stories we would suggest:

  • Social media: Discover how four Best Places companies effectively utilize online communications strategies
  • Welcome aboard: A key factor in building a strong workplace culture is doing everything possible to get new team members off to a fast start
  • Getting to Know: Bastian Solutions and Perficient
  • 2018 Newcomer: Kronos
  • Informative infographics: Program results on work-life balance, family-friendly benefits and survey benchmarks

In today’s battle for talent, Best Places to Work recognition can be a differentiator. Can you afford to stay on the sidelines any longer? Learn more about the 2019 program at www.bestplacestoworkIN.com.

Tech Talk: Resources to Keep Your Business on Fast Track

Technology and innovation might be driving growth, but a successful organization can’t ignore several business necessities. The Indiana Chamber offers three valuable partner programs for members, the most recent announced this week and addressing the top challenge – workforce – for many companies no matter their industry.

We encourage Chamber members to take advantage of the following. If your company is not a member, reach out to Brett Hulse at (317) 264-6858 to learn more about all the Chamber benefits.

Achieve Your Degree: This program from Ivy Tech Community College makes the employee education and training process seamless. Chamber members receive a 5% discount on existing or future tuition assistance programs. Deferred payments and direct assistance from Ivy Tech on admission, financial aid, tutoring and more are part of the mix.


ChamberCare Solutions: Health care options in partnership with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to meet your needs, including a PEO offering (ChamberCare Business Resources) that allows you to offer competitive benefits with expert assistance from a partner that focuses on that mission each day. This allows you to concentrate on continued business growth.

Staples Business Advantage: It’s not just office supplies, but furniture, print capabilities, promotional products, facility needs and more. A group purchasing programs allows you to save as much as 30% on products you are already using or new items.

Check out other Chamber member benefits!

Tech Talk: Compiling the Equity Crowdfunding Numbers

Many are familiar with crowdfunding, with a version of that – equity crowdfunding – formalized with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Acts (Jobs Act). Equity crowdfunding is defined as the “process whereby an entrepreneur, start-up or established business raises funds over the internet by offering and selling securities in exchange for an investment (stock, debt, revenue-sharing agreements, etc.) in their company.”

Here are some numbers regarding the progress since this portion of the Jobs Act went into effect in May 2016. For the first 100 equity crowdfunding campaigns:

  • Approximately 33% of companies were mobile app/internet services companies
  • Approximately 12% were consumer gadget companies
  • Approximately 60% were in business one year or less
  • A majority of companies was pre-revenue stage with a valuation of between $1.5 million and $4 million

A separate analysis of year one (May 2016 to May 2017) found:

  • Approximately 88% of filings were made by firms that were five years or younger
  • Approximately one-third of firms were six months or younger when they launched their crowdfunding campaign
  • Nearly 50% of firms were located in California, Florida or Texas
  • A total of 326 companies filed offerings during that span, including 17 businesses that conducted more than one crowdfunding campaign
  • The 326 companies employed a total of 1,574 employees (approximately five employees per firm)

Finally, a January 2018 summary from Crowdfunding Insider reports:

  • As of today, more than $100 million in capital commitments
  • 731 campaigns
  • 100,901 investors
  • Average is $992 per investment (up from $750 when the industry started)
  • Average raise is $360,691 (up from $250,000 when the industry started)
  • Total jobs supported is 3,608
  • It took 410 days for the industry to break $50 million and 209 days (50% less time) for the industry to raise the next $50 million

Tech Talk: Entrepreneurial Ages and the Latest Investment Numbers

What is the age of the average entrepreneur? A few very public examples on the extreme might skew public opinion, but the research shows experience is prized over youth – no offense, of course, to the young entrepreneurs making a difference every day.

Here’s a brief summary from the State Science & Technology Institute (SSTI):

Age is a predictor of entrepreneurial success – and not in the ways that many might expect – according to a new National Bureau of Economic Research article. While the venture capital community and the media sensationalize young entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, the authors of Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship – Pierre Azoulay, J. Daniel Kim, Benjamin Jones and Javier Miranda – find that older entrepreneurs have more success.

In their analysis of multiple administrative datasets, the authors discover that the average founder age of a technology start-up with more than one employee is nearly 42 years old, the average founder age of the highest growth technology start-ups is 45 years old and the average founder age of technology start-ups with successful exits is nearly 47 years old.

With similar findings across a variety of industries, geographies and other subcategories, the authors suggest that the coverage of the millennial tech-entrepreneur has been overblown. Moving forward, these conclusions may prompt changes in how the economic development community designs and implements programs supporting entrepreneurship.

SSTI also has a brief recap of the first-quarter venture capital report, in which Elevate Ventures earns a mention.

PitchBook and NVCA released the 2018 Q1 Venture Monitor this week, and the data show that 2017’s trends toward fewer, larger deals are only accelerating into the new year. First financings are over $5 million for the first time since Q3 of 2006, and the average angel and seed deals are at their largest sizes in at least a decade – largely due to investments under $1 million now accounting for just 39 percent of disclosed deals.

Publicly-supported investors are leading the way in 2018 investments, according to the report, with Innovation Works (13), Elevate Ventures (11) and TEDCO (4) noted for angel/seed investments and Ben Franklin Technology Partners (7) and Connecticut Innovations (6) on the list for most active early stage investors.

The report also indicates that while several notable IPOs have brought renewed attention to exits, the number of exits in 2018 is on pace to be slower than in 2017. Finally, the report’s data on funds closing in 2018 show that fundraising — particularly for funds over $50 million — is also occurring at a slower pace than in 2017.

Chamber Adds Cybersecurity Conference

People are most familiar with the Indiana Chamber as an advocacy organization. After all, that has been a primary concentration for 96 years.

But business information – in the form of employee training and regulatory compliance publications – has been an important and growing part of the mission for more than a quarter of a century. Many of those offerings have focused on human resources and safety topics, with a more recent emphasis on skill development.

A new addition in 2018 is a partnership with the Indiana attorney general for the inaugural Cybersecurity Conference (May 1-2 at the Indiana Chamber Conference Center). It’s a good sign that the topic is a timely one when the conference expands to a full two days before it even kicks off.

Cybersecurity needs in today’s business world are robust; potential solutions are complex. Business, government and legal viewpoints and conversations will take place.

Among the key topics:

  • Governor Holcomb’s Executive Council on Cybersecurity
  • Cyber threats: The No.1 risk to small businesses
  • Fighting the security battle
  • Responding to litigation and enforcement actions following a data breach
  • The dark web
  • Best practices you can implement now
  • Cyber insurance
  • Legal consideration in the Internet of Things (IoT)
  • How will General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) be enforced?
  • Ransomware: Wire transfer fraud and phishing are hitting Indiana businesses

Check out additional information, the full agenda and sponsorship opportunities. Register to attend here. Our thanks to presenting sponsor Ice Miller and additional sponsors: University of Southern Indiana Romain College of Business, WGU Indiana, Qumulus Solutions, Matrix Integration and Purdue University.

Tech Talk: MPH, IoT Hack and Coding Events on Tap

One of the initial successes of the Indiana Chamber’s tech policy committee was securing funding for the state’s Management Performance Hub (MPH) during the 2017 legislative session.

MPH is an integrated system that links government agency data and allows for data-driven analytics and research. Efforts thus far have yielded a variety of results and the potential is promising.

Data Day 2018 (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on March 6 in the north atrium of the Statehouse) is an opportunity to learn where innovation is happening and to share ideas for future projects.

Public safety is the theme of the April 20-21 AT&T IoT Civic Hackathon. Bill Soards reports more than $15,000 in prizes will be awarded, nearly 200 attendees are already registered, 10 speakers (including the commissioner of the Boston Police Department during the 2013 marathon bombing) are confirmed and momentum continues to build for the third annual event.

From the AT&T folks: Hang out with us as we hack and build IoT apps and projects, get fed, compete for prizes across different categories and, most importantly, meet new people and scout for teammates to work on new or current projects. Bring your laptop, skills and ideas for 24 hours of learning, coding and hacking.

The new IoT lab in Fishers will be the primary location, with additional activities at Launch Fishers.

Indy.Code() is one of many new entries into the Indiana technology conference scene. Full-day workshops and more than 100 breakout sessions are included (April 16-18 at the Indiana Convention Center), along with a keynote address by Indianapolis education technology entrepreneur Nick Birch (Eleven Fifty Academy and PropelUp).

IoT

 

Tech Talk: Staking Their Claim to Be Among the ‘Best’

Technology organizations have traditionally fared well in the annual Best Places to Work (BPTW) in Indiana program, including taking top honors several times in its 12-year history.

In recent years, the number of technology companies making the list has significantly increased. Two reasons, both fairly obvious: Tech is continually becoming a bigger part of our state’s economy and more businesses in this sector are entering the program to gain the valuable feedback that all participants receive.

The 2018 BPTW list was unveiled earlier this week. Twenty-six of the 125 honorees self-identified as being in the tech industry; a few others chose consulting or related fields, but do most of their work in the tech/innovation areas.

Two of the BPTW Hall of Fame organizations (making the list at least eight years of the now 13 years of the program) are Salesforce (ExactTarget in the early days) and Software Engineering Professionals.

But, as noted earlier, the last few years have seen the addition of so many tech start-ups or national companies establishing a strong Indiana presence. The Indiana Chamber’s BizVoice® magazine featured four BPTW newcomers in 2017. Among the first-time winners in 2018: Brite Systems, Carbonite, ClearObject, Clinical Architecture, ESCO Communications, Greenlight Guru, Kronos, OrthoPediatrics, Perficient, Sigstr and Springbuk.

Here’s the 2018 list, in alphabetical order, for the four employer size categories. The celebration, and release of the final rankings, takes place on May 3 at the Indiana Convention Center. BizVoice will have the details about the outstanding workplace cultures at all the winners in its May-June issue.

Congratulations to all the winners. Learn more about the program and prepare to enter for 2019.

Federal Infrastructure Proposal Unveiled; What It Means for Indiana

On Monday, the Trump administration released its long anticipated $1.5 trillion plan for public works and infrastructure. The plan is based on $200 billion in direct federal spending to leverage $1.3 trillion in state, local and private infrastructure investment. (See https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2018/02/INFRASTRUCTURE-211.pdf.)

With many of our nation’s roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure in need of upgrading and building out for the future, this plan relies heavily on additional investment from the states and the private sector. The base of the plan has $100 billion in incentives in the form of grants to state and locals that includes $50 billion for rural projects, $30 billion for revolving federal credit and capital funds, as well as $20 billion for innovative projects that may not be ripe for private investment.

Indiana was one of several states that passed a bold, long-range infrastructure plan last year. (In fact, more than half of the states have raised their gas tax over the past five years.) So we should be well positioned to take advantage of this plan, as we have already taken the needed step to enhance our state and local road infrastructure funding.

Water infrastructure is a big issue for Indiana and this plan also proposes to leverage local investment with up to $40 in local and private money for every $1 in federal investment.

Additionally, the plan also proposes to cut federal permitting and approval times to two years, down from five to 10 years. This could be a big benefit for many projects.

Presently, this plan does not lay out specific funding for the proposal and puts that issue before Congress to solve. That could prove more difficult with concerns that the recently passed federal tax plan will raise the nation’s deficit. One option: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently proposed raising the federal gas tax, which has not been raised since 1993. No doubt, this will be a tough discussion in Congress.

There is usually an economic multiplier effect with infrastructure investment. America’s infrastructure is in dire need of modernization. Indiana has taken big steps to take care of its own and will hopefully benefit from this package. As details develop, we will continue to see how this plan evolves and impacts Indiana infrastructure.

Tech Talk: Planning Ahead for Big Events

There is no shortage of tech-related conferences and events throughout Indiana. To help you plan ahead, here is an update on three important ones upcoming this spring:

Although work is already taking place at the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers, the official grand opening will be March 21. More than 50 companies are on board at the facility, where innovation and collaboration will meet to advance the connections between Indiana businesses and Internet of Things technology.

The AT&T IoT Civic Hackathon will return April 20-21 at the Indiana IoT Lab and Launch Fishers. The focus of the third annual Hackathon will be improving first responder technology and public safety. Among the many guest speakers: former Boston Police Department commissioner Ed Davis and Indiana congresswoman Susan Brooks.

The Indiana Chamber’s inaugural Cyber Security Conference is set for May 1 at the Indiana Chamber Conference Center. Protecting company information from ever-increasing sophisticated attacks is vital for all organizations. Best practices in cyber security and data privacy will be featured. Registration is open and sponsorship opportunities remain.

Save the Date

Tech Talk: Catching Up on Some Conversations

Podcast

Two of the focus areas of the Indiana Chamber’s EchoChamber podcast are education and technology. Both take center stage in the early months of 2018.

Two conversations – with Marian University President Dan Elsener and WGU Indiana Chancellor Allison Barber – are available now. Three more to come feature Trine University President Earl Brooks (January 30), Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Bob Stutz (date to be scheduled) and South Bend’s Rich Carlton, president and COO of Data Realty (February 27).

Innovation is one of the themes that carries throughout these discussions. Elsener was greeted with a great deal of skepticism when he announced plans to start a medical school at the private Indianapolis university. Its first graduates came in 2017. That is among a variety of initiatives that has Marian well on the way to doubling in size by 2025.

WGU Indiana brought a new online, competency-based approach when it became the state’s eighth public university in 2010. It offers an avenue for working students (80% are employed full time) to advance their skills and earn bachelor’s or master’s degrees. Trine has expanded its academic and athletic offerings, with significant growth both geographically and in enrollment.

Stutz has touted Indiana’s tech environment since his arrival in 2016. Carlton is passionate about data management and community development. We know you will enjoy their insights and getting to know them a little better.

You can listen to all EchoChamber conversations online. Subscribe at iTunes, GooglePlay or wherever you get your podcasts to be notified about the latest episode. Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.