By Brittain Phillips
Contributing Writer

The entrepreneurial spirit—that zeal for pursuing new, ambitious business opportunities—is often strongest in a particular type of person. Entrepreneurs are a driven people; a breed of individuals who are, by and large, willing to throw the brunt of their business aspirations on their backs and go it alone for as long as necessary, or as long as possible.

Even the savviest, most independent entrepreneurs, however, reach a point on their path where they require guidance and sound advice on how to bring their ideas and intentions to fruition.

The recently launched Corridor Roundtable, an initiative of the Charleston Digital Corridor, is aimed at meeting entrepreneurs at this critical juncture with seasoned experts who can help guide the new-business hopefuls to the resources and connections they need.

Ernest Andrade, executive director of the CDC, a city-funded effort to attract, nurture and grow technology and knowledge-based companies and industry professionals to Charleston, describes the Corridor Roundtable as “an electronic interface created to assist entrepreneurs with the challenges they face in growing their respective businesses.”

The process is simple yet elegant in its design, and was devised to be as effective as it is efficient in serving entrepreneurs with straightforward answers, timely advice and relevant contacts. Entrepreneurs whose plans will lead them to build a company or firm that falls in one of the CDC’s targeted categories will have the opportunity to contact electronically one of the project’s roundtable experts.

These carefully chosen experts are champions of the entrepreneurial process: successful, dynamic individuals who have agreed to volunteer their broad-based knowledge and networks for the benefit of Charleston’s next wave of leaders in the knowledge-based business realm.

Based on the inquiries, the roundtable experts will respond with whatever informational resources best fit the participant and his/her situation. Direct answers will be offered wherever possible and practical, but the experts will also be prepared to “refer the entrepreneur to the respective individuals who are either part of their private network or professionals who are plugged into the corridor network,” Andrade says.

The Corridor Roundtable, then, offers knowledgeable, established members of the business community who are available to answer questions and suggest ideas as well as culture professional support and foster encouragement.

The drawbacks of a conventional roundtable, are conspicuously omitted. Absences and delays due to tumultuous schedules are eliminated. Less relevant or irrelevant participants are excluded. And the dialogue can be extended as long as it remains useful and productive.

The Corridor Roundtable was only recently implemented as a fully functional initiative, but several of its founding principles smack of past endeavors of the CDC. Leveraging technology to both minimize unnecessary bureaucracy and increase functionality, a critical feature of the roundtable, is also a hallmark of the CDC’s Talent Portal.

The goal of providing vital resources to young business ventures at a critical stage in their development is mirrored by the CDC’s Touchdown Space project, which gives qualified start-ups a temporary, tech-rich office space during transitional periods. Even the use of proven, volunteer advisors is somewhat of an old trick for the CDC, first used in the case of financial professionals called upon to lend their expertise to the workings of the Corridor Fund.

The Corridor Roundtable has incorporated entrepreneurial specialists as integral components from its conception. The roundtable experts will include among their ranks professionals with experience in multiple areas of the knowledge-based and technology industries, creating a versatile team of talented individuals armed with a complete understanding of what it takes to grow a fledgling business.

One of the experts, South Carolina-native Mason Pope, brings a wealth of sales and marketing experience to the roundtable. Pope is co-founder and former president of QuickFarm Inc., a tech company that develops Web-based applications to assist farmers and other agricultural businesses in financial, production and administrative operations.

While at QuickFarm, Pope created a marketing strategy that vaulted the company to national prominence as a leader in its field. Roundtable entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to tap Pope’s knowledge of “how to build systems that reach out to target customers, as well as marketing the company and its products,” he says.

Like the CDC’s other efforts, the roundtable will allow for modification to its structure when necessary, to ensure that a favorable result is achieved. Andrade is convinced that the roundtable’s highly flexible design will permit tweaks to the system if changes are in order.

“We will be constantly making assessments and looking for opportunities to optimize its performance,” he says.

The long-term effects of the roundtable, if it succeeds, will do much to help the CDC achieve its goals of increasing the presence of knowledge-based businesses in Charleston. Andrade insists that the roundtable’s eyes are trained on that prize.

“The initiative is much more bottom-line focused than it is process-oriented,” he says.

SUBSCRIBE | REPRINTS | CONTACT US

Phone: 843-849-3100    Fax: 843-849-3122