Where Are All The Women Entrepreneurs?

Lately, there have been several articles, studies and other pieces of media that ask the question: where are all the women entrepreneurs? The recent fourth annual OPEN State of Women-Owned Business report provides some insight into the world of female business owners. The report analyzes various aspects of existing female-owned businesses. Some of the highlights of the report are:

• As of 2014, there are 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. 
• Nationally, the number of women-owned businesses has grown by 68% since 1997. 
• Pennsylvania is number 7 on the list of top ten states with the highest number of female business owners. 

Although the report listed some positive figures, there are still some areas for improvement. Here are a few highlights from the report that are worth remembering too.

• While the numbers of women-owned firms continue to grow in number and economic clout, the average size of women-owned firms has not changed appreciably over the past 17 years. 
• Women-owned firms are still much smaller than the average U.S. business. 

Read the full report here.

What else can we do to promote a more diverse entrepreneurial community in Pittsburgh and other areas? If you have suggestions, feel free to share them with us in the comments or on our social pages.

Finding Office Space in Pittsburgh

Finding the perfect office space for your business is hard. According to a new study by Avison Young, the growing success of Pittsburgh as a hub for businesses also makes it one of the cities with the lowest office vacancy rates in the US.

Its 8.7 percent vacancy rate is just behind Columbus, Ohio, (8.6 percent) and San Francisco (6.4 percent), Avison Young said in its Office Market Report Mid-Year 2014.

"Continued success is the story of Pittsburgh's office market at mid-year 2014," the report said.

Specific deals mentioned include the Bakery Square 2.0 expansion by Google, the sublease by UPMC at Heinz 57 Center and Michael Baker International's pending move of its headquarters from Moon Township to 500 Grant St. Read more about the study here. 

There are some programs and organizations in Pittsburgh that aim to make business space more available to Pittsburgh startups and small businesses. In addition to other local entrepreneurship advocacy, Riverside Center for Innovation along with North Side Industrial Development Co. (NSIDC) redevelops brownfields, sites that are abandoned and potentially contaminated, into places for new businesses. To learn more about NSIDC and their brownfield work, view the blog here. Visit the RCI website to learn more about our office options and programs. 

City Of Pittsburgh Looking For More Ways To Support Startup Accelerators

We like to think that Pittsburgh is a growing hub for innovation and small business. Now, with events like Steve Case's Rise of the Rest Road Tour, even more people are taking notice of the city for its startups and entrepreneurs and the accelerators behind them. Mayor Peduto has focused a series of round table discussions on technology, with the most recent one focusing on how city government can help support accelerators. Below are some of the major highlights: 

Infrastructure is still an issue 

Leonore Blum, distinguished career professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and founding director of Project Olympus, said it can be difficult to attract investment from the West Coast if those investors can't get here easily.

"Without daily service to the West Coast, those investors come in, harvest the companies and take them away," Blum said.

And it's not just air service that can be an issue. Mark Musolino, director of RevvOakland, said having better transportation options in the city is needed to attract and keep talent in addition to marketing Pittsburgh as a destination for aspiring entrepreneurs. 

Connecting underrepresented populations to opportunities 

While resources have been put in place to foster technology startups, Peduto said the city has to think about entrepreneurship beyond that scope. 

"How do we make sure the person that works at Pep Boys and wants to open their own service center has the same opportunity and access as a software developer at Carnegie Mellon?" Peduto asked.

He said the goal is to create ladders of opportunity for everybody, especially in neighborhoods that have been left out of the city's redevelopment.

Bill Generett, director of Urban Innovation21, said when companies locate in a community, it spurs other economic development.

Read more

Listen to Peduto's Roundtable with Pittsburgh's Tech Leaders

Photo by Clara Michelle

Pittsburgh's Mayor Peduto is holding a series of roundtable discussions with area technology and innovation leaders. The series focuses on the tech and maker culture that is part of the region. If you are interested in listening in on the conversation, check out the details below.

The events are being held in conjunction with the White House Business Council, according to Peduto's office.

The series kicked off June 9 with a roundtable on the maker movement. A discussion on co-working and accelerator spaces is set for Aug. 6 and another on startups is slated for Aug. 13.

Thursday's event will not be open to the public due to space constrains, but will be broadcast live at 2 p.m. on the City Cable Channel. 

Read more  

Registration is Now Open for the 3 Rivers Venture Fair

Photo by The Editor

The 3 Rivers Venture Fair is taking place on October 7th and 8th at Heinz Field! If you aren't familiar with the event yet, it showcases the region's hottest and up-and-coming technology startups to investors. A selected group of entrepreneurs pitch their innovations with the chance to attract funding. 

Registration to attend the event is now open. If your company would like the chance to present your idea to investors, you can find the free application here.

Since its debut in 2002, the mission of the 3 Rivers Venture Fair has remained steadfast; to foster the commercialization of promising technology innovations through investment.\

In the twelve years since, the 3RVF has grown both in size and stature and is, today, heralded as one of the largest, most respected technology investment showcases in the U.S and a must-see for influential investors seeking lucrative ground-floor opportunities. 

Companies featured at the 3RVF have gone on to raise over $500 million, a testament to the caliber of our presenters and the potential of their innovations to transform business and industry, from manufacturing to marketing and every sector in between. 

Read more at the 3 Rivers Venture Fair website.

11 Pittsburgh Startups Receive Investments from CMU's Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund

Photo by Joey Gannon

Eleven Pittsburgh-based startups were awarded investments from CMU's Open Field Entrepreneurs Fund. Investments were given to a total of 16 startups, 37 since the fund began in 2012. Recipients of the award are Carnegie Mellon alum and entrepreneurs that have graduated in the last five years. More information about the fund and the list of this round's recipients are below.

Each OFEF recipient received a $50,000 investment, along with personalized mentoring from CMU faculty and alumni. Peter Stern, Kaplan’s classmate and co-founder of Datek Online, provides advisory support for the fund and serves as a mentor to one of the OFEF award recipients.

The local recipients and a brief description of what each does are listed alphabetically below:

• BandPass provides bands with direct assets to the shows they want to play and gives venues the information they need to book shows.
• Bistrobot uses robotics technology to create fresh food in a timely manner.
• Collected allows users to uncover and reuse existing work by providing related content from the user’s cloud accounts as they type.
• Digital Dream Labs teaches children how to build programs as they guide characters in a video game through puzzles, learning the fundamentals of computer sciences along the way.
• Greenovation designs, builds and develops affordable and sustainable housing.
• Innovesca develops processing technologies to provide users with a detailed account of food’s nutritional benefits.

Read more

Young Entrepreneur of the Year Celebration and Symposium

Congratulations to ActivAided Orthotics CEO, Kelly Collier, on being named the Young Entrepreneur of the Year! The award is given by the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Administration (SBA) to a rising entrepreneur that is making a significant impact to the local community with his or her innovation and business savvy. 

Kelly's company, ActivAided Orthotics, is dedicated to supporting active lifestyles through the development of innovative products that work to retrain proper posture and biomechanics. In celebration, ActivAided and the Western Pennsylvania SBA are holding a "Celebration and Symposium on Evolving Physical Medicine After the ACA" at RCI on August 4! To attend, please RSVP by July 28. For more details, view the flyer below.