Tax incentives for venture investors Friday, February 11, 2005 Here's an interesting Washington Post article on how Maryland hopes to use tax incentives to attract technology investors. There's not much evidence that these policies work, but political leaders like to try them anyway. Nineteen states have similar policies. Read more. In most cases, the problems of early stage investment are traceable to two issues. First, the lack of high quality business plans. If you can't produce good business plans, chances are you can't find solid investors. Second, even with good business plans, the markets for early stage capital are imperfect. It's hard to connect investors with entrepreneurs. This is the challenge that William Wetzel (director emeritus of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire) first identified the process of angel investing. Effective investment comes from developing trusted networks of angvel investors. As Wetzel notes, "The problem is not lack of supply. The problem is buyer's and seller's not being fully informed about one another in this inefficient, ineffective private equity marketplace." Read more. So, for example, Elkhart, IN this week announced a new economic development initiative to connect entrepreneurs with angel investors. Read more. You can learn more about angel investing from this overview article from Wisconsin. Here is a report on angel investing from the Angel Capital Assocaition. View a list of resources from this page. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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