Sean C. Morgan
Corey Wright told the Sweet Home City Council recently that while the community still has a lot to do to grow economically, things are happening and the community is in a position to benefit from efforts to help local startup companies.
Wright, a rural venture catalyst with the Linn and Benton county Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network, provided a report to councilors during their regular meeting on Nov. 26.
Sweet Home is one of eight area cities that have banded together to create a local RAIN program. Other cities are Lebanon, Brownsville, Halsey, Harrisburg, Monroe, Adair Village and Philomath.
Wright told the council he has developed a sort of “score card” to rate where Sweet Home and other communities are in terms of their startup ecosystems. He rated Sweet Home at 26 out of a possible 48 points. Linn County as a whole, by comparison, rated 36 points. In the lower 20s, a community is unlikely to benefit from a program like RAIN, but Sweet Home is in a position to benefit from the regional effort, he said.
The total number doesn’t really matter, he said. It’s not meant to put a box around Sweet Home, but rather to serve as a starting point.
The rating serves as a baseline for discussion, he said. To reach the number, he rated some 16 different factors with a score of one through three. Factors in Sweet Home such as local government, available training, local media and quality mentors received moderate to high strength in the assessment.
Wright said Sweet Home lacks human capital and talent to support the growth of a startup ecosystem, a lack of “been-there-done-that” business experience, assets like labs and maker spaces and high-net-worth individuals interested in learning about “angel investing.”
He told the council that three out of every 1,000 people try to create a business every month, which means some 27 people per month try it in Sweet Home.
Sweet Home has a lower median income compared to other cities in the region, which could make it more difficult for community residents to decide to try a new business.
A safety net is definitely helpful when people decide to take risks, Wright said.
“I do think it’s going to be harder for them to take a risk when they’re trying to put a roof overhead.”
That’s why Wright is working on a microgrant program with the state, he said, and RAIN provides mentors from across the region who can help guide new Sweet Home entrepreneurs.
RAIN can help such individuals take an idea to action, City Manager Ray Towry told The New Era, and with the difference in median income among communities, it could mean Sweet Home needs RAIN more than other communities.
To help shepherd those potential companies and “to help build up the startup ecosystem in Sweet Home,” the community needs more people to step up, mentor and engage them and to attend RAIN events, Wright said.
“These have been a little slow to get going,” he said. Sweet Home has had the lowest engagement among the stakeholders in all of the RAIN cities for business start-up events. He asked the council to help leverage more businesses to help create a startup ecosystem. If RAIN is going to create an impact, then RAIN needs the councilors to engage and attend RAIN events.
“It’s good for city leaders to engage in bigger events in the ecosystem,” Wright told The New Era, noting that the city manager has been attending RAIN events outside Sweet Home. Getting out to the events will help the community network throughout the region.
“I feel like we’re at the tipping point,” Wright said during the council meeting, but there still isn’t a lot of community support and involvement.
“One thing that I recognized is that even our staff isn’t (familiar) with what RAIN is and what resources they bring,” Towry said. He is arranging meetings with Wright to present RAIN to city staff members.
City staff do receive inquiries from possible entrepreneurs about starting a business, Towry said. They often start by contacting the city because other cities require business licenses. That’s where RAIN may be able to play a role in Sweet Home.
“We need to do a better job of plugging the Small Business Development Center and RAIN into the community,” Towry said.
Noting that the city contributed $7,000 to help fund RAIN, Councilor James Goble asked why RAIN is struggling in Sweet Home and how many people RAIN has helped in the past six months.
Wright said he has identified multiple “wannapreneurs.” He has recently contacted four new entrepreneurs. Of those, two have not further engaged RAIN, while two are setting up meetings.
“I can’t make people start up,” he said, adding that what he can do is host events and be available to would-be entrepreneurs.
“I’ve done things that have worked in other rural communities all over Oregon.”
He attends Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort meetings, and he drives to Sweet Home for events and to work with entrepreneurs. While he is working with the state government to create a microgrant program to help local entrepreneurs, RAIN has already connected one local entrepreneur to a grant to pay for a new laptop.
At this point, he has identified seven entrepreneurs in Sweet Home, Wright said, adding that he needs help – personal connections and referrals from the community.
The money from the city is used to support RAIN personnel, events and activities.
Wright has one entrepreneur who has made significant progress with help from RAIN.
He said he continues to work with Julie Wolfsong and her daughter Shiloh, who own and operate Groovy Moods, which manufactures tie-dye clothing and a variety of felt toys for sale around the world.
Her business is progressing, with Wolfsong recently marketing her products through etsy.com. She has used RAIN resources to apply for grants, and RAIN has provided workshops and classes that she has attended.
In Sweet Home during the past year, RAIN has offered a “Last Man Standing” event, where players tackle 10 challenges faced by startups, Wright said.
A guest speaker at The Point Restaurant discussed how to leverage powerful relationships, and RAIN has held a “startup cafe” every two weeks in Lebanon.
During the startup cafe, entrepreneurs meet with mentors and other entrepreneurs, who hold each other accountable as business owners, making sure they don’t put off tasks they need to complete, Wright said.
Coming up, RAIN will host a workshop, “Social Media Secrets to Boost Your Business,” at 6 p.m. on Jan. 14 at Sweet Home City Hall. Those attending will learn the “ins and outs of leading social media platforms and how to tell your online marketing efforts are working.” Speaking will be Wright, the founder of Massif Games, and Melody Jordan, the Oregon RAIN regional coordinator and founder of Mighty Mama in Pajamas. Register at eventbrite.com.
Tentatively on Jan. 31, RAIN will host a “Bring Your Idea” pitch event, Wright said, but he is still working out details.
“I am still against this,” Goble said of funding RAIN. “I haven’t seen enough proof it’s worth putting in the money the council voted for.”
“This is a long-term process,” Wright replied, predicting it will take 20 years to change the ecosystem enough to score 48. A year and a half ago, Sweet Home had no access to a venture catalyst, no potential “angel seed funding” and no events to help entrepreneurs create businesses. Now it does.
RAIN provides access to events, but even more, it provides access to a broader, national and international startup ecosystem.
Just last week, Wright told The New Era, he helped Groovy Moods connect to a trade show, which will help provide access to markets.
“You’re getting plugged into this greater ecosystem with opportunities,” he said. RAIN has leveraged more than $200,000 in funding from other cities, counties and foundations, with access to angel investors and grant writers.
It also provides other possibilities for local employment and business growth. Wright said he recently talked to an entrepreneur who wants to open a health facility in a rural area, a business that could employ a up to a couple of hundred people.
He connected the entrepreneur to Sweet Home’s city manager and community and economic development director, he said.
“I’m really excited to work with Sweet Home,” Wright told The New Era.
“I think Sweet Home has a lot of potential. If the community will engage, we can see some really great things happen.”
Wright urges anyone interested in starting up a business to engage RAIN immediately.
For more information or to arrange contact, visit oregonrain.org.