Rhode Island has a lot to offer startups, including great quality-of-life amenities and top-tier educational and support services.
But the perception has always been that for all its benefits, small size, limited funding sources and other challenges lead many of its most-successful new businesses to Boston and other bigger markets.
So, what more can the state do to change that?
Plenty, say local business leaders, entrepreneurs and those who work with them, though they don’t necessarily agree on what. This week’s cover story includes a PBN survey asking business leaders what one thing would most help Rhode Island produce and keep more successful startups.
More than half of the 65 respondents, 55.3%, chose either more government support or less regulatory hassle. Next-most-popular selections among eight options were, in order, “more private investors,” “better-trained workers,” “more-supportive startup community” and “more affordable spaces.” No one selected the option of nothing at all.
But perhaps the most telling – and sobering – response was from one of the state’s most-successful entrepreneurs, Upserve Inc. founder Angus Davis. In an interview, he identified a better workforce – selected by only 13.8% of respondents – as the No. 1 thing needed.
He also called the workforce “woefully inadequate” due to a host of weaknesses that can be fixed, but only with better political leadership.
State leaders need to get more invested in seeing if he’s right – and finding ways to grow and keep more promising new companies everyone can agree on.