I sat for a couple of hours yesterday chatting with Ron Cook, Entrepreneurial Studies Director at Rider University.  Ron was one of the early entrants into academic entrepreneurship, joining Rider almost 18 years ago after receiving his Phd from Syracuse University in 1992.

We spoke a bit about the economy and its impact on entrepreneurship and America.   Ron is still pretty high on America’s competitiveness, specifically relating to Europe and China.  He feels entrepreneurship is one of the reasons why America will continue to be a global economic leader.  Europe  is still far behind us in entrepreneurship which he says he and his colleagues have discussed, noting “Europeans typically embraced entrepreneurship later than the US and don’t handle failure as well, while Americans after a business failure more easily move on to their next venture.”   He also feels that China still does not stack up well against American innovation.  Structural issues such as rule of law and transparency hamper both China and Russia, the former most evident in the ongoing problem of  piracy of intellectual property, the latter relating to the State’s right to absorb a private company.  Ron sees both issues  as strong disincentives for individuals to take on the  risk of new business formation.  And in this one case where our activist American legal system has been very protective of the entrepreneur , serving our free market system and economy well.

Local to New Jersey, Rider has seen an almost 25% increase in its entrepreneurship student class during the recession.   Ron sees two factors attributing for this:  high unemployment  has lowered the opportunity cost for students who are required to choose between pursuing their entrepreneurial passion at graduation or taking a more secure paying position; the other is corporations placing greater value on students who have had exposure to entrepreneurship.    Just this past May, Rider had its  largest number of entrepreneurial degree graduates— 25.

The University continues to expand its offerings to students who seek an entrepreneurial career:

• Inclusion of entrepreneurial courses in the MBA program, in addition to the existing undergraduate entrepreneurial program
• This past year’s inauguration of an on campus business start up through the Entrepeneurial Studies Student Club, and
• Currently under review, a New Venture Launch Program in which MBA students are provided mentoring and access to a student loan fund to help execute a business plan they have written.

Ron shared his pleasure in the ongoing success of Rider students in the national Small Business Institute competition where again a team of Rider consulting students won a very laudable third place finish.  This continues the university’s dominance of the competition over the past 10 years in which Rider students have finished in the top 10 fourteen times.   Read more on the competition…

I had the opportunity to speak with SEO/SEM experts via meetings arranged by the Conference organizers.  They provided information and pointers to share with small businesses who don’t have the budgets to have the staff that the larger companies have.   Ray “Catfish” Comstock, Director of SEO, for BusinessOnline offered 3 precise SEO Tactics Important for Small Business in 2010:

1. Remember that a Link is a Vote in Google

2. Sign up for Google Local Business Center and Get on the Map

3. Optimize Videos as YouTube is now the 2nd largest Search

Clear, concise and readily doable.

Another Conference panelist, Heather Lloyd-Martin of SuccessWorks, the CEO of an SEO copywriting business, provided more detailed advice for small business:

     1. If you can, involve an SEO expert when you are first designing your web site so SEOis built in the best possible way

     2. If a page isn’t converting, the first question to ask is, “How can we make our page so compelling that our prospects convert at a higher level?” An SEO copywriter can figure out how to rewrite your content for maximum conversions. Plus, a savvy SEO copywriter knows how to seamlessly weave keyphrases into the copy – so your copy will be great for search engines, too!

     3. Content is everything in the search engine world – the search engines are looking for authoritative sites around certain topics. Plus, other sites will link to yours when you have great content. For instance, your company may produce a highly-informative FAQ article. That article may receive a lot of quality incoming links (which are like recommendations) that can help it position in the search engines and drive traffic.  Additionally, the page Title (which is part of the back-end code) is crucial for page positioning – and it also does “double duty” by acting like a headline and encouraging prospects to visit your site (the Title appears as the clickable link on the search engine results page.) So, when you have great, keyphrase-rich content, compelling Titles and strong incoming links – you’ll definitely see an influx of traffic.

     4.  Campaign keyphrases for SEM and SEO are often very similar – although there may be some keyphrases that are better served in a PPC campaign (and vice versa.) I recommend revisiting your keyphrase research every quarter or so (for both PPC and SEO campaigns.) You may find new keyphrases to target, plus you can see if the keyphrases you’re targeting are driving the traffic (and conversions) you want.

I much appreciated the opportunity the Conference gave NJEntrepreneur to have direct access to the experts.  I was able to interview them and pose questions in a great setting.   I look forward to going back each year, however, I have learned to go into the Conference focused on having one or two key questions answered.  I also identify and make connections that I can refer to after the conference concludes.

Unfortunatley, on line fraud is becoming more common and the main street media has brought attention to the problem–both spotlighting some of the areas of vulnerability and the solutions beng offered.   The Wall Street Journal on Monday (February 8, 2010) had a very informative article entitled Wanted: Defense Against Online Bank Fraud.  The article gave an excellent overview of the problem, while also noting a specific point of tension between customers and the banks when the security breach has occurred at the customer side and not within the bank’s security defenses.  In the case highlighted in this article, the hacker penetrated the small business’ in house computer which resulted in  $100,000 being fraudulently transfered before it became visible on a receiving bank’s radar.  Though approximatley half of the funds were recovered, the other portion is in dispute since the intrusion occurred on the customer’s computer system, not the bank’s. 

Resolution of this dispute most likely will go to the courts, though on some occasions banks have quietly settled.  What is important to know are the areas of vulnerability that small business owners should be aware of to safeguard their funds and minimize risk.    Fundamental protections on the bank account, as noted in the article, include use of dual controls on the account, a daily limit on transfers,  phone confirmation of transfers and others.  On the customer side recommendations include using an obscure operating system on your computer which are less prone to hacking and dedicating a computer for banking that is kept off line when not in use and never used for email or web surfing.

Alan Buckwalter of Jefric Consulting provides services to small businesses and addresses these security issues.   He notes, “phishing is a serious problem to the online banking community.  False advertisement phishing attacks represent an ever increasing percentage of the spam email going through on the Internet.  Harmless links can conceal spam and virus infected websites that lead to service, identity and monetary theft.  If the IRS is trying to reach you, do you really think they will send you 10 emails a day, as opposed to calling you?”

Nancy Butnick, Special Projects Leader, of the Liberty Science Center, presented fantastic footage of surgery being conducted with the use of robotics that included views of internal organs as part of the Cardiac Classroom.   As she showed and explained, the doctor sits in a machine that enables them to make hand and arm movements that the robot emulates to conduct the surgery.   Students from high schools around New Jersey are able to view this and other initiatives by attending the Science Center.  Their goal is encourage interest in engineering, math and science.

Dunbar Birnie, Chairman, Materials Sciencee and Engineering, at Rutgers shared student projects focusing on Energy Applications and Solar.  This included toy cars powered by solar cells built by students.   Dunbar “dreams of running a High School statewide Solar Design Competition.”

Kenneth Zushna, Executive Director, New Jersey Technology Educators Association, shared the mission of their organization to educate students about  “practicing the process of design and innovation”.   Though not offered at all high schools in New Jersey, a teacher with a Technology Education Certification assists students in achieving Technological Literacy.

As noted during the panel discussion, in roads have not been made in having girls pursue careers in engineering and science.   Reasons shared by some women attendees included social pressure during teen years, as well as women professionals facing hurdles in becoming re-engaged in their industry following  child rearing.   Anecdotes were shared about some successes, but the general concensus was that results were far below expectations.  One left the conference after viewing some of the videos as to how students could not be motivated to become active as the technology on display was so impressive—and gave such a preview to an adventurous future.

Moderated by Fred Feiner, President of Yankee Public Relations, three panels comprised of biopharma executives and key industry service providers discussed the financial crisis and strategies to address the challenges being faced.  Recommendations from the first panel comprised of biopharma executives  included:

• Stay focused on revenue producing opportunities
• Reduce expenditures head count
• Be prepared to provide potential investors with the right details they require, and not provide too much information that distracts them
• Explore revenue opportunities that are nearer at hand for some products to hold over the company for their other products with longer term revenue horizons
• Network through the shareholder base to find investors
• Have a strong management team in place
• Have your story down in advance of meeting your investors
• Be creative in looking for non traditional sources of funding
• Be resilient, be optimistic
• Do not assume all departments of a large strategic partner view your venture the same way or that they won’t change their mind given a change of events

This panel was comprised of Annarie Lyles, SVP Genmab, Ellen McDonald, SVP Regado,Evan Myrianthopoulos, DOR Biopharma, and Andrew Reaume, CEO Melior Discovery. 

In the second panel that focused on what investors desire to hear, Jeffrey H. Nicholas, Partner in the law firm of Fox Rothschild, described the current crisis as a Darwinian period during which a good number of biotech firms are being eliminated and an excess of high quality human capital being available for a good period of time to come.  He shared instances of company boards more readily prompting changes in a venture’s executive team knowing that alternatives exist due to the current availability of seasoned executives.  He emphasized that deals are being made where promises of commercialization exist.    This panel also included: Gene Detroyer, Five Prime Advisors, John Pennett, Amper, Politiziner & Mattia, Emilio Ragosa, Morgan Lewis and Avjit Roy, Five Prime Advisors.

One attending entrepreneur,Michael Marsan, President of New Market Translations which has a disruptive technology for the translation services industry, expressed his enthusiasm for the panel and the accessibility that was given.  He was very pleased to see the broad panel representation from regional angel groups and the innovative way that NJEN offered contact with them.

The panel included:

• Mario Casabona, President and CEO, Casabona Venture LLC  & Chair of JumpstartNJ Angel Network
• Larry Chaityn, Chapter President of Keiretsu Forum NY Tri-State
• Loren D. Danzis, Delaware Crossing Investor Group
• Ellen Sandles, Executive Director, Tri-State Private Investors
• Christopher Starr, Executive Director Mid-Atlantic Angel Group Funds
• David Twersky, President, Robin Hood Ventures
• Joan Zief, Golden Seeds

This meeting wrapped up the business season for NJEN meetings which will start up again following the Labor Day weekend.  More info: www.NJEN.com

Carbon Nanoprobes emerged the winner among the approximate 35 pitching entrepreneurs.  Participating entrepreneurs’ short pitches are judged on a combination of presentation quality and venture fundability by an investor panel.  Brian Ruby made the most compelling case for funding,  for his venture Carbon Nanoprobes, an emerging nanotech solutions provider that enables the acceleration of research and development through use of its molecular imaging technology.   This years Olympics drew in a broad range of pitching entrepreneurs from TimeoutTV, a venture optimizing airport real estate through tamper proof video screens in restrooms and other areas to Twin Hens, a food company specializing in frozen pot pie entrees to a high technology ventures such as iSpeech’s text to speech software and Carbon Nanoprobes.

Judging panelists included:

• Thatcher Bell, Principal, DFJ Gotham Ventures
• Matt Bieber, Senior Associate, Originate Ventures
• Conrad Everhard, Esq. Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP
• Paul Lewis, Angel Investor, Partner, Lewis LLC
• Jeanne Sullivan, General Partner, StarVest Partners, LP

The Venture Association’s next Expo is scheduled for late October 2009.  More information:  www.VANJ.com

Part of the Conference was Venture to Invention, a workshop series developed with support from the Kauffman Foundation and The Lemelson Foundation.  Judith Sheft, Associate Vice President of Technology Development at NJIT, coordinated the full day of workshops focusing on Green Entrepreneurship that included Green IP, Green Venture Funding, Strategic Partners and more.  I spoke with a few of the attendees as to what their ventures were and what challenges they were facing.  One attendee who had a patentable idea was trying to find the pathway to appropriate IP protection on a limited budget.  Another was a future entrepreneur with a head full of ideas and seeking to learn more about the entrepreneurial journey and where to jump in.

For the second year in a row the FDU Sustainability Incubator team put together an event that drew passionate attendees.  Building off of  last year’s success, the event was expanded to just over two days and included a video conference for the kick off networking social of Bob Wilard, Author & Business Sustainability Champion.

If you missed the Conference, check out it’s web site:  www.greenventuresconference.org

New Jersey’s most notable entrepreneur and space traveler, Dr. Greg Olsen shared both his experiences as entrepreneur and his unique exploits in space travel with a full auditoreum of attendees.  Explaining that four key elements of a successful venture are: Capital, People, Facilities and Leverage and that while the first three will fluctuate depending upon the business cycle, the last factor, Leverage, is a constant.  He encouraged entrepreneurs to leverage relationships with clients, partners, individuals, universities and others that will enable their venture to move forward by recreatively using their limited resources.   He cited, one example, a trade of skill and talent an organization might value from the entrepreneur in exchange for work space that would onlt require a limited, if any, exchange of money. 

Having sold one of his businesses just prior to the Internet bubble bursting which was a combination of great timing and some luck, Dr. Olsen recommended that entrepreneurs not seek the best deal, but a good deal.   He encouraged the entrepreneur to be aware of the point when the executive tream has been put in place and is working effectively as a timely opportunity for the venture’s sale. 

Bill Joy, Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems, offered a great perspective on the emerging frontier of technology in the early 1980′s.  Describing the emergence of local area networks and the Internet as period when “Everything was up for grabs”, he shared the excitement of being at a place in time when enormous opportunity abounded.  He equated it to entrepreneurs being asked “what would you do, if you knew you wouldn’t fail?” which projected a confidence that they were involved at a time when their were almost unlimited amout of opportunities to solve problems of far reaching importance.

Following these two key note speaches was a panel hosted by Inc. Magazine, moderated by Inc.’s Deputy Editor, Mike Hofman.  The panel included , Lexy Funk, CEO of Brookyn Industries, Dan Hoffman, CEO of M5, Tomasz Imielinksi, VP of Technology of Ask.com, Dr. Randall Pinkett, CEO of BCT Partners and David Edwab, Director of Men’s Warehouse. The event concluded with Dr. Pinkett presenting the Campus Challenge CEO Awards.