Your community’s best economic developers are not on the payroll at your development authority or the local government. Lots of times, they are the successful entrepreneurs. Pat Matthews, author of Small Town, Big Ideas blog, is a perfect example.
As many of you know, I think that Blacksburg has a lot of potential as a startup hub. We’ve got a lot of the characteristics Paul talks about—a major university, lots of smart people, and lots of rich people. But we’re still lacking a lot too. One of my longer term goals is to help cultivate the startup culture in Blacksburg. My first goal is to build an awesome company here at Webmail. Blacksburg needs as many success stories as we can get to shine a light on the great things going on in our region. And ultimately, I want to help fund and support other startups in our region. I’ve got the gumption and the experience—all I need now is the money!
small biz rural entrepreneurship economic development
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