City of West Des Moines opens business plan competition
The City of West Des Moines, the Mid Iowa Small Business Development Center, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced that they are accepting applications for their business plan competition.
Top prize in the competition is a seed capital award of $25,000, prizes of $15,000 and $10,000 are also available. Entrants are subject to the following criteria (as quoted from the flyer on the city's website, wdm-ia.com):
- Business in operation less than four years or a new startup business
- Business must be located in West Des Moines or willing to relocate to West Des Moines
- Business Plan must be submitted by a legal adult and a legal resident of the United States. If under 18 years of age, a plan may be submitted with the signature of the parent or guardian.
- Applicants must be less than 80% of the HUD median income guidelines
Applications are due by July 1, 2010.
For more information on the competition and associated programs, see our March 2, 2010 interview with Christin Gordon of the city's Community and Economic Development Department.
ARCHIVED COMMENTS
Here's the link to the pdf that explains the competition in more detail. The income requirements (high than you might think) are also spelled out in the pdf: http://www.wdm-ia.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documenti...
The money they're giving out is huge, and since this is the first year they're doing this program, they are seeing very low application numbers. If you meet the income requirements and have ever considered starting a business, this is THE opportunity you've been looking for.
This program would come off a lot differently if they weren't sending the e-mail out to business and community leaders in Des Moines proper. If you want to lure in business from outside the metro, awesome, great, be my guest. Instead, they're basically trying to lure cool and creative businesses away from the metro core out to the suburbs. Awarding of the seed capital requires a FIVE YEAR contract with the City of West Des Moines to locate your business there and not move away.
Central Iowa's distinct cities need to stop trying to poach business from each other and start thinking municipally. I participated in a focus-group with some consultants from Texas about West Des Moines and the tone and attitude was staggering. They treat their city like an island that can somehow magically exist without Des Moines.
Can you think of any successful suburban city that would be successful without the help, draw, tourism, etc of a solid and vibrant urban city center nearby?
Great point about poaching businesses. I wasn't aware of the 5 year commitment...
My recommendation of this program will now be made only to those who have already chosen to setup shop in West Des Moines.
I've thought about this a bit more and wanted to share.
Bottom line - programs like these encourage entrepreneurship (and as a result, economic development, job creation, etc.). I've always had issues with "business plan competitions" in general, but in the end I think they're a good thing because they draw ideas out into the open and get people moving who may have otherwise never taken action. That's what I'm personally passionate about. And if someone living downtown wins this money (unlikely because of income requirements) and decides to open shop in West Des Moines, then that's one more entrepreneur created in the state of Iowa, in the US, in the world.
The 5-year commitment is steep and we could argue that it may prove to be a constraint if the company "grows out" of West Des Moines within that time. Yet, you can't blame West Des Moines for trying - after all, the money is coming from their city's budget and their residents would benefit if the money is kept within city limits. It would probably suck for them if someone accepted the money and then moved to another state.
Finally, the attitude you've identified, the tug of war going on between proper Des Moines and West Des Moines - it's there for a lot of other unfortunate reasons that should be argued on another blog somewhere. Whenever I find someone sporting this attitude, I point out their silliness. I think it's unfair to completely "write-off" THIS particular program because it may or may not lure business away from Des Moines proper.
Let's focus on the likely results of this program. It's open to businesses that have started less than four years ago (or new startups). I'm sure there are tons of businesses that opened up shop in West Des Moines within the last four years. THEY should be the ones applying for this. And I'm betting they are planning to stick around West Des Moines for a while. Let's get the word out to existing business owners in West Des Moines so they can put this money to good use. As I said before, I will only be recommending this to those already in West Des Moines anyway.
With regards to their marketing efforts (the e-mails they are sending to everyone, particularly those in proper Des Moines) - can we just assume that they are going for WOM here? Most of the e-mail recipients won't qualify for the competition anyway, but might know someone who could really benefit from this (someone who started a business in West Des Moines within the last 4 years for example).
Of course, there are a hundred ways I would rather see this money spent, but, as they say, 'it is what it is' - and I think it's more good than evil. It's not perfect, but it's gonna make three WDSM business owners very happy.
I guess I'm not afraid to say something negative about a program I disagree with publicly without writing a 500 word backpedal about it afterward.
"Finally, the attitude you've identified, the tug of war going on between proper Des Moines and West Des Moines - it's there for a lot of other unfortunate reasons that should be argued on another blog somewhere. Whenever I find someone sporting this attitude, I point out their silliness. I think it's unfair to completely "write-off" THIS particular program because it may or may not lure business away from Des Moines proper."
What attitude am I sporting, Shane? Am I sporting an attitude, or identifying a prominent problem, a problem that even the Partnership itself has brought in speakers to address?
I'm not completely writing off this program, and it's unfair of you to put words in my mouth. If West Des Moines has passionate entrepreneurs interested in opening a business there, I wish them the best of luck and think the program will be great for them.
Re-read my words and note what I'm actually addressing and saying about the program, and not what you've imagined I'm saying. Thanks.
"And if someone living downtown wins this money (unlikely because of income requirements) and decides to open shop in West Des Moines..."
This is a bit off the topic, but I wanted to say that this isn't the best argument about drawing people out of downtown. People of ALL income levels live all over the city - the Hubbell Apartments, for example, have 72 units all with HUD income restrictions.
You weren't sporting any attitude until this latest post. I never suggested that you were; in fact, I never even thought it (until now). If you read my post, you'll see that I never said YOU were sporting the attitude. Rather, I said that I too have seen people with the attitude you've identified - the one of hostility between proper downtown and West Des Moines. Whenever I meet people who, as you said, "treat their city like an island," I try to point out THEIR silliness. I think you and I are on the same page about the ridiculousness of having that attitude. I actually liked your post about this DSM vs. WDSM hostility issue, because I think it's a real issue that needs to be talked about - but I didn't want it to come at the expense of this program, which at its core was created to help build entrepreneurship in the state of Iowa.
RE: "write-off"
You said "they're basically trying to lure cool and creative businesses away from the metro core out to the suburbs." And your reasoning is that they sent e-mails to people who live in proper downtown. I think that's unfair. To my knowledge, many of the DSM city-sponsored economic development programs are promoted to the entire greater Des Moines region (including WDSM). If that's true, why can't WDSM send some e-mails to people living downtown for help with word-of-mouth? It sounds (to me) like you're pretty much writing off the program because of this possible outcome. And, my use of "quotes" around the phrase "write-off" was not meant to suggest that those words ever came out of your mouth. I just thought it was one of those phrases that needed quotes around it.
Re: "If West Des Moines has passionate entrepreneurs interested in opening a business there, I wish them the best of luck and think the program will be great for them." - I agree completely. Which is why I won't be recommending this to anyone unless they already live in WDSM.
Cat - true, but on average, downtown living is more expensive than the suburbs. Your example of the 72 units downtown is an outlier that does not change the statistical conclusion, which is that those who qualify for this program are less likely to live downtown. This is true not only because of the lesser % of low income persons living downtown than in the burbs, but also because of the sheer greater number of low income persons living in the surrounding areas than downtown. Everything else constant, it's just a higher probability that the people who qualify for this will come from the burbs.