Wow! This discussion has been going on for nearly five years, OfficeLab and RI-CIE have both come and gone, and here we are, in July of 2012, and Providence STILL doesn't have a Coworking space. Boston currently has 20+, so how come we don't have such a community here? Any thoughts?

I wouldn't go as far as to say ENTIRELY dependent...greatly dependent is probably more accurate. RI has always had a large small business community, which is a bit surprising, as there's never been a great deal of support or attention given to most of them. Most are bootstrapped (at least I get that sense) and most are decidedly non-tech, which explains why they're often overlooked by the powers that be. What, after all, is sexy about a scrap metal business? The reason for a higher failure rate, IMHO, lies in the lack of support that most entrepreneurs and independent professionals receive from the state. MA, CT, even ME have robust, active support programs for SMBs that we do not, unless your area is in tech or health/life sciences...

A good point, Dyna. And adoption of most anything comes when that item fills a need. As more useful resources become available online that offer direct benefits to users, the adoption rate goes up. There are many examples on a national and global scale, but locally, the Online Business Incubator is a good start. We need other things, though to really bring together a strong community of entrepreneurs and independant professionals, which will continue to drive adoption...

Is there anything scheduled for 2012? I can think of at least a dozen people who would benefit from Startup Weekend...

Gyuri: Excellent point regarding the hardware and bandwidth investment. I wonder how MobilePortland handles this?

I agree with Ed. We all knew the State's decision to guarantee the loan for 38 Studios was a bad idea, most of us in the tech industry in Providence have little to no involvement in the gaming sector. I still see a lot of small tech firms with great ideas chugging along here. Pity that their founders merely have expertise instead of celebrity, as they receive little to no state support. I'm tankful for betaspring, and wish there were more incubator projects like them to help nourish our tech community specifically, and our entrepreneur community as a whole... Jim Van

Robert: great concept...physical incubators have their challenges, but an online incubator is an excellent asset for the diaspora of individual professionals, artists, freelancers, entrepreneurs or whatever label one may care to insert here. One strength I see is wider inclusion, as you don't have the physical challenges of the traditional incubator. Keep us posted! I, for one, would like to learn more Jim Van Providence Entrepreneurs Meetup Group

Loud?  Moi?  Ok, ok...I can be a bull in a china shop, but at least I'm no Rush Limbaugh, at least not in stature or politcal views.....

We've seen a number of clients who had offshored call centres and similar services reverse course and base those services with a stateside outsourcer.

The liability/accountability issues of using offshore suppliers is as big a driver as are the cultural/language differences  The cost differences have really shrunk as technology has enabled the 'work anywhere' culture.  Many larger organizations, such as Southwest Airlines, populate their call centres with home and mobile-based representatives.  

Besides, it's a great time to create a job here at home:)

 Jim Van
Logicomm, Inc.
http://www.logicomm-inc.com 

 

Why thank you, Jack.  It's interesting how it all is coming around back to VSB's driving the economy, or at least getting the credit they deserve. The RI economy, in particular, has always been driven by entrepreneurs and Mom and Pop shops.  

Ned Grace (Capital Grille) and his first restaurant come to mind.... Too bad he found it necessary to move to FL to escape the draconian tax system here....

Let's hope that our lawmakers, many of whom are the children of VSB owners, get it.  We're in such a unique position due to our size, and this is such a great place...we can really rule, particularly in tech, if we can get it together....

Jim Van
Logicomm, Inc
http://www.logicomm-inc.com