Press Release
Contact: Rosalyn Gell |
Phone: 919-549-7500 ext.107 |
CED Releases 2006 Entrepreneurial Satisfaction Survey Report
Respondents Cite Workforce Talent as Most Important Factor in Growing a Business; Access to Seed and Expansion Capital are Critical Areas for Triangle Improvement
February 2, 2006, Research Triangle Park, NC – The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) today announced results from its 2006 Entrepreneurial Satisfaction Survey Report, which asked Research Triangle region entrepreneurs about the critical factors for starting and growing an entrepreneurial business. Respondents included founders and CEOs of innovation-based entrepreneurial companies who rated the relative importance of 27 factors and also weighed in on how the Triangle performs in each category.
The complete survey is available online at www.cednc.org/publications/entrepreneurial_satisfaction_survey/
Among the survey's most significant findings:
- The availability and retention of top management and qualified technical and non-technical talent again registered as the most significant factor for high-growth entrepreneurs (which mirrors findings from the 2001 and 2004 CED surveys).
- The proximity of research universities (#1), quality of entrepreneurial support organizations (#2) and overall quality of life (#3) ranked as the Triangle's greatest strengths.
- Access to venture capital, both in seed and expansion stages, is a high priority. While access to capital had declined in relative importance in CED’s 2001 and 2004 reports, financing sources regained importance in the 2006 study.
“CED’s Satisfaction Survey is an important tool to identify what resources the Triangle, and CED specifically, need to provide to ensure that the region’s environment, resources and culture support a vibrant entrepreneurial sector,” said CED President Monica Doss. “The survey is a great vehicle to benchmark regional perceptions. I hope the findings will stimulate discussion on how our region can maintain its competitive advantage as a great place to start and grow an entrepreneurial company.”
Note about survey methodology. CED distributed the survey via email to Triangle area high-growth entrepreneurs across a full range of growth industries. The survey included a menu of factors to numerically rank (with 1 being the least important and 5 being the most important), as well as an opportunity for respondents to add comments.
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and North Carolina. CED is the largest and oldest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing over 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. In July 2005, Wilmington’s Coastal Entrepreneurial Council merged with CED to create CED-Coastal, a divisional office focused on entrepreneurial development in Wilmington and throughout North Carolina’s entire coastal region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. www.cednc.org
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