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Jonathan Ortmans

Revisiting Sarbanes-Oxley

We have heard several entrepreneurship-based proposals recently to get our economy back on track, but one piece seemed to be missing this whole time in the debate: re-evaluating Sarbanes-Oxley for young firms. We have long known that the compliance costs associated with SOX—particularly section 404—have been discouraging many companies from going public, thereby blocking their access to capital and growth. Researchers have suggested that Congress address this issue in some way, and a measure to allow shareholders of companies with market cap below $1 billion to opt-in under SOX was one of the ideas floated in the Startup Act released mid-July. The measure is now gaining track in Congress.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on September 19, 2011
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Helping the World's Future Entrepreneurs

Over time I have become increasingly confused as to the meaning of “youth entrepreneurship.” While the myth of entrepreneurs as “modern day Mozarts” in garages (to borrow Carl Schramm’s phrase) is slowly being dispelled, it seems our human instinct to avoid conversations about age is alive and well! The reason this matters now is because governments and non-governmental organizations around the globe appear to be ramping up investment in “youth enterprise.”

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on September 13, 2011
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A Need for a More Informed Public

Most policymakers are starting to both heed entrepreneurs for their job and wealth creation efforts during these tough times as well as pick up on one of our nation’s biggest source of high-growth start-ups: immigrant entrepreneurs. But if public reaction to a recent NPR segment and recent Washington Post commentary on the topic are anything to go by, I fear we have a long way to go to convince the average American citizen.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on August 29, 2011
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Leapfrogging to High-Growth in Mexico

Even during this bruising recession, risk-taking entrepreneurs in the developing world seem to be seeing opportunities to leapfrog others and create advantage. And, as the Kauffman Foundation’s Carl Schramm recently argued in an article in Forbes magazine, I am not just talking about mobile technology in Africa.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on August 22, 2011
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Starting Up Startup America

On January 31st, 2011, the White House announced Startup America, a public/private initiative to rally efforts to accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship in the U.S. by expanding access to capital, creating a national network for entrepreneurship education, enhancing the commercialization of federally-funded innovations and getting rid of tax and paperwork barriers for startups. Given the importance of new firms to America’s economy and the national urgency to create jobs, I take a look this week at what Washington accomplished—leading up to the summer break—in response to the President’s call for action.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on August 15, 2011
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A New Beginning for Peru

Now that Peru has inaugurated a new government, the verdict is out on how the Ollanta Humala administration treats entrepreneurs. When the new president presented the names of eight of his cabinet ministers for his presidential mandate which started July 28, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Peruvian entrepreneur Salomon Lerner would be among them. At the time, President Humala asked the Peruvian population to trust that the new Cabinet members were committed to the change the country now needs.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on August 08, 2011
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Syrian Quest for Freedom

As I read this morning’s news about Syrian security forces renewing attacks on the city of Hama, I become even more committed to finding stories of Syrians looking beyond the divides of politics, class and religion, who can help shape the fate of the country and its four-months-long revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on August 01, 2011
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Is Indonesia the Next Brazil?

It has been a big week for entrepreneurship in Indonesia. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Bali on July 21 to take part in an ASEAN Regional Entrepreneurship Summit (RES) held by the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia and the Global Entrepreneurship Program Indonesia (GEPI). The theme of the 3-day RES was: “Emerging Entrepreneurs: The Next Big Chapter.”

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on July 25, 2011
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Entrepreneurship on Campus

I hope that like me, you have had the chance to witness the burgeoning phenomenon of entrepreneurship curriculum in American higher education. More and more, students have the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship on campus. In the process of creating entrepreneurship programs, universities have become more entrepreneurial themselves. This is great news. Colleges and universities are natural incubators of creativity and new ways of looking at things. And this new reality might mean that colleges and universities are better preparing students for success in the American economy where more professionals need to make their own jobs.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on July 22, 2011
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A Start Up Act At Last

It is time to implement new methods to shake our economy out of this lingering spell of slow growth (a disappointing 2% rate) and high unemployment (hovering around 9%). And while the large federal budget deficit does not leave much room for implementing more traditional economic remedies, the Kauffman Foundation—at a press conference this morning here at the National Press Club in Washington, DC—suggested it is time for legislation. Startup legislation.

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Posted by: Jonathan Ortmans
on July 21, 2011
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