Dr. CK Lin | Productivity. Innovation. Entrepreneur Profiles

Entrepreneurial Trailblazing: How to Stimulate a Dwindling Economy

President Obama’s approval rating is already down, the stock market has not hit this sort of low since ‘97, and many are fearful for their jobs.

Not to sound like a character from the computer game Oregon Trail, but morale is low.

The silver lining, however, is that there are entrepreneurs aplenty that are optimistic about turning all this around.

How? Innovations, of course.

There are many up and coming entrepreneurs that are bringing new ideas to the table, such as Shai Agassi and Rob Shields. Each has a long term strategy that will work with the economic flow, and draw consumers.

Agassi’s concept is called Better Place and strives for “sustainable transportation, global energy independence, and freedom from oil.”

Sound appealing? Agassi hopes so. He is partnering with Renault-Nissan to jumpstart the electric car movement, which he hopes will generate a current of change.

A zero-emission electric car would mean:

• Adding a recharge grid, initiating the construction of convenient charge spots
• Drastically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases: an estimated 10% decrease, if 700 million cars on the road today were powered by re-chargeable batteries, instead of petroleum.
• And ultimately transforming transportation and the automobile industry.

From the ol’ dusty trail, to sustainable transportation and freedom from oil, Agassi has created a solution that will free us from our environmentally destructive ways, while still promoting economic growth in the automobile and transportation industry.

That is Innovation, with a capital I.

Rob Shields, another trailblazer, has created LocalPrice, a one-stop-shop for local services, as they already do for merchandise. Price’s goal is that you will be able to find a local dentist or locksmith through his site, as easy as you would find those perfect Armani shades on websites like PriceGrabber.

• Users can compare prices and other important aspects of each local service
• Listings are currently free, and Shields hopes to cover multiple metropolitan areas regarding local services
• Shield’s hopes to expand the number and scope of categories at LocalPrice, from the current 24, to about 100.

Imagine simply typing in the word “orthodontist” and receiving a comprehensive list local, reliable, licensed docs, on one website. Sure, this information is already out there (somewhere) in internet land, the problem is that its scattered and generally undependable.

LocalPrice brings it all together.

While the site is still seeking additional funding, the new wave of the world at your doorstep-or lap top-is apparent. Shields is on a mission to stimulate business using his entrepreneurial tactics to appeal, credibly, to the average consumer.

Agassi and Shields are certainly not alone in their mission to raise national morale, author Shikha Dalmia examines the 1930s, noting that before we let history repeat itself, perhaps this time something different should be done.

Dalmia writes: “The rubble of every recession contains the seeds of its own regeneration.”

Entrepreneurs will find innovative uses for physical and human capital. With new companies, come new jobs and new opportunities.

But, we also need to be smarter.

Funding from venture capitalists via equity stakes allows for financiers to pull out and cut their losses, instead of being forced to reckon with a failing company or industry they have financed through debt.

Change is at our fingertips…

And Dalmia would see innovations such as Better Place and LocalPrice as driving forces out of recession.

“The American economy has demonstrated awesome powers of self-correction when its entrepreneurs are left alone to blaze new trails.”

Too bad the pioneers didn’t have these guys on their wagon.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.