Five Madison start-ups will pitch to Silicon Valley investors; Flint and Genesee Chamber of Commerce - Collaboration with I-69 Trade Corridor partners due to success; Columbus, Indiana tops magazine's rankings of 'Leading Locations'; Free Export Webinar for Small to Medium Sized Businesses; From Usher and Justin Timberlake to Oil & Gas: The Royalty Exchange Lets You Buy—and Sell—it All; Are you an inventor or a manufacturer looking to expand? Try out these tools!; Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation (Leadership) Gail Sheehy

Four young Madison companies have been chosen to join a Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce-sponsored trip to the San Francisco Bay area next week to make a pitch to potential investors.
They are:
Catalyze: Customized health care apps
EatStreet: Mobile restaurant ordering
Mdot Labs: Analysis of big data to detect and stop fraud
Propeller Health: Wireless sensors that monitor asthma attacks
The four will join Fishidy, a mobile, map-based social platform for fishing enthusiasts. Fishidy won the Pressure Chamber contest held at the Chamber’s neXXpo: Business in Fast Forward event in April.

Read more: Wisconsin State Journal

Flint and Genesee Chamber of Commerce - Collaboration with I-69 Trade Corridor partners due to success

At the end of May, Paul Brake, City Manager and Chairman of the I-69 international Trade Corridor announced that the collaboration of the trade corridor, the Flint and Genesee Chamber of Commerce and many other municipal and business partnerships, had resulted in the area receiving designation as a federal manufacturing zone.
The area is known as Advance Michigan, a 13-county Michigan region which will receive major federal investments aimed at revitalizing manufacturing through the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Program (IMCP). Read more: Grand Blanc View

Columbus, Indiana tops magazine's rankings of 'Leading Locations'

Columbus is the top metropolitan area in the Midwest and the second best in the nation according to Area Development magazine. The magazine chose Columbus as one of its "Leading Locations." The report ranks the Columbus and Bartholomew County area as scoring highest nationwide in economic strength, for one-year economic growth and for being a recession-busting city. It also ranked high for year-over-year growth, manufacturing growth and employment growth over three and five years. Read more:

WCSI - NewsTalk 1010


Free Export Webinar for Small to Medium Sized Businesses

Interested in exporting? This in-depth webinar will provide you with comprehensive information on SBA's export loan programs, including the Export Working Capital Program (EWCP), International Trade Loan (ITL), Export Express, and CAPLine.

> Register by emailing Robert.Elsas@SBA.gov with “Webinar RSVP – June 30th” in the subject line

From Usher and Justin Timberlake to Oil & Gas: The Royalty Exchange Lets You Buy—and Sell—it All

If you want to buy a car, simply head to your local dealership. Want a computer? There are lots of places that sell them. But what if you want to buy a piece of your favorite TLC song released 15 years ago?
For that, you can go to the Royalty Exchange.
Founded by Sean Peace in 2011, the Royalty Exchange connects royalty owners with potential buyers and investors. For those unacquainted with royalties, here’s what you need to know. Royalties are payments made from one person or entity to another for the right to use an asset. What is an asset, you might ask? Well, an asset can be just about anything. If you’re a musician who writes a hit song, for example, the song itself would be your asset. On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re looking to make money off of the solar panels affixed to your rooftop, the clean energy system would qualify as your asset. Read more: Free Enterprise

Are you an inventor or a manufacturer looking to expand? Try out these tools!

In honor of the "National Day of Making" last week, June 18, 2014, and the White House hosting its first-ever White House Maker Faire, we've assembled some federal tools and programs for all you U.S. "makers", inventors and manufacturers:  

• Are you an inventor? Take advantage of the USPTO's Inventor's Assistance Program (IAP) which engages in a range of educational and outreach services to help inventors understand the value of protecting their intellectual property and how to navigate the patent process. Learn more...

• Are you a manufacturer who wants to make new products? Contact NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nationwide network providing services from innovation strategies to process improvements to workforce development, with a focus on helping manufacturers develop new customers, expand into new markets and create new products. Learn more...

Are you a foreign manufacturer or U.S. manufacturer with offshore production who wants to make products in the United States? Try out our Invest in the U.S. wizard for government services and tools to help you make it in the USA and read about the Reshoring Initiative. 

Famous Chamber of Commerce Quotation (Leadership)


“The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests.” ~ Gail Sheehy