Kauffman Encourages Entrepreneurs to Take the Leap

In its most recent Sketchbook, the Kauffman Foundation encourages entrepreneurs to take the leap (but not too early!) by featuring a step-by-step process from Noam Wasserman, Harvard Business School Professor and author of The Founder's Dilemma.  Watch the video below for tips about when, how and why to take the entrepreneurial leap:

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Kauffman Super Bowl Commercial Asks Entrepreneurs, "Will It Be You?"

WRITTEN BY ALLISON WAY, SENIOR COPYWRITER & CHIEF EDITOR

In 1967, a 30-second commercial spot cost approximately $42,000 during the Super Bowl.  In 2012, it costs about $3.5 million.

And although the costs seem outrageous, large companies still fork over millions and millions of dollars on Super Bowl advertisements.  But who can blame them?  Half of the country tunes into the Super Bowl just for the commercials alone.  They're attention-grabbers.  They're entertaining.  They're memorable.  Who could ever forget the Bud-Wei-Ser frog commercial?  Or the young Darth Vader commercial for Volkswagon?

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is hoping to make the same memorable impression on viewers on this year's Super Bowl Sunday by launching its first-ever public service announcement aimed at sparking the interest of potential entrepreneurs.

The Kauffman PSA boldly asks the question that many entrepreneurs face every day: Will it be you?

The Kauffman Super Bowl ad, which was leaked online yesterday, guides interested entrepreneurs to Kauffman's newest site, willitbeyou.com, where it displays information for startups about inspiration, networking, creation, mentoring and capital raising.  The website features popular resources provided by Kauffman including iStart (utilized in Kansas City's Gigabit Challenge business plan competition), Startup Weekend, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Startup America, UEP, Maker Faire, PIPELINE and many others.

"As jobs and the economy take center stage this election year, the Kauffman Foundation wants both policymakers and the public to be aware of the importance of entrepreneurs to solving our economic crisis," said Wendy Guillies, Kauffman's vice president of communications, in a recent press release.  "The most-watched television event of the year is the ideal opportunity for Kauffman to inspire entrepreneurs and, in the spirit of Super Bowl advertising, to do so in a fun and accessible manner."

The Kauffman PSA validates the growing movement of entrepreneurship not only in Kansas City, but in hundreds of cities across the nation.  Entrepreneurship is growing to a level that is so big that it needs to market in tandem with the most-watched event on television, the Super Bowl.  This notion reinforces the fact that entrepreneurship is not just important, it's essential; essential for job creation, essential for a recovering economy, essential for overall growth.

The willitbeyou.com commercial from Kauffman will air on Super Bowl Sunday (January 5, 2012) in some of the nation's largest television markets including New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and of course, in Kauffman's own home of Kansas City.

The Kauffman Super Bowl commercial, which takes the form of Kauffman's popular "Sketchbook" theme, proudly states that the next great entrepreneur is out there...and it could be anybody.  Will it be you?

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Kauffman Sketches Kansas City as the City of Entrepreneurs

WRITTEN BY ALLISON WAY, SENIOR COPYWRITER & CHIEF EDITOR

Have you ever seen a Kauffman Sketchbook?  It's a new YouTube initiative brought to you by the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City.  In the Sketchbooks, Kauffman literally draws the important entrepreneurial movements that are occurring in and around the Kansas City area.  

From defining entrepreneurial "Magic Sauce" to teaching how to play the "Money Game", the Kauffman Foundation Sketchbooks teach anything and everything that entrepreneurs may need to know in an artistic and creative way.

Narrated by Mayor Sly James and Mayor Joe Reardon, the "City of Entrepreneurs" Sketchbook provides more than KC entrepreneur education.  It tells the story of Kansas City entrepreneurship in the here and now.  From covering the Google Fiber initiative, the history of entrepreneurship in Kansas City and the companies that KC entrepreneurs can find inspiration from (for example, Kauffman Labs, Think Big Partners, KCSourceLink and many others), the video proclaims Kansas City as the City of Entrepreneurs. 

In the video, Mayor Joe Reardon may have stated it best: "What's really being built here is the worldwide platform for entrepreneurship and the bridge that will take us into the future.  Together, we are committed to making Kansas City the City of Entrepreneurs, where we celebrate those who take risks, apply new technology and have the imagination and ingenuity to create something new." 

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