Web Site Aims to Aid Businesses: The Site Seeks to Match Budding Entrepreneurs With Business Veterans Who Can Answer Questions and Help Solve Problems.
By Bill Wilson, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
May 27–A new Wichita State University Center for Entrepreneurship Web site will be launched this summer, targeting the many problems faced by start-up business owners.
The interactive site, currently named Meridian 6, is designed to bring veteran business owners together with start-up business owners who are wading through the questions surrounding a new business, said Tim Pett, the center’s director.
“Start-up owners have a lot of questions that need answered,” Pett said.
“The idea is to connect entrepreneurs and small business owners that need resources, that want questions answered.”
The Web site — www.meridian6.org — is designed to spur communication through a peer conversation section. It eventually will include information tailored for a variety of start-ups, from IT companies to small retail and home-based businesses. Links to potential investors may be added.
Perhaps most significantly, it will be a regional effort. The site initially will be tied to a 10-county piece of south-central Kansas, with plans to expand its reach into the western part of the state.
Regional entrepreneurial expertise is important, said Karen Axelton, executive editor of Entrepreneur, a national business magazine.
“Speaking from experience, at conferences that Entrepreneur has put on for entrepreneurs, some of the best-attended sessions were those about doing business locally with panels of local experts, entrepreneurs, and government/small business development officials,” Axelton said in an e-mail.
“There’s definitely a hunger for information about local resources.”
The Web site could help lower the failure rate among start-ups, which peaks at 80 percent by 10 years, said Wichita businessman Fran Jabara, the founder of the entrepreneurship center.
“I don’t think it’s possible to get too much information to a first-time entrepreneur,” said Jabara, a Wichita investor.
“So many times those people don’t know where to get help. You have to think about finance if you need money, an accounting system when you’re not an accountant, whether you know the market well enough to pursue your idea.
“There are a bunch of questions in the mind of a first-time entrepreneur.”
Pett said he would like to have the new site operational by July 1.
Once it is active, Pett is unsure how the Meridian 6 site will change. What he’s sure about is what the final product should make available.
“It will let an entrepreneur do their additional homework,” Pett said.
“It will lead them to resources so they can focus their exact questions. And it will expedite the answer to them.”
Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290 or bwilson@wichitaeagle.com.
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