Home | First Avenue Ventures

A Private Business Incubator in Birmingham, Alabama

Issues Surrounding Social Capital: Part One

by Mike Goodrich | November 12, 2019 | 2019, Entrepreneurialism, Social Capital and Social Entrepreneurialism, Social Capital Series | 0 Comments

Social capital is an area ripe for controversy. Not that social capital, in and of itself, is bad or wrong -- few would say that doing well by doing good is a bad thing. Most people involved in social capital want to find ways to both succeed financially and succeed...

Introduction to Social Capital and Impact Investment

by Mike Goodrich | October 29, 2019 | 2019, Social Capital and Social Entrepreneurialism, Social Capital Series | 0 Comments

The first in a series of First Avenue Ventures blog posts on Social Capital. Social capital is a concept not easily nor well-defined. In this series, we define social capital as the use of capital (for our purposes, we examine it primarily as financial capital)...

Regulations Reconsidered

by Mike Goodrich | October 18, 2019 | 2019, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses | 0 Comments

I just finished Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped: the Battle for Uber, which I strongly recommend, particularly for fans of corporate intrigue and Silicon Valley excess. The story focuses on the rise and fall of Travis Kalanick, the hard-charging founder and CEO of Uber,...

Examination of Opportunity Zones Begins

by Mike Goodrich | September 24, 2019 | 2019, Birmingham, Entrepreneurialism | 0 Comments

Change usually has a downside, and the Opportunity Zone[1] tax law is no exception. A couple of pieces published in The New York Times highlight a negative perspective coming to the fore of this new tax law. In “How a Trump Tax Break to Help Poor Communities Became...

Shouldn’t There Be More than One Way to Fund a Start Up?

by Mike Goodrich | August 27, 2019 | 2019, Birmingham, Entrepreneurialism | 0 Comments

The venture capital business model is built on the theory that if you do ten investments and have one huge return, what happens with the other nine investments doesn’t matter. I don’t take issue with the financial argument of this model. However, I do have an...

Current Perspective on the Birmingham Entrepreneurial Scene

by Mike Goodrich | August 5, 2019 | 2019, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Social Capital and Social Entrepreneurialism | 0 Comments

In 2018, Innovate Birmingham published their final report on the Birmingham entrepreneurial ecosystem. (See five articles at the end of this link - http://www.innovatebham.com/about/) In that report, the core conclusion is that Birmingham needs more...

Stories Matter

by Mike Goodrich | July 11, 2019 | Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses | 0 Comments

“There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story.” That’s what Tyrion Lannister says in the series finale of Game of Thrones. Whether or not you like the show’s conclusion, the conclusion that stories matter is undeniably true. Entrepreneurialism and business are no exception to this rule.

The Role of the Board in Smaller Private Businesses

by Mike Goodrich | March 5, 2019 | 2019, Board Membership, Business Lessons, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses | 0 Comments

The role of the board and the board chair for a small and middle-sized private business is materially different from the role of a non-profit’s board and from a public company’s board, which must follow a host of securities regulation and compliance laws. ...

Let’s Not Party Like it’s 1999

by Mike Goodrich | January 8, 2019 | 2019, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism | 0 Comments

Birmingham is still recovering from economic mistakes of the past. We can’t repeat them. When the clock struck midnight the other night, I heard the refrain, “Time to party like it’s 1999.” I guess a little Prince, coupled with a year mnemonically similar to an...

We Will Fail in 2019

by Mike Goodrich | December 18, 2018 | 2019, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Social Capital and Social Entrepreneurialism | 0 Comments

The Birmingham entrepreneurial ecosystem is now in its adolescence. Just like a teenager, our entrepreneurial system does miraculous things that impress, inspire, and invigorate the community -- then stays out past curfew, blows allowance money, and remind us that...

First Avenue Ventures is passionate about Birmingham’s entrepreneurs. We are building a private business incubator dedicated to serving entrepreneurial companies. We help with strategy, accountability, marketing, and financing and we can leverage our network and expertise to accelerate your company.

We work to become your trusted partner towards meeting and exceeding your organization’s expectations and accelerating your growth. Our ultimate goal is to see Birmingham businesses thrive in the city we love.

Brands in our current portfolio include Alabama Outdoors, Select My Space, Market Table and Lobby Display by Spruce.

The principal of First Avenue Ventures is T Michael Goodrich, II.