by Mike Goodrich | Jan 12, 2023 | 2022, 2023, Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, Economic Development, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Founders, Start-Ups
I have said this before, and I will probably say this again, but to grow our entrepreneurial economy, we need to directly invest in companies. We do not need to blindly invest in them, but we do not need to commission another study on the ecosystem. We need to be...
by First Avenue Ventures | Oct 27, 2022 | 2022, Advising, Alabama, Birmingham, Economic Development, Entrepreneurialism, Life Science Fund, Start-Ups, Technology
First Avenue Ventures proudly received the 2022 Innovation Award for Community Partnership of the Year. The Innovation Awards, given by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE), recognize UAB...
by Mike Goodrich | Sep 29, 2022 | 2022, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Founders, Mission-Driven Businesses, Social Capital and Social Entrepreneurialism, Social Capital Series
Social capital is a topic I have spent a lot of time with, both in my writing on this blog and website and in my own thinking. One pivotal moment for me was the SOCAP Conference in San Francisco, which is coming back in person this year (though I unfortunately will...
by First Avenue Ventures | Aug 3, 2022 | 2022, Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, Economic Development, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Start-Ups, World Games
The best analogy that I have for start-ups and early stage companies in this time of tumultuous public markets is one of a submarine. A start-up shares the key benefit of being able to float beneath the surface — unaware and, to an extent, untroubled by the...
by First Avenue Ventures | Jul 19, 2022 | 2022, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Competition, Entrepreneurialism, Founders, Marketing, Podcast, Sales, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups, The Structured Start-Up Podcast
The fifth and final episode of The Structured Start-Up Podcast is all about the competitive landscape. For this episode, we turned to Lee Ross, the CEO of SlateXP, a Birmingham-based student safety software company. Ross has successfully launched two companies in...
by First Avenue Ventures | Jun 28, 2022 | 2022, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Football, Founders, Marketing, Podcast, Sales, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups, The Structured Start-Up Podcast
The fourth episode of The Structured Start-Up podcast focuses on the importance of finding your entrepreneurial story. As Mike Goodrich, the principal of First Avenue Ventures, says, “If you don’t have a compelling narrative that people will buy into, your...
