by Mike Goodrich | Jul 28, 2023 | 2023, Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, Economic Development, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Founders, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
Birmingham and the Best Birmingham has a strange relationship with the concept and value of “the best.” Sure, we want to be the best place to live, work, and play; to have the best schools, best jobs, best houses. We want to hire the best. To my knowledge, no one in...
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 | 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 Mike Goodrich | Jan 12, 2022 | 2021, 2022, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, COVID-19, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
As always with the new year, we’re taking some time to pause and reflect. First Avenue does so by compiling our annual list of funded start-ups in Birmingham, which helps us analyze the health of the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. I also like to take stock...
by Mike Goodrich | Jun 28, 2021 | 2021, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, Business Lessons, COVID-19, Entrepreneurialism, Founders, Services, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
“You need to make hay when it rains.” I first heard this axiom — in that instance, in connection to a business in high-end consumer goods — in my early days as a lawyer. Simply put, the goal is to make your money during the good times, knowing that the...
by Mike Goodrich | Jul 22, 2020 | 2020, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, COVID-19, Entrepreneurialism, Start-Ups
We provide this update every six months, and we’ve enjoyed doing so because it gives us a chance to reflect on the market that we love so dearly. However, this perspective is different, and for obvious reasons. In some ways, it’s the most...
