There is a lot of energy focused on entrepreneurship at The University of Alabama and across the state. In fact, my own job at UA’s Culverhouse College of Business is running the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute (AEI), and as part of that role also managing The EDGE, Tuscaloosa’s incubator, and accelerator. I work daily with students, faculty, staff, and community members who want to start businesses and grow businesses. The startup stories are always energizing, and successful entrepreneurs motivate and help others.
The momentum tied to success is very inspiring. We have student teams like Reboot Reforestation that won the 2021 Edward K. Aldag, Jr. Grand Prize of $50,000; this team of students have taken their idea from a conversation at lunch to building equipment in their garage and using those materials to bring in paying customers. Nick Sepanski with TheBestMe, another student entrepreneur, recent pitched his business on our local TV show, Alabama Upstarts. His personal story led to the development of a business that battles the ongoing challenge of depression that so many people are facing.
These are two startup examples out of many; however, there’s another group of individuals and companies that is essential for any entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Growing, established companies are a key element, and AEI recently launched a new initiative to help pull out learning and connections from these growth firms so that we can all tap into their experience and knowledge. The Growth and Innovation Leaders Forum was launched in October 2021 with five founding companies, Alabama Power, Medical Properties Trust, Protective Life, Regions, and Shipt.
As a founding team, they are helping craft the mission, vision, and activities of this group. The Forum is a unique membership-based community dedicated to making and sharing new knowledge on growth and innovation. Membership in this group provides company leaders with regularly scheduled networking sessions, hosted at the members’ locations. During these networking meetings members can learn from each other, from faculty doing research on entrepreneurial growth in new and established organizations, and from students running projects aimed at these organizations’ current challenges and opportunities.
The faculty who are part of AEI are doing research focused on the study of entrepreneurial growth and innovation. One example of this work is a project that I lead on initial public offerings (IPOs). We study these firms because the IPO presents a time in a company’s life cycle when they are particularly ready to expand (funding to grow), and also, more publicly available data are available about company’s at this time than at other points in their growth.
As I like to say, “the prospectus is a thing of beauty.” Our research team codes about 200 variables from this document and then complement the initial profile of the company with interviews and survey data. We then study how they do post IPO, and unfortunately, in only five years, about half of the samples we have studied are no longer doing business.
One current study focuses on the IPO class of 1996 (cohort that went public that year). With almost 900 companies going public in 1996, 20 years later in 2016, only 100 were left. One of the survivors is our own Hibbett Sports. The research team studies what made the companies successful at the IPO and then their struggles, opportunities, and growth stories after. We use these data to develop new learning that is applicable to any growth firm.
Some of the questions the research team is tackling focus on rate of growth, which as it increases, puts incredible pressure on organizations. We are studying organizational structures that help support growth, leadership challenges, milestones of the growth journey, how to support an agile and confident workforce that can meet growth challenges, and more. The answers to these questions will be shared in an annual conference hosted by the Growth and Innovation Leaders Forum. We also will be kicking off a CEO speakers’ series.
We are very thankful to our founding companies and the host of our first networking meeting, the team at Medical Properties Trust. Their story from Edward K. Aldag, Jr.’s founding to their global expansion provides learning about the milestones of growth, and that will be the focus of our first meeting at their Birmingham headquarters.
We invite leaders of established growing firms to join the Growth and Innovation Leaders Forum. Building our community through learning together will help sustain a strong and responsive ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship, growth and innovation in all types of organizations.
Learn more about the Growth and Innovation Leaders Forum.
The Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute, at The University of Alabama, focuses on identifying and empowering nascent entrepreneurs and supporting existing businesses throughout the state. AEI is located at The EDGE, an off-campus work and collaboration center which is also home to dozens of startups and growth-focused firms.
Theresa M. Welbourne, Ph.D., is the Will and Maggie Brooke Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Culverhouse College of Business and executive director, Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute and The EDGE. She works with students, faculty, staff and business leaders to help drive new venture development and ongoing growth within established firms. Email: twelbourne@culverhouse.ua.edu; @TheresaWelbourn
