The Missouri Technology Corp. (MTC) is seeking input from the state’s entrepreneurial community as it develops a strategic plan on how best to support Missouri startups and entrepreneurs.
MTC is asking Missouri entrepreneurs and related organizations to complete a digital survey to evaluate the state’s innovation sector and offer feedback on where it needs improvement. The survey, which closes Sept. 10, is a major pillar in the qualitative component of MTC’s ongoing statewide strategic review. In addition, MTC plans to complete interviews and regional focus groups for its analysis.
Created by the Missouri General Assembly, MTC is a public-private partnership that promotes entrepreneurship and provide investment to startups and entrepreneur support organizations. Through its IDEA Fund, MTC has provided nearly $44 million in financing to more than 135 startups located throughout Missouri in the past decade.
MTC Executive Director Jack Scatizzi said MTC hopes to receive feedback from a wide cross section of Missouri stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, entrepreneur support organizations, investors, startup service providers, universities and nonprofits.
Scatizzi said the qualitative input will help MTC’s strategic planning process by providing insight on the type of programming and initiatives it should pursue while also helping understand how it can best boost the entrepreneurial economy in the different regions of the state.
“We’re trying to get as many people from all different parts of the ecosystem to provide input via the survey,” Scatizzi said. “We can’t really get to the root of what the state needs to address unless we have that data.”
MTC has selected Columbus, Ohio-based research firm TEConomy Partners LLC to help complete its strategic planning initiative. Scatizzi said TEConomy has already started compiling quantitative analysis for the project. That portion of the project involves accessing MTC’s impact in recent years and how Missouri stacks up with other states in terms of entrepreneurship.
“It should give us a really clear picture of where we fall compared to peer states, but it will also give us a really good picture of what our peer states are,” Scatizzi said.
The strategic review will provide MTC with insights on how it can best drive economic development in the state while also charting a roadmap on where the state has gaps in that mission and how it might be able to close them, Scatizzi said.
“Then we’ll have a playbook to use,” he said.
MTC has created a steering committee of about 15 individuals to guide its strategic planning initiative. Scatizzi said MTC is moving at “warp speed” to develop its strategic plan, with the hopes it has a finalized report it can provide state lawmakers as they determine the organization’s funding as part of the fiscal 2023 budgeting process. The Missouri General Assembly appropriated $3 million in fiscal 2022 funding for MTC, tripling the entrepreneur support organization’s budget year over year. MTC’s funding increase marked a reversal from steep budget cuts it had experienced in prior years. For example, it saw its funding drop 90% from about $24 million in fiscal 2017 to $2.5 million in fiscal 2018.
