From Britannica.com: While working as an engineering intern at Hewlett-Packard, Wozniak designed his own microcomputer in 1976 using the new microprocessor, but the company was not interested in developing his design. Jobs, who was also a Homebrew member, showed so much enthusiasm for Wozniak’s design that they decided to work together, forming their own company, Apple Computer. Their initial capital came from selling Jobs’s automobile and Wozniak’s programmable calculator, and they set up production in the Jobs family garage to build microcomputer circuit boards.

From Microsoft – Microsoft started in 1975 with essentially no money, when Paul Allen and Bill Gates developed the programming language BASIC for the Altair computer and sell it to MITS.

From their Linked In profile and various news stories: 1-800-Got-Junk reportedly started with $700 and an old pickup truck. They have about 140 employees and do about $30 million per year.

Of course, these are the exception, to say the least, as most businesses never hit these levels of success.

Still, every day I work with small, independent software shops, translation shops, PR firms, graphic design shops, security consultants, etc, etc, etc. There is no shortage of businesses that can be started on a shoestring and a college town is a GREAT place to promote these sorts of businesses. Note that all four of the examples I listed were started by college-aged people.

While it certainly may be true that lack of capitalization is what causes the failure of most businesses, I would attribute this to poor business plans, as in these cases, the owners underestimate the money that they will need.

That being said, not all businesses are restaurants. It takes far less to start a software company, or an ad agency, etc and those are the types of businesses that, if successful, lead to careers that pay a living wage, offer benefits, etc.

Also, as with Springtown, there is no reason to believe that the $5 million that hypothetically came from the city, would be the only source of funding. The city could easily require an equal (or multiple) investment from the person starting the business.

I also stated that the money could be provided in larger amounts ($100,000) to a smaller number of small businesses, which had already demonstrated some success.

The primary reason many small business startups fail is lack of proper capitalization…..if you plan on taking $5 million and dividing it into $10,000 startups you might as well plan to burn it.

I really wish that our city government would try to attract more career-type jobs. (P.S. I’ve been voting in SM since ‘01) I don’t even want to attempt raising a family on minimum wage. Sure, I could be a manager at one of the outlets I suppose. But that’s not really what I had in mind to do with my degree.

I’ve now heard from a second person that the proposal is substantially different from the one I saw, so I’m reserving judgement now for the time being. I’m still highly skeptical of giving incentives to retail/service businesses.

By the way Robert, that old incubator is now owned by Corridor Business Incubator, a non-profit with a single employee. I haven’t heard a peep out of it in years, it seems like. I know initially it suffered from poor leadership & structure. It was a nice idea, but incubators require a lot of effort and the city really didn’t have the resources at the time to do it right. I don’t know what it is doing now. I do know that it focuses on low-moderate income entrepreneurs.

…. where govt. should be forbidden…

You, again, are wrong in your assessment. I have never been to those sites, never posted anything on those sites, never heard of them before you listed them today. What were YOU doing there?

Again, you are using the ‘change agent’ tactic of pettiness and false accusation to steer the conversation away from major points that either you know nothing about, believe otherwise even if you do know, and just simply can’t or won’t talk about. Seen it all a million times.

I wonder, is there ANYTHING you can do by yourself, without government telling you what to do, which way to go, what to think and what to believe?

I’ve been in San Marcos since the early 80’s! How long have you been in San Marcos? And tell me, what does it really matter? We aren’t going to agree on the date and time, let alone other matters of importance.

If you think the ideas of Liberty, personal responsibility, freedom and limited government are crazy, then you must be completely insane. In fact, I CHALLENGE you to discuss even ONE area in people’s lives that you believe government shouldn’t be forbidden!

“Any excuse will serve a tyrant”… Aesop

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves . . . William Hazlitt

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

– Patrick Henry, speech of June 5 1788

I think Fred Terry may be involved at some level, but I can’t say for sure.

As I said in an earlier post, I wish you would not consider this an “either/or”….Activity generates activity, and my opinion is that all job growth is good. We have people to fill those service industry jobs, just like we have people to fill the call center jobs that have come to town. Granted, most are lower paying positions, but some management comes with the deal and those are better jobs.

When you get ready to work on the startup concept, email me. I will be happy to help. There are always a few “angels” out there looking for investment in startups, so a combination of private/public funds is worth considering. Whatever happened to the incubator facility over on San Antonio Street ? Is it still operating ?

Yes, Government does replace God for some, doesn’t it Ted?

What difference does it make in how to spell Springtown or Spring Town mall? I forced my computer to spell it correctly this time, but I don’t think I’m going to take the time to educate it, or you.

Go sell crazy somewhere else. We’re all stocked up here.

I’ll visit all of those websites you posted, as I’ve never heard of any of them.

However, your ‘change agent’, “God is government” attitude is showing.

So, more part time jobs for college kids?

What about the people who aren’t going to college and have families to raise? The college kids spend their PARENTS money, parents who are losing their half million dollar homes! College enrollment is DOWN. College degrees don’t make your unemployment check higher or last any longer.

I don’t have to tell you that the Real estate business, Mr. McDonald, is going South! The bulk of foreclosures are not being returned to the market so that the price of homes stays high artificially, giving a deceptive appearance. The same is happening in the commercial real estate market as well, and you know it. Loans are harder to get and only the few at the top of the game will survive. I’ll bet it won’t be long until we see some drastic changes in sales out at the outlet mall, making the outlet mall resemble the specter of Spring Town.

We need business that PRODUCES something that is life sustaining. Now, we can do that faster and more efficiently without government interference, and certainly without 5 million dollars being taxed right out of our pockets and our families mouths. Or, we can prepare to stand for days in the government soup line until the soup runs out, or until the rest of the soup is given to the rich as a business incentive.

If the Spring Town Mall is such a potentially good business venture, then anyone wanting to invest in a business there would just do it with their own start up capital! Isn’t this how you guys started a business down town? The rich already HAVE the best incentive.

If govt. incentives are actually needed to get any business to open in Spring Town (or anywhere else), then isn’t the city hedging bad bets with OUR money? Example: Target. How much of our taxpayer dollars went into getting Target in that spot?

Tourism? More shopping malls with part time, minimum wage jobs? How is this going to help the economy down town… or anywhere for that matter? Minimum wage jobs barely pay the gas to get to work, eat lunch and pay for a cell phone. My friends, listen up! Unemployment is over 20% (the real figures, not the Ph.D. figures). It’s going to get worse. Shouldn’t we be interested in businesses that produce the things which are needed for a community to survive!

Shouldn’t we be focusing as a community, not about tourism and 5 million dollar taxpayer loans to the rich, but about cutting the government spending down to the basics, keeping as much money out of government and using it to converting some of our existing businesses down town and elsewhere into businesses that actually produce some of the bare necessities of life? And, businesses that will trade with gold and silver and barter, in lieu of the worthless fiat money? Textiles, food for humans and animals, care for the sick, solar energy transportation, etc. – all are needed. People KNOW how to do these things. It’s what made America GREAT! We can and must do it, and we must prevent our government from getting in the way.

Sadly, like the board of education, economic development is another area where I see tremendous opportunity for improvement, but I just don’t have the time required to do it right. If things go well, I may have that time in a few years, but I am hoping things will be moving along before then.

Just keep in mind that there is always a place for service industry jobs. We have almost 30,000 students in town, many who need part-time work to allow them to complete their education.

And yes, I’m a real estate developer. Have been, will be. Its not a bad thing, in fact proud of it.