The birth of an idea: Creating a startup community

“The American economy is changing and many Texarkana residents are worried they’ll be left behind.

In the past decade, we’ve seen incredible technological advancements in advanced manufacturing, genomic medicine and even driverless cars, to name a few.

But as these new industries create jobs in some areas of the country, other jobs are being made obsolete. Additionally, according to the Kauffman Foundation, new businesses account for nearly all net new job creation.

This means the big older businesses really don’t create many NEW jobs. So, as we think about ways to bring new jobs from new industries to Texarkana residents, it’s clear that our focus should be on empowering entrepreneurs to start new businesses,” said Collin West, venture partner, Kauffman Fellows Fund.

Optimism and the desire to aggressively invest in growth abounds throughout the greater Texarkana regional business community just as it does everywhere across the country.

According to the data though, most of the growth is concentrated in major metro areas that are equipped with infrastructure and a unified movement to promote sustained economic stability for start-ups and small businesses. This unified movement has ignited a hotbed of job-creating entrepreneurial activity across communities in Silicon Valley, Boulder, Boston, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Austin. These cities, and others like them, are at a strategic advantage to recruit and maintain high growth industries, while others struggle with a sense of identity.

Saving Red River Army Depot jobs, retaining existing industries and strategic recruitment based on industry clusters suited to our region are incredibly important. And just as important, creating a community devoted to supporting budding entrepreneurs births the opportunity to reap the rewards of an economy powered by innovation. However, this vision requires action.

Last fall, community leaders Lisa Jaskey, Caleb Pittman and Wayne Cranfill met to form a nonprofit focused on incubating new businesses and providing a community co-working space to act as the central hub of Texarkana’s entrepreneurial activity. The mission of aptly named Aha Labs is to provide leadership and support for entrepreneurs in the greater Texarkana region. This results in new businesses, new jobs and new investment to power the local economy. Aha Labs accomplishes this by:

providing necessary resources for local entrepreneurs, including flexible co-working space, mentorship, speakers and continual activities that engage the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem,

recruiting and educating entrepreneurs throughout the startup process from initial idea to business launch,

facilitating partnerships and collaboration through relationship building, networking and inclusivity, and

fostering a focus on the creed of “give before you take.”