What’s the big deal about building an environment that creates the ideal conditions to form a two pizza team? Having startups to talk about at the Chamber lunch is exciting, but this isn’t about improving your cool factor. Improving the finances of your town’s families is important, but there is a bigger goal that affects everyone in town: economic diversification and risk reduction.
What risk?
When 100 families in a town depend on one employer, the current and future health of that town depends on that company, their management, the market they’re in, the market of raw materials they consume (if any), the owners, and so on. One mistake of the wrong kind can put the finances of 100 families at risk – all at once. When 100 (or 1000, or 10000) families in one town depend on one employer, the risk to the finances of that town is higher than the sum of the paychecks involved. All of us can probably cite an example where one of these companies failed, was forced out of business, or was bought out / divested, etc. The reasons don’t matter as we rarely have control over them. Diversifying your local economy is one defensive strategy against such events.
It isn’t that we shouldn’t seek big companies (no matter what “big” means to your town) or grow them locally. We should, but we have to do more than simply seek large employers to the exclusion of all other strategies. Expect that this won’t be what many are used to or expect. Be ready to defend those efforts with progress reports and outcomes, rather than “we know better than you” opinions. You should expect to be questioned about your efforts. The quality of your plans, your transparency, and the frequency and candor of your progress reports will all contribute to getting more people on board.
The economic diversification that comes from the creation of an annual two pizza team will surely be slow, but few lasting things of this nature happen quickly. The political (not necessarily election-related) pressure on economic development teams to bring 100 or 1000 jobs to town at one time is tempting, but in most cases, it isn’t realistic. Enabling and encouraging the entrepreneurs in your town to build new payrolls at a steady pace while other efforts continue is best. You aren’t creating a competition – you’re making your community’s interdependent economy more resilient for everyone.
Jobs -and- job security
Not everyone is going to be interested in taking the leap and creating one of these companies – and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, those who don’t take the leap still need work.
Finding a new job is not a fun experience. It’s sometimes easier not to change jobs and employees. Given the difficulty of hiring and being hired, it sometimes seems like neither employers nor candidates want to go through the hiring / interview process one more time. Despite the mix of sometimes unsightly job / employee seeking situations, there are companies out there who want to find good employees, pay them fairly and keep them. Likewise, there are employees who want to find a solid employer and stay with them for a long time.
The companies that start off as two pizza teams and stick around are likely to be able to do these things. That they’re working toward giving up whatever job security they have *and* creating something new leaves the impression that they want something better. You’d think that they will want something better for their staff as well.
Jobs at these kind of companies often go beyond “just a paycheck”. The motivation for these startups is frequently rooted in the founders’ previous financial / job hardship and/or insecurity, so creating that kind of security for employees is a high priority. The job insecure folks in your community have a job, or two, or maybe three. When those jobs are at risk, and/or seasonal, and/or part-time, the stress and related cognitive load on that family affects everyone.
The obvious benefits of adding new (hopefully stable) payrolls to your town’s families are positive, but the benefits go beyond a particular family’s new source of income. Spreading the creation and stability of family economies across different industries and companies creates a resilience more towns could use.
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