Welcome to the Flywheel Ventures blog.

Thanks to Next Generation Economy, Inc. for the kind words

Our friends at Next Generation Economy in Albuquerque had some kind words about Flywheel partners Kim and Trevor in their recent newsletter item about Southwest Creations Collaborative and the role of Social Venture Partners - New Mexico in helping to build capacity for that innovative non-profit organization.  Thanks for the kind words, as always.  That said, we never lose sight of the fact that entrepreneurs - whether technology-based or social entrepreneurs - are the real innovadores who do the heavy lifting to help all of us see los vistas de manana.  So in that vein, kudos again to Susan Matteucci and her team at SCC.  Please help us support this important organization however you can, financially or otherwise, to help them lay the groundwork for a new era of manufacturing competitiveness - and enhanced dignity for the low-income women who form the heart of the organization.   

Posted 11-02-2005, 08:50 pm, by Trevor Loy    Comments 0

Flywheel Ventures Regional Opportunity

The Regional Opportunity The Flywheel Team believes that its target Southwest/Rockies region bears striking similarity to the historical development patterns of Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina and the San Diego, California region.  Flywheel also believes that the quality of investment opportunities that emerged from the growth of RTP and San Diego can be successfully matched in the Southwest/Rockies for the financial benefit of participating investors in the Fund.

RTP catapulted from an agrarian and textile-based economy in the 1950’s and 1960’s with per-capita income ranked second-to-last in the U.S.  to a contemporary rank of 5th in the nation for overall venture capital investment.  RTP’s successful development was built on the foundation of university-based research and development spending; the area’s 3 major institutions (Duke, North Carolina State, and the University of North Carolina) conduct over $400 million per year in sponsored research.  The successful commercialization of this R&D, coupled with the area’s lifestyle advantages, has led to the employment of over 40,000 technology workers in the area’s private sector companies.

In Flywheel’s view, San Diego of the mid-1980’s bears an even more striking resemblance to Flywheel’s target region, and especially the Firm’s headquarters location in New Mexico.  During a series of economic crises in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the economy of the San Diego area was dependent on tourism, real estate development, and defense spending.  At the same time, the area housed a large number of academic and non-profit research institutions.  These facilities conducted almost $2 billion/year in R&D activity. Leveraging the local technology expertise brought by government contracting, along with these academic research assets, the region has subsequently grown well beyond its dependence on defense spending.... more »

Posted 11-02-2005, 09:46 am, by admin    Comments 0

Flywheel Ventures’ portfolio company New West wins prestigious awards

We couldn’t be prouder that one of Flywheel Ventures’ portfolio companies, the online publication New West, won two awards at the Online News Association annual gathering this past weekend.  New West won the “General Excellence” award for best small publication (the New York Times won the large category award).  New West won two awards, sharing honors with the New York Times and Slate.com as the only multiple-award winners.  All this from a start-up venture less than eight months old. Here is one quick writeup. 

Posted 11-01-2005, 12:17 am, by Trevor Loy    Comments 0

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