1. Go to overlooked places: Love of place drives the desire of entrepreneurs to solve local problems.
  2. Solve real problems: The best entrepreneurs solve problems they understand from their own lived experience.
  3. Give entrepreneurs space to grow: Entrepreneurs need room to trial and test their ideas. Many founders, especially in under-resourced communities, have nowhere to turn.
  4. Revolving loans make the world go ‘round: Much of venture funding is focused on venture capital, but very few businesses actually raise, or even need, VC dollars. More important for local entrepreneurs is access to credit and loans from local banks. Traditional small-business lending has relied heavily on outdated underwriting models, such as collateral-based models, that too-often exclude diverse business owners and communities.
  5. Build businesses on revenues, not venture capital: In an age of bloated venture capital funds and startups that are long on valuations and short on profit models, New Revivalists are focused on raising revenues, not rounds.
  6. Spot hidden talent: A more inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem must be made, not found. New Revivalists are building into their investment processes intentional strategies for overcoming biases that might limit who makes it onto their radar and into their portfolios. The secret: looking for deals where others don’t yields new opportunities.

Read the full article on entrepreneurship and the American dream by Dennis Price and David Bank at ImpactAlpha