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Launch Pad Participates In White House Discussions On Building Startups(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CORAL GABLES, Fla., Dec. 8 -- The University of Miami issued the following news release: Today at the White House, the Startup America Partnership convened its all-entrepreneur board and announced $475 million in new committed resources to help startups scale, pushing the total value of its partner offerings to over $1.2 billion. The latest round of partner commitments are a direct response to specific requests made by the nearly 2000 Startup America Firms that have already registered with the Partnership since the release of its platform in September. Board members, sponsors, regional leaders and entrepreneurs met to discuss how to best utilize these resources and the Partnership's platform to help startups grow in order to create jobs throughout the country. Joining the board at the White House were representatives from regional initiatives, including Startup Connecticut, Startup Florida, Startup Illinois, Startup Massachusetts and Startup Tennessee. Dr. Susan Amat, Executive Director of The Launch Pad at the University of Miami, represented Startup Florida as a regional co-leader. The Launch Pad, a novel entrepreneurship initiative developed at the University of Miami, helps both students and alumni create new enterprises, with a particular focus on the University's home in South Florida. These aims are achieved by treating entrepreneurship as a mainstream career, a legitimate way to make a living, and by linking young entrepreneurs to regional commercial and community networks. "The Startup America Partnership is focused on helping young companies grow because with their success comes job creation and a stronger American economy," said Steve Case, Chairman of the Startup America Partnership. "Our board members are perfect examples of founders who have succeeded in turning their visions into successful, high-growth ventures that employ hundreds of thousands of people." According to the Kauffman Foundation, companies less than five years old accounted for all of the net job growth in our country between 1980 and 2005. Young firms' success is often dependent on access to a variety of resources that help them grow. New corporate commitments to the Startup America Partnership support the growth of startups in five key areas: Expertise, Services, Talent, Customers and Capital. "With our latest round of partners, we've continued to build out the offerings that startups have identified as being crucial to their growth," said Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership. "Every startup in the country should register now to utilize these resources and jumpstart their growth." Each Startup America Firm has access to a personalized dashboard - their "Growth Kit" - with which they can connect to resources and find the most relevant offerings based on their specific needs, stage of growth, and location. They also have access to an exclusive online community of other founders and startup team members where they can interact with Partnership representatives, share best practices and support their fellow entrepreneurs. The $475 million in new partner offerings consists of: Talent Top Prospect, a leading social web application that helps companies source great candidates through crowd-sourced social referrals, will waive listing fees for three jobs per month for 6 months for all Startup America Firms, for an estimated value of $54 million. Elance, the world's leading platform for online employment, is offering Elance service credits to Startup America Firms for a value up to $1 million. IQTalent Partners, an executive search firm with a hands-on, personal approach, is offering free access to training to Startup America firms recruiting their first team, 2 hours of free consultation per quarter to 150 Speedup and Rampup firms, and a 25 percent discount on consulting and search services, for a total value of over $1.3 million. LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with more than 135 million members worldwide, is offering a donation of up to 100,000 free subscriptions to Startup America Firms - a value of $5 million. The Resumator, a small business recruiting software platform, is offering Startup America Firms a free 6-month special Startup Plan subscription, for a total value of $12 million. ThinkHR, a leader in providing practical guidance and immediate answers that help businesses resolve complex HR issues, is offering Startup America Firms a 90-day free trial and a 30 percent reduced rate for on-demand access to expert HR Advisors and unlimited HR library access, for an estimated total value up to $7 million. Services NetSuite, the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software suites, is offering special pricing on NetSuite software. Accrisoft, a provider of content management solutions to empower businesses to grow and succeed on the Web, is providing 1,000 Startup America Firms with free websites for one full year, for a total value of $1.8 million. Bigstock, a top destination for affordable royalty-free photos and illustrations, is offering 25 free image credits and 15 percent off image credit packs for all Startup America Firms, for a total value of $2.45 million. LegalZoom, the nation's leading provider of online legal document services and legal plans, is offering a 10 percent discount on forming an LLC or corporation and their ten most popular legal forms for free to all Startup America Firms. Palo Alto Software, Inc, the leader in business planning and small business management solutions, is offering Startup America Firms three months free service of LivePlan and Email Center Pro, along with a 50 percent discount on Sales & Marketing Pro, for an estimated total value of $10 Million. Proforma Global, a leading provider of print and promotional products, is offering printed materials, promotional products, apparel, website design and visibility and multimedia services at discounted pricing to help companies operate more effectively and reach their target audiences. The estimated value of this offering is over $50 million. Regus, the world's largest provider of flexible workplaces, is offering 12 month complimentary Regus Businessworld Gold memberships and one month free on full-service and virtual offices (12 month minimum term) to all Startup America Firms. Rocket Lawyer, the nation's fastest growing online legal services provider, is offering Startup America Firms a free legal plan which includes: a legal check up, creation of 5 essential business documents quarterly, 50 percent discount off incorporations, and a complete corporate compliance solution, for a total value of over $12.5 million. Shutterstock, a leading global provider of high-quality stock footage, stock photography, vectors and illustrations to professionals around the world, is offering five free image downloads, plus a 15 percent preferred discount to all Startup America Firms, for a value of nearly $2.5 million. Turnstone, a Steelcase brand, designs workplace solutions that help create great work environments that are easy to own and exhilarating to use. Turnstone is offering Startup America Firms free space plan consulting and 18 percent off their products - an estimated total value of over $1 million. Customers Emma, a Web-based communications service that helps small and midsize businesses manage their email campaigns, newsletters and online surveys, is offering Startup America Firms six months of free service followed by a 20 percent discount for life, plus a free stylish email template, for a value of over $86 million. Eventbrite, which enables event creation, promotion, registration and ticket sales, will be providing a $100 credit to all Startup America Firms and will syndicate listings of popular Startup-focused events. Capital Lendio, an online platform that matches a business owner to dozens of loan options from more than 3,000 lenders nationwide, is offering free premium memberships and discounts on all related products, providing an estimated $54 million in savings to Startup America Firms. Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., the leading provider of business credit & credibility solutions, is offering all eligible Startup America firms a 10% discount off all new purchases of its annual subscription services that enable businesses to establish, build, and manage their business credit and credibility. Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp is committing up to $2 million in total value annually for Startup America Firms through this special offer. Expertise Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $190 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry, is giving qualified Startup America entrepreneurs the opportunity to benefit from the activities of the nation's largest technology trade association, including the 2012 International CES. Cooley LLP, a full-service global law firm focused on helping emerging companies grow, has tailored a unique flat fee package that will be available to five Startup America Firms each month through 2012. This package includes business formation and intellectual property advice, as well as assistance with funding strategies. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, an international law firm with a history of helping some of the world's most innovative companies go from startups to industry leaders, is offering eligible participants complimentary access to firm-published insights and analysis of the legal and business issues affecting today's emerging growth companies including corporate finance and management, intellectual property, litigation, and privacy, among others. Affiliates In addition to the national partners that provide unique offerings to Startup America firms, the Partnership brought on six new affiliates, Global Entrepreneurship Week, RocketSpace, Startup Genome, Startup Health, Square 1 Bank and the Unreasonable Institute, who join the ranks of other Startup America affiliates working everyday to help startups succeed. For more information, and to register as a Startup America Firm today, please visit http://www.startupamericapartnership.org. About the Startup America Partnership The Startup America Partnership was launched at the White House in response to President Obama's call to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. The Partnership is bringing together an alliance of major corporations, funders, service providers, mentors and advisors working to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of high-growth enterprises in the U.S. AOL co-founder Steve Case chairs the Partnership and the Kauffman and Case Foundations are founding partners. American Express OPEN, Dell Inc., Intuit Inc., and Microsoft are sponsors. The Partnership will identify, measure and report on the effectiveness of cross-sector collaboration in support of entrepreneurial ventures and its effect on job creation and growth. For more information on the Partnership, visit www.startupamericapartnership.org and follow at www.twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica. TNS MJ88-111209-3708324 StaffFurigay (c) 2011 Targeted News Service |