Author: CBPS

Peter Mehit is co-founder and Managing Partner of Custom Business Planning and Solutions, a business consulting firm that provides problem solving, planning and process help. He has worked from private equity to the Fortune 100 at all stages. He can be reached at pmehit@wbpllc.com or at 800-741-8444.

Y Combinator, TechStars: Investor Mentorship and Leverage Outweigh Capital | Fast Company

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“You’re starting to see a trend of investors having to work harder to convince founders that they should be able to invest in that company,” he explains. “There is very much early-stage capital available for startups–many are getting involved in angel investing, and lots of traditional VCs are too. Founders are now asking investors, What are you going to do? Why should I take your money over the other angels? On a day-to-day basis, why is having you in my company going to be a good thing? These are questions that people never asked before.”

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Small Business Dashboard | U.S. Department of Energy – Office of Economic Impact and Diversity

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Transparency, Accuracy, and the Small Business Dashboard

With small businesses creating two out of every three net new jobs, holding more patents than the largest corporations and universities combined, and employing half of all working Americans, we can’t afford to ignore opportunities to improve and advance federal contracting opportunities to small businesses.

Today President Obama’s Interagency Task Force on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses put forward thirteen recommendations to:

  • Develop clearer and more comprehensive small business contracting policies;
  • Provide for a better workforce and hold agencies accountable for meeting small business goals; and
  • Leverage technology to enhance transparency, increase federal procurement accessibility for small businesses, and improve data quality.

Transparency, Accuracy, and the Small Business Dashboard

Read the Executive Summary here.

Small business contracting goals, started in 1978, help agencies map out the percentage of annual prime contract spending that should be awarded to small businesses every year. The thirteen recommendations that the Interagency Task Force put forward today will address the gap between the annual government-wide goal for contracting and the actual annual prime contract spending. While the Department of Energy received an “A” grade for FY 2009 achievement from the Small Business Administration, we are fully committed to improving government-wide small business contracting.

The brand-new Small Business Dashboard is a reflection of this commitment. On the Small Business Dashboard visitors can see government-wide goaling information, design their own data feeds from small business data, perform detailed searches on government contractors, view top types of contracts used and states by vendor locations, and learn more about the contracts at each Federal agency.

Visit the Small Business Dashboard here.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization is looking forward to working with the Task Force as we implement the recommendations put forward today and evaluate progress. We hope resources like the Small Business Dashboard prove useful to your small business, and we welcome the opportunity to continue talking with you.

SB 1070 Judge is Right – But Not For The Reason You Might Think | Peter Mehit

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Yesterday there were about a hundred Tea Party protesters at the corner of Grand and Payton in Chino Hills, blowing whistles and waving flags to signify their disgust with the temporary injunction the judge in the Arizona SB 1070 case issued. They are angry because they believe that Arizona is being denied their right to defend themselves from the onslaught of illegal aliens and drug smugglers from Mexico. Most of them (I’ve spoken with quite a few), see this as a state’s rights issue and think Arizona should be able to use the means in SB 1070 to make a difference in the illegal immigration problem.

The opposite point of view has unfortunately focused on racism and the belief that racial profiling will be used. To be fair, most white people don’t understand what it’s like to be pulled over, and sometimes searched, because you look different. The average white person has never had that experience. The average black or hispanic person has. Repeatedly. But while that fear is justified, it’s not the real reason to oppose SB1070.

When the Soviet Union was in power, you needed transit papers to travel from one city to another. If you didn’t have what was essentially a visa, you couldn’t leave your town and go to another province or city. If you did and you were caught, you could do jail time. Nazi Germany employed this same system as a way to be able to detain people without cause.

The powers of SB1070, used for the purposes stated, are fine. It’s the infrastructure it creates that is the real problem. Think of all the abuses under the PATRIOT Act. Wiretaps and e-mail impounding that could have never taken place before it was signed into law. Extrajudicial rendition, the practice of scooping people off of streets in foriegn countries. Torture. These are all things our government is doing now. The problem with SB1070 is it could be used to gut Miranda and probable cause requirements. It is also a short step to requiring transit papers.

And before you say, ‘The law has safeguards to prevent abuses’, I will tell you that the PATRIOT Act actually has a lot of checks in it to. They’re just not used when they aren’t convenient.
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