Congratulations K-Diagnostics - Winner of the North Bay iHub Business Plan Contest.

The inaugural North Bay iHub Seed Round Business Plan Competition just drew to a close. The winner, San Rafael based K-Diagnostics has a sleep apnea diagnostic and monitoring medical device. How exciting! K-Diagnostics plans to move to the SMBC (Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster) and hopes to have as many as 30 employees within a few years.

The other finalists:

• GOasis - Santa Rosa - mobile, self-contained, energy-efficient emergency shelters
• E3 - Sebastopol - bio-methane from municipal waste
• Barrier Free Adventures - Petaluma - mobile & internet travel information for disabled travelers

Clearly there are lots of entrepreneurs in the North Bay with compelling ideas.

There were lots of winners in this contest:

• Sonoma, Marin, and Napa Counties -- we need entrepreneurship to spur our economy
• The SMBC that sponsored the contest and gained a new incubator tenant
• Sonoma State and Dominican University that inspired many of the entries
• the Event Sponsors including the North Bay Angels (K-Diagnostics gets to pitch at the NBA's regular July meeting if it wants)

But the biggest winners are all of the 36 companies that participated in the contest. Each was assigned a mentor by the SMBC/iHub. The business plan competition gave the companies a compelling reason to take their business planing to a new level. I mentored a very early stage company/idea. My company did not make the finals...but the team said the process was worthwhile. That is what is important. I only hope that my contribution was helpful.

But, right now we give K-Diagnostics a moment in the spotlight. Great job!

Full Disclosure: I am on the SMBC board of mentors and recently became an Entrepreneur in Residence at the SMBC.

Twitter: @jroym

Will you be a net exporter of goods or services from the North Bay region?

Will you be a net exporter of goods or services from the North Bay region?


The Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster (SMBC) adopted this question as one of their criteria for inclusion in their incubator. Full disclosure: I understand the SMBC borrowed this mantra from Ohio Economic Development transplant Michael Adler. I am not sure where Michael stole it.


Why is being a net exporter important? First of all, a company that exports goods or services creates jobs. Often $100K jobs. But, more importantly, It brings new dollars into the region. New dollars creates incremental demand. Incremental demand drives economic growth. Economic growth drives even more jobs. The multiplier effect.


What doesn't a net exporter do? A net exporter doesn't necessarily drive primary sales tax revenue. So...cash-strapped cities and counties, with their immediate need for revenue, are more likely to focus Economic Development efforts on retail, tourism, etc. which drive sales tax revenue. Don't get me wrong...tourism and retail are great. Tourism does bring money into the region. And both tourism and retail create jobs. But they create $10/hr jobs...not $100K/yr jobs. 


The irony is that the incremental economic growth driven by net exporters likely drives more sales tax dollars overall. But those sales tax dollars accrue to the region, not one city. So,  cities are generally driven to focus their Economic Development dollars on retail and tourism. I guess it is a prisoner's dilemma. If everybody cooperates, everybody wins. But if one city "cheats", they win more than the others.


More on North Bay regional economic development in a future post.