SOW_Entrepreneurship_Ecosystems_.pdf

Solicitation SBAHQ-15-Q-0052

RESEARCH ON:

Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Their Service of High Growth Women Entrepreneurs

Statement of work

Location of Work: To be completed by the contractor off-site (not at SBA headquarters)

Time to Complete the Work: Not more than one year from the date of award

Clearance Required: None

1. Introduction The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is a non-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. The Council’s mission is to promote bold initiatives, policies and programs designed to support women’s business enterprises at all stages of development in the public and private sector marketplaces- from start-up to success to significance.

Members of the Council are prominent women business owners and leaders of women’s business organizations.

For more information on NWBC, see www.nwbc.gov.

Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and their Service of High Potential and High 1Growth Women Entrepreneurs The Council has adopted the entrepreneurship ecosystem framework to analyze the key stakeholders impacting the business climate for women and their interactions. With the goal of identifying policies and recommendations that will nurture the survival and growth2 of the ventures of women entrepreneurs, the Council seeks to understand how elements of the entrepreneurship ecosystem—government, support/education organizations, accelerators/incubators, trade/professional associations, membership organizations, universities, large businesses, funders, peer networks, media and others—provide resources. An analysis of the current state of entrepreneurship ecosystems will allow us to identify strategies to ensure that women with high growth aspirations are able to access the key assets, education, employees, capital and technical assistance that they need to scale their businesses, driving economic growth and job creation. The Council’s definition of a successful entrepreneurship ecosystem is one in which women with high growth aspirations for their firms have

2 The National Women's Business Council defines “high growth” as all enterprises with average annualized growth greater than 20% per annum, over a three year period, except in those cases where high levels of R&D investment forestall sales under conditions of intellectual property protection. Growth can be measured by the number of employees or by revenue. This includes any firm with fewer than 10 employees that grows by 8 or more employees over a 3-year period. This definition is consistent with the Business Employment Dynamic’s definition (see at: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/clayton.htm). This research should also include the ecosystem’s service of women entrepreneurs with high growth aspirations in business lifecycle stages prior to those described by the high growth definition.

http://www.nwbc.gov/ http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/clayton.htm access to the necessary resources to articulate and reach their business goals. This includes women entrepreneurs at different stages of career including venture ideation, creation and scale.

We take the position that institutions related to entrepreneurship in the US are gendered, and by that we mean that there are assumptions socially constructed that impose norms around what men can and should do, and what women can and should do. These norms, often unconsciously held and sometimes consciously held as bias, impact women’s ability to create and grow their businesses in certain contexts and under certain circumstances.

The objectives of this research are to:

1. Create a review of academic and policy literature on high growth entrepreneurial ecosystems in relation to women entrepreneurs with the objective of articulating how entrepreneurial ecosystems are gendered so as to create an ecosystem model that is best suited to promoting the success of women entrepreneurs, their teams and their ventures.

2. Convene 6-10 Town Hall events in cities for the purposes of: 1) ascertaining the successes of the ecosystem, and 2) exploring potential innovations to heighten the degree to which the ecosystem recognizes and addresses gendered elements that create different entrepreneurial experiences for women and men, and 3) foster connections among participants. These events would bring together a diverse group of 20-40 key stakeholders of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem including but not limited to:

o Women business owners, community leaders; influencers, Fortune 500 procurement and venture leadership, university officials, accelerator and incubator representatives, SBA staff, policymakers, lenders, angel and venture capital investors, business academics and university programs, chapter representatives of organizations on the Council, peer advisory group leaders, business and technology media, other resource and program staff, etc.

3. Conduct ecosystem analysis to develop knowledge of how different factors (including but not limited to:

regulatory and tax policy, markets, finance, human capital development including workforce quality, and culture) yield a particular ecosystem.

4. Complete a white paper, containing insights from each city’s Town Hall and comparative analysis, comparing and contrasting ecosystem architecture and elements in relation to gender and women entrepreneurs leading or aspiring to lead high growth businesses. The white paper should include policy recommendations.

Some literature exists on best practices of successful entrepreneurship ecosystems, including work by Dan Isenberg3, Leslie Hielema4, and Yasuyuki Motoyama and Karren Watkins of the Kauffman Foundation5. The purpose of this project is to understand how entrepreneurship ecosystems should be considered, built or reimagined to support high potential and high growth potential women entrepreneurs.

3 Isenberg, D. (2010). How to Start an Entrepreneurial Revolution. Harvard Business Review.

4 Hielema, L. (2013) Connecting Entrepreneurs to Success: Optimizing an Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce.

5 Motoyama, Yasuyuki and Watkins, Karren K., Examining the Connections within the Startup Ecosystem: A Case Study of St. Louis (September 1, 2014). Kauffman Foundation Research Series on City, Metro, and Regional Entrepreneurship, September 2014.

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2498226 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2498226.

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2498226 http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2498226

For current NWBC research, see: http://www.nwbc.gov/issues-and-research. For current research by the SBA Office of Advocacy on women entrepreneurs, see: http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/7540.

2. Scope

This solicitation is for a literature review, model creation, event series and white paper as discussed above.

Research proposals can use a wide range of data sources available to study small business questions. The following is an abbreviated list of possible databases for research:

Governmental

• Survey of Business Owners (SBO)

Nongovernmental

• Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED)

• US data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

Possible topics of interest are wide-ranging and are not limited to the following:

Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Their Service of High Growth Women Entrepreneurs

• What are the factors – including but not limited to policy, support organizations, culture, market, finance, and human capital– that enable an entrepreneurship ecosystem to support high growth women?

• What factors lead to successful women-owned businesses, defined as a higher rate of high-growth businesses owned by women per capita?

• When, if ever, should entrepreneurship ecosystem organizations tailor programming for high growth women entrepreneurs? What is the evidence?

• Under any specific conditions, how should such tailoring be done so as not to ghettoize high growth women entrepreneurs?

• Would high growth women entrepreneurs benefit from stronger connections among elements of the ecosystem? What are the opportunities for creating these relationships and formalizing them? What barriers exist, if any?

Geographically, the NWBC seeks ecosystem analysis on Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The MSA analysis should include at least the following as groups of factors:

• Data related to women: Women-owned and women-led businesses as a percentage of all businesses, growth in number of women-owned and women-led businesses (by employer and non-employer), growth in total women-owned and women-led firm employment, other macroeconomic factors; presence of women in local and state government leadership; data from the Women Presidents’ Organization 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned Businesses awards. This research should also include analysis by industry, identifying in which industries women-owned businesses are performing strongly, and differences among the MSAs.

• Data related to ecosystems: factors identified as components of a healthy ecosystem in the literature review, including but not limited to: angel and venture capital availability, innovation data, percentage of the population with graduate degrees, particularly in STEM fields; the presence of SBA offices and SBA resource partner offices; locations of SBA Cluster Initiative cities; presence of Brookings Institution’s http://www.nwbc.gov/issues-and-research http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/7540

Metropolitan Policy Program-identified Innovation Districts and other similar “entrepreneurship zones”;

presence of chapters of organizations on the Council as well as other women’s business organizations, etc.

The analysis should also use an industry sector lens, identifying which cities have entrepreneurship ecosystems that are particularly supportive or nurturing of women entrepreneurs by industry and the factors that contribute to that environment.

Specific Tasks:

Project Management. The Contractor shall:

• Prepare and maintain a Project Management Plan including master project schedule, milestones, and performance measures.

• Work with the NWBC at the outset to fully understand the project and ask any questions that need answering.

Determine Segments. The Contractor shall:

• Work with the NWBC and utilize existing research to help define entrepreneurial ecosystems and the elements impacting its performance:

• Final determination of components of entrepreneurial ecosystems will be made by the NWBC, but input and insight into the make-up is encouraged.

• Possible areas of exploration could include but are not limited to: financial institutions, business support organizations, government, policies/regulations/laws, human capital, culture and markets.

Review of Literature and Data Analysis. The Contractor shall:

• Write a literature review to deepen understanding of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in a city/region, and the degree to which the ecosystems are serving women entrepreneurs. The NWBC would like to build on existing research on entrepreneurship ecosystems by conducting analysis using a gender lens. The Contractor should include information about why the ecosystems proposed will develop the field.

• Conduct a macro-level data analysis of MSAs, specifically focusing on the entrepreneurship ecosystem’s ability to support women entrepreneurs.

• Conduct a meso-level data analysis of MSAs that has a women’s high growth focus.

• Conduct a micro-level l ecosystem analysis to determine MSA case studies resulting in the selection of 6-10

MSAs as locations for Town Halls.

• The MSA analysis should include other factors that influence an entrepreneurship ecosystem’s ability to support women entrepreneurs. These include, but are not limited to: policy, especially tax and regulatory;

finance; markets, including corporate and government; culture; and human capital, including workforce quality, and culture, innovation, education level.

• If other outside relevant research is found during this study and the researcher wishes to use it as part of the project they must first obtain written approval from the NWBC. The reports cited above on entrepreneurship ecosystems may be used without other approval.

• Develop recommendations that can be used by the NWBC, the SBA, Congress, the White House and other key stakeholders.

Town Hall Series. The Contractor shall run six to ten Town Halls in cities selected by the research described in the Review of Literature and Data Analysis section above:

• Convene 6-10 Town Hall events in cities identified by the ecosystem analysis discussed in Item 2, the purposes of which are to a) foster connections among participants, b) ascertain the ecosystems’ successes and areas for improvement, and c) explore potential innovations to heighten the degree to which the ecosystem is nurturing to women. These events would bring together a diverse group of 20-40 key stakeholders of the local entrepreneurship ecosystem including but not limited to:

o Women business owners and leaders; community leaders; Fortune 500 procurement and venture leadership; university officials; accelerator and incubator representatives; SBA district and resource staff; local government, policymakers and other influencers; WOSB/WBE certifiers;

lenders; angel and venture capital investors; chapter representatives of organizations on the Council; peer advisory group leaders; business and technology media; other resource and program staff, etc.

• The Town Halls shall be an expert panel followed by World Café6 or similar format small group discussions. They shall be held monthly beginning in January 2016; except no Town Halls shall be scheduled for March or July. The NWBC Executive Director shall attend the Town Halls, along with other NWBC staff as necessary. The events shall be scheduled by October 15, 2015 so that the NWBC may put the event dates in the NWBC 2015 Annual Report.

• The Contractor, with NWBC collaboration and input, shall complete city selection, participant invitations and outreach, venue selection, marketing, event programs, and recording of discussions. Decisions are subject to review and approval by the NWBC.

White Paper. The Contractor shall complete a White Paper based on the Town Halls described in the prior section:

• Analyze the discussions of the Town Halls and any other sources used; and compile the analysis in a comprehensive written report, detailing the results. The report shall include graphical analysis if there is any relevant quantitative data in addition to written analysis. This White Paper should serve as a playbook of policies and other recommendations for stakeholders and influencers in ecosystems, so they can apply those insights to their ecosystems. The report shall:

Include an approved executive summary (executive summary submitted up to three days prior for review) which shall be delivered at least one week prior to the full report, so the NWBC can begin to release preliminary results, if it so chooses.

Include a full methodology.

The written analysis shall identify still unanswered questions and future interesting areas of study based on the findings.

Be available for at least two rounds of revision based upon feedback from the NWBC.

Shall meet with 508 compliance standards.

Be provided in print-ready electronic form; word, excel, etc., to be discussed at initial consultation.

• Develop and provide a complete and comprehensive PowerPoint deck that presents the analysis in presentation rather than written report form.

6 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Caf%C3%A9_(conversational_process) for further details on this method.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Caf%C3%A9_(conversational_process)

Status Calls. The Contractor shall detail regular status updates to the NWBC on a weekly basis, and to the full Council on an ad hoc basis. The status calls shall briefly update the Council on the status and progress of all project elements, including but not limited to the project timeline, methodology, interesting findings, outlines for draft reports, and any other problems encountered or questions. The contractor shall be expected to provide proposed solutions for any challenges that emerge throughout the duration of the project. A timeline and checklist of tasks for project completion shall be provided and discussed at the project’s initial meeting.

Preliminary Results Reports. As the Town Halls take place, the contractor shall submit 6-10 preliminary results reports that shall include insights that can be reviewed and made public, within ten business days of each Town Hall. This shall be brief with instructive bits of information and not in-depth results. Interim results shall be geared towards building interest in our final release. This preliminary results report shall be noted in the timeline provided at the start of the project.

3. Performance Requirements

• The methodology and hypotheses put forth in the proposal will clearly show how the research will be conducted, are binding upon award, and are expected to be reflected in the final report. All research team members listed in the proposal, including but not limited to subject matter and technical experts, will actively contribute through the performance of this services. The resulting final submission will fully document the analysis and conclusions to fully support the position asserted.

• The final product should contain a thorough review of the current and relevant literature, discussion of the data and findings, and overall conclusions. The report should demonstrate policy relevance to current issues. Draft products will reflect reasonable progress toward the final product and should be submitted according to final product formatting requirements. For other details on the final product, see the “Deliverables” and “Performance Requirement Summary” sections that follow.

4. Deliverables All deliverables will be transmitted to the COR via email, except as specified.

Deliverable Due Date Format For Written Submissions

Monthly progress reports

3rd business day of the month following initial award and each month thereafter

Microsoft Word document

Draft(s) Report sections and data development

Months 1-2 of contract term Microsoft Word documents and/or statistical results (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Rough Draft of Report including ecosystem and data analysis

Month 3 of contract term Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Selection of 6-10 Sites for Events, including date and location

October 15, 2015 Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Town Hall Events One monthly beginning in January 2016; no events in

March or July N/A

Preliminary Results Reports Within ten business days of each Town Hall event

Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Analysis of Town Hall-generated content

Month 10 of contract term Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

First Draft; Peer Review Initiated

Month 11 of contract term Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Reworked, Resubmissions of First Draft Based on Peer Review

Month 11 of contract term Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Final Draft Month 12 of contract term Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Reworked, Resubmission of Proposed Final Document

Month 12 of contract term

Written, submitted in a Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

Final Report Submission Month 12 of contract term

Written, submitted in a Microsoft Word documents and formatted in accordance with specifications (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files or locked files)

The Contractors and the COR will have a Post Award Conference within ten days after the award, either in person or by phone. The Contractors and COR will also have weekly status update call.

5. Performance Requirement Summary

Contractors must adhere to the following when submitting drafts and the final report, with the final version completed not more than one year from the date of award:

• All submissions will be presented by the prescribed timelines; presented under the prescribed methodology; in the prescribed format to the contracting officer’s representative (COR). Documents shall be clearly annotated and/or identified as either a draft or a final document.

• Contractors must seek prior written approval from the contracting officer and COR before any changes are implemented among the key personnel and other staff listed in the quote. Individuals that the contractor proposes to use as replacements for those listed in the quote shall satisfy the personnel experience requirements contained in the solicitation and the contractor must provide resumes for each proposed replacement as part of its request for prior written approval.

• The documented submissions related to the post award service, including the final report and all intervening drafts, must be thoroughly edited and of high professional quality before submission to the COR. These high professional quality drafts and reports should include professional language, presentation, and citations commensurate with published research in academic journals in the relevant subject matter field and should be free of typographical and grammatical errors.

• All research and data projects are subject to the Office of Management and Budget Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/fedreg/reproducible2.pdf). Per these guidelines, peer review may range from internal Advocacy staff review to that of external reviewers in relevant fields such as academics or technical experts. Feedback from this process will be incorporated into subsequent drafts before the report can be finalized for release.

• The final report must contain an executive summary and table of contents. It must conform to the current version of one of the major style guides, such as the University of Chicago Manual of Style or the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Manual, in terms of grammar, style, and organization. In particular, each table and figure must have a source specified on the page;

references, footnotes and bibliographies shall be formatted consistent with a major style guide; and all pages shall have page numbers, including tables and figures.

• All government agency websites are required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of

1990. Section 508 of the ADA’s 1998 amendments requires the electronic documents posted by Federal agencies to be accessible to employees and members of the public with disabilities to the extent that it does not pose an “undue burden.” To comply with this mandate, the final report must be formatted according to the Council’s guidelines to achieve 508 compatibility, with these guidelines to be provided by the COR at the time of the award. Per the guidelines, written descriptions of all figures and charts in the final report must be provided in a separate document.

• The contractor will provide the Council with an electronic version of the study within twelve months from the contract start date. The research is expected to progress along the timeline and benchmarks as noted in the Deliverables section.

• The final report must be double-spaced. The format of the electronic version must be a native word processing software format. An Acrobat (PDF) file is not acceptable. All tables, graphics, and charts must be supplied in an editable software format. The type used in the document will be no smaller than 12 point for manuscript text; 10 point for tables, graphics and charts; and 9 point for footnotes.

• The Council will prepare a cover page carrying the following disclaimer, "The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations found in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Women’s Business Council, the United States Small Business Administration, or the United States Government.”

• Following approval and acceptance of the final report, the Council will assign a date for public release of the report. Upon release, an electronic final report, along with a Council-prepared http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/fedreg/reproducible2.pdf research summary, will be posted on the Council's web site, http://www.nwbc.gov, and the report also will be available for sale at cost through the National Technical Information Service.

• The definition of small businesses should be the same as used by the U.S. Small Business

Administration’s Office of Size Standards.

• The National Women’s Business Council encourages contractors to publish their findings in professional journals, if possible, but they can do so only after completing the contract. Additionally, the contractor must obtain written guidance regarding attribution, specifically referencing the contract number and use of the Council’s logo and name upon finalization of the report and prior to any publication.

• SOURCE SELECTION

All technical factors combined are more important than cost.

http://www.nwbc.gov/