After over a year of intense involvement in founding a technology startup firm in Baltimore, Brian Sierakowski has gotten to a promising point: "We have more opportunities than time or resources," says Sierakowski, whose collaborative web platform www.cahoots.co is based in the Emerging Technology Center in Canton. He and his partners were happy to hear Gov. Martin O'Malley encourage legislators to set aside $100 million to help such startups out with the resource side of the entrepreneurial equation on Thursday, Feb. 3 in his annual State of the State address.
Cahoots is still in the market research stage, with a three-person team now stabilized for over half a year after several personnel switches in the company's initial months. "There aren't too many people out there who individually have the full skill set to take a company to where they want it to be," the Cahoots founder says. Prototyping and strategy development are next steps that can be facilitated by greater availability of funds for startups statewide. For example, web-based companies like Cahoots need to demonstrate their services and accommodate users, which requires buying bandwidth. Removal of anxiety about basic costs through help from Annapolis funds could be the rising tide that lifts all ships in Baltimore's digital harbor.
O'Malley wants the next "world-changing company" to start in Maryland, and Sierakowski says dozens of potentially successful local startups could be incubated with the same $100 million that might make up only a portion of larger traditional jobs projects. Sierakowski also says that money can make planned small-business expansion go faster. "Putting money into the system and making assistance available speeds the process; what would otherwise take a year may take just three months with the right resources."
Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Brian Sierakowski, Cahoots