Last month Servosity CEO Damien Stevens told Congress that his company’s success was due largely to its participation in the Greenville Chamber’s NEXT initiative.
Stevens testified before the Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access at a hearing on “Private Sector Initiatives to Educate Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs.” The purpose of the hearing was to review private-sector training and mentorship programs that are providing education to small-business owners and entrepreneurs across the nation, and their effects on small business growth and job creation.
Stevens, founder of GSA Technology Council and a leader in the Upstate technology business community, discussed the growth Servosity experienced once he became involved with NEXT and moved into the NEXT Innovation Center on University Ridge. The company grew to 30 employees whose average salary is $80,000. Servosity provides backup and disaster recovery services to companies that service small and mid-sized businesses nationwide.
Stevens said that before joining NEXT in 2008, “I made all the mistakes myself, without the benefit of learning from others, specifically other entrepreneurs and the challenges unique to high-growth companies.”
Other panelists also stressed the importance of peer-to-peer learning and discussed programs that provided services such as legal education, funding, mentorship and crowdsourcing of information. It was noted that the plethora of organizations aimed at small-business development could potentially be a point of confusion or inefficiency for entrepreneurs.
Three other witnesses addressed the committee: Dina Powell, managing director of Goldman Sachs in New York City; Stephen Morgan, chairman of the board of trustees of My Own Business Inc. in City of Industry, Calif.; and Kim Pate, chief external relations officer of the Corporation for Enterprise Development in Washington, D.C.
Powell stressed the importance of public-private partnerships and announced that Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Businesses program, a $500 million initiative, would now be open to businesses across the country. Program details are available.
