Do Midwestern entrepreneurs have different characteristics than those youd find on the coasts?
CO: I think one cultural difference from coastal entrepreneurs was historically the Midwestern protestant work ethic. It had been drilled into people that it was not OK to fail. Therefore, if an individual decided to leave their nine-to-five job to start their dream company if it did not succeed the first time around, they were encouraged by friends, family and everybody in the community to go back to their nine-to-five job. I am sure many did and this negatively affected the serial entrepreneur community in the Midwest. That is changing. I also think we do ourselves a disservice when we compare our circumstances too closely to the coasts and expect to be as far along as they are when they started this process in the 1960s and 1970s. While the Midwest didnt really jump into this until a decade later, we are closing the gap quickly. Every day, we see the quality of the entrepreneurs and deals getting stronger. IVCA: What caused the change in the marketplace that has spurred entrepreneur
