SBA GATHERING INFO FROM BIZ OWNERS- COMPLETE SURVEY BY JULY 12

The Small Business Administration’s Office of Investment published a Request
for Information (RFI) on Thursday, June 10, 2010 to collect input from the
public on ideas for creating and leveraging existing entrepreneurial mentoring
and education programs for early stage, high-growth companies. To see the
description in the Federal Register, copy and paste the following url into your
browser. Be sure to include the black type as well as the blue.

http://frwebgate2.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?
WAISdocID=nonCNu/0/2/0&WAISaction=retrieve

High-growth, early stage entrepreneurs face long odds; however, certain
programmatic initiatives could significantly increase their chances to succeed.
Mentoring relationships between seasoned entrepreneurs and early-stage
entrepreneurs, as well as entrepreneurial education programs geared towards
the high-growth community can help these companies reach higher
probabilities of success and encourage a sustainable, innovation-based
ecosystem.

The objectives of the RFI are the following: 1) to understand if the needs of
high-growth companies and entrepreneurs differ from “main street”
businesses; 2) how successful models for entrepreneur mentoring and
education can be applied to this group of early-stage companies; and 3)how
to scale successful entrepreneur mentoring and education programs more
widely.

Responses to the RFI will be due on Monday, July 12, 2010 and will be used to
inform policy discussions on entrepreneurial mentoring and education. For any
questions on the RFI, please email RFI_Entrepreneurship@sba.gov