Q&A with Jon Cropper, Founder of Futurlogic

A: Of course.  Startup tactics revolve around a number of core principles, that when applied to the management of a city, could prove to be revolutionary.  

 

1. Viable ideas/core value proposition: new venture development is all about identifying unmet or poorly satisfied needs...or pain points in a marketplace, then efficiently developing a product, service that solves that need.  Defining a simple, core value proposition (1 sentence elevator pitch that explains what a new venture is selling and why its best) is a core startup principle.  The same should be true for city brand management.  

 

2. Branding: Great entrepreneurs know that they are not really developing products, but a brand culture that hopefully will attract a community of like-minded people, all engaged in that brand's mission.  A startup without a vision for how its contribution/brand energy makes our culture better in the future usually fails. The same should be true for city management.  

 

3. Efficient use of funds: Great entrepreneurs are magicians with resource allocation. The key is to make $1 work like $10.  Again, the same should be true for city management.   

 

4. Aggregating executive talent and money around the idea: Great entrepreneurs are great salespeople, and can generate excitement around their idea and attract a small cohesive management team. Same should be true for city management.  

 

5. Always improving and iterating:  Great entrepreneurs build platforms that are designed to be flexible and allow for constant iteration.  Imagine if the product roadmap of the iPad was used by the mayor of Detroit to metaphorically map to sequence improvements of that city?  

 

6. Great Entrepreneurs are marketers Above all else, marketing and creating awareness/demand for a new venture once built determines initial success. Its shocking how poorly most city websites look, and what little resource they allocate to promote themselves.     

 

 

A: Our company's mission is simple, yet very challenging: to creatively curate talent and low-cost technologies to democratize super-high quality education in "futur-logical" disciplines.  A futur-logical discipline is one where there is clearly a growing need for talent, and yet traditional, higher educational institutions are remarkable slow to create training programs in these areas.  Areas like cyber-security and telemedicine entrepreneurship have enormous growth potential.  

 

"Talent" is rapidly being redefined by the marketplace: in the US, only 5 of the 20 jobs projected to grow fastest over the coming decade will require a bachelors degree.  Further, given the high unemployment rate, especially among people 25 and under, we see entrepreneurship increasingly as a "life skill" - not a dream that many have, but never attempt.  Our place in the talent supply chain is to rapidly provide large numbers of ambitious people access to online entrepreneurial training, tools, and a support network at a quality level that traditionally has had an unaffordable price point attached to it.   

 

A: Cities must strategically do their part to create a culture that cultivate futur-logical job development and create very affordable 21st century knowledge, tools and infrastructure (cheap rent and security.)  Doing so will naturally attract entrepreneurial minded people who inject an optimistic attitude into the community, attract capital and ultimately create jobs.  The optimistic, "can-do" attitude that all entrepreneurs embrace is the fuel that drives progress and will keep urban life vibrant.  Artists are entrepreneurs and creating arts friendly neighborhoods is a proven tactic to boost real estate value.    For cities to thrive, the psychographic energy of artists and entrepreneurs is as critical as oxygen.