District 2 Fundraising Report

Here is who we have heard about:

Bill Halter
Mark Stodola
Paul Suskie
Preston Scroggin
Robbie Wills
Shane Broadway
Will Bond
Joyce Elliot
Tracy Steele
Bob Johnson
Tab Townsell
Any # of unknowns who have been waiting in the wings to strike!

Republicans are already talking about this now becoming a toss-up seat, but the Dems have a deep bench and Snyder endorsing the eventual primary winner will help with the military credibility. Also leaves a lot of room for a fresh face to emerge in the Democratic party.

How do we create high-tech jobs in Central Arkansas? The first answer is easy, education. Everything gets easier the more educated people become. But what do we do in the meantime? My big idea is to create a vibrant tech start-up community in Central Arkansas.

I believe tech start-ups, more specifically Internet start-ups, could represent the biggest shift in our economy as a whole since the Industrial Revolution. Changes in technology allow start-ups to compete against much larger competitors. Start-ups are more nimble, not capital-intensive and they scale very quickly, making them very disruptive in the marketplace.

Governor Beebe and our state government have taken several steps to promote start-ups, including providing resources like Innovate Arkansas and the Seed Capital Program through the Science and Technology Authority. Although these are great programs and have already helped many start-ups (Capsearch.com included!), they are not the whole solution.

One model that has promise is Y Combinator. Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm that helps start-ups through what many consider to be the hardest step, the one from idea to company. This model provides very small investments ($25,000 to $50,000) and then introduces start-ups to larger investors.

This is a good start, but if an investor in Silicon Valley offers them a larger investment they would most likely relocate. So then what?

What if we paid start-ups to relocate to Little Rock? Let’s assume it would cost a million dollars per business. If we could get start-ups to stay in Little Rock for a million apiece, then for $100 million we could bring in 100 new businesses. For the price of a football stadium, Little Rock could turn itself into one of the biggest start-up cities in the country. That would probably help us keep our best and brightest, and might even produce a lot of revenue for the city and the state.

-Data latency; the time taken to collect and store the data

-Analysis latency; the time taken to analyze the data and turn it into actionable information

-Action latency; the time taken to react to the information and take action

Capsearch.com is designed to reduce all three latencies to as close to zero as possible, whereas traditional providers only seek to reduce data latency and does not address analysis latency or action latency since both are governed by manual processes.

Having the right information at the right time allows you to make better decisions faster.

1) Affecting Change- An organization involved in advocacy or lobbying  must be aware of real-time changes to their issues. If your opposition just got an article/blog post published about their perspective on an issue, you must respond in a timely manner or you could no longer be a relevant player in the argument.

2) Communicating a Winning Message- The winner in any game has a winning message (ex. Obama = change, Tebow= passion) In order to craft your message you must know who is the best person to deliver the message, when is the best time to deliver the message, and where is the best location for the message. Deciding on these three things can be more difficult than crafting the message itself.

3) Collaborating Successfully with Partners- Picking the right partners is all about timing. There are always shared goals and overlaps in missions of different organizations but picking the right partner is the key. Knowing the playing field is crucial, you must have an understanding of where organizations stand in the broader context to ensure that they are the right fit for you. If they just publicly lost their most recent legislative push, they might not be the best partner.

Organizations must aggressively seek the most real-time relevant information to ensure that they are making the best strategic decisions. As internet and telecommunications technology continue to drastically transform the way we do business, it is becoming more and more difficult to separate the signal from the noise. Those who can find and use the data they need will succeed.

Note: Our apologies for any errors or omissions. Corrections? Updates? Feel free to email info to travis@capsearch.com

Bank of the Ozarks is one of the largest clients of The Communications Group, a Little Rock advertising agency. The Communications Group won the Lottery Commission’s advertising account Aug. 5. Several advertising agencies that submitted proposals for the lottery business said they were unhappy with the procurement process.

Click here for the full story from AB.

Visit www.capvoice.us for a demo version of this solution or contact us at matt@capsearch.com or 501-372-3210.

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