I’m worried.  Maybe I’m worried in that “you’re getting old and grouchy sort of way,” but still I’m worried.

I’m worried that there are so many really big problems to solve. The kind of problems that get solved when you put an entrepreneurial mind to them. I’m not talking about world hunger, profound poverty, or peace in the Middle East.  I’m pretty sure there is no app for that.

It’s the other big problems that have me worried.  And not the problelms themselves, per se, but the gross lack of entrepreneurial attention they currently receive. Over the last several months, I’ve evaluated business pitches from nearly 1,000 companies.  What strikes me most about these business is that they are doing nothing of significance.

Indeed, the collective attention of young entrepreneurs seems be have been hijacked by all things trivial. How many knock-off AirBnB sites does the world need?  Or new vertical social networks for niche groups that can’t figure out how to create a Facebook page?  Or Foursqure meets Match.com meets World of Warcraft?

Presumably, these proportedly hot startups are endorsed by the taste makers of the angel investor scene.  And if you’re an investor, these businesses may be a good way to turn a quick profit – for you, if not the entrepreneur. But, really,  where’s the long-term positive impact?

Building a startup, regardless of the target market or customer, is crazy hard work.  It can suck the life out of you if you’re not careful.  So if you’re going to work that hard, why not work on someting that matters?  Solve tough problems, make an impact.

Over the last two issues of this newsletter, I offered up the support of Guidewire Group to any young business that was tackling tough problems in the areas of health and wellness, financial literacy, sustainable energy.  Exactly one entrepreneur rose to the challenge. The offer still stands.

Do something.  Do something that matters.

About 18 months ago, I made the colossal mistake of asking our lead analyst, Carla Thompson, “What do you really want to do?”  I meant, within the company, of course, but Carla has never been one to limit the scope of either question or answer.   She came back to me a couple weeks later with her answer:  I want to start a business.

Having observed startups as an analyst for Guidewire Group and a key part of my DEMO team, Carla saw an unmet need.  Women founders and business owners need a community.  They need and want a place to talk, mentor, and be mentored.  They want to focus on business, not women in business, and too often women-centric communities devolve into yet another venue for work-life-balance, husbands-and-diapers, may-male-boss-hates-me bitch sessions.  Carla had a vision of something better, something more valuable.  She created Sharp Skirts.

Like every startup, Sharp Skirts put a stake in the ground when it launched last year.  And like every startup, Sharp Skirts has evolved. The company has made the turn to become a new media brand to serve women business builders tired of poor representation in media and events.  Carla talks about that evolution better than I ever good.  Read her post  here.

What I have always loved about Carla – and by extension, Sharp Skirts – is that she has a point of view.  She’s also persistent as hell, and she’s managed to be doggedly persistent without sacrificing her point of view.  Her never-surrender attitude has led to the relaunch today of Sharp Skirts.  Still, there is “no pink, no platitudes.”   And the goal is unchanged: to “make our numbers count as an emerging force in business.”

The new direction, an online and offline media property, has tremendous potential.  And while I will likely never asked Carla “what do you really want to do” again, I don’t need to.  She’s going to build this company, be the original Sharp Skirt, and make me wish that I had worked for her.

Congratulations, Carla, on the restart, and best of luck to you and all the Sharp Skirts in your community.

This year, Guidewire Group is a partner with LeWeb’11 to produce the Startup Competition at the Paris conference, December 7 – 9.  Eligible companies will have less than $1M in financing and will introduce their latest product during the conference. To date, more than 500 startups have used our new G/SCORE(tm)software platform to apply for one of the coveted 16 finalist spots at the event.

Thanks to those entrepreneurs who have already completed their applications. They have thrown their hats in the ring to compete with an impressive group of startups and we wish all of them good luck!

From the applications we receive by the deadline, 36 companies will invited to compete in the next round of judging. Companies will submit a short video pitch that tells us why your company is among the most innovative in the SoLoMo space. We’ll contact contestants by October 31 with the results of the first round of judging. If you’re in the next round, we’ll share details about the video competition.

All applicants to the LeWeb Startup Competition have early, complimentary access to Guidewire Group’s G/SCORE Analytics application to benchmark their businesses and track their progress against other startups. By keeping the G/SCORE profile up to date, your business’s progress and success will also be visible to investors, corporate partners and M&A executives who use the G/SCORE Analytics application to find and track innovative startups.

For those who have not yet completed a LeWeb Startup Competition application, please see the instructions below for logging in to complete a profile and  G/SCORE self-assessment. It only takes a few minutes to complete the process. Applications are due by October 15, 2011 and we can only consider completed applications.

Steps For Completing Self-Assessment:
Once you’ve logged into the application (http://leweb.guidewiregroup.net), there are three tabs at the top: FOLLOW, DISCOVER, and SCORE. Click the SCORE tab. You should then see a drop down that contains all the companies you’ve created and are following. Select your company in that drop down if it’s not already selected. Click Begin Assessment to complete self assessment.

Steps for Requesting Certified Assessment:
After Completing a Self Assessment, you will be taken back to the main SCORE page. This page will now show the date which you created the assessment and some options to perform on that assessment, such as Publish or Request. Click the Request link to request a certified assessment. You will then be taken to a form. Provide a URL to a video if you so choose. Make some notes for the reviewer also if you so choose. Lastly, click submit. Then you’re done.

As I write this, the President of the United States is taking his place at the front of a joint session of Congress to present his jobs plan for America. A critical speech to a supremely critical audience – the Republican caucus, most certainly, and the American people at large. He will talk about extending unemployment benefits, tax breaks, and public works projects. His critics will talk about bigger tax breaks and cutting away at regulation. And some pols may even pay lip service to small businesses and entrepreneurs as the engines of job creation.

Meanwhile, all across the country in small offices, dining rooms converted into command centers, co-work spaces, coffee shops, libraries and just about anywhere an entrepreneur can jump onto a WiFi network, startups are going about the work of actually creating jobs.

I was talking about this reality to my colleague yesterday morning and the light went on. The only way we can move from the recipients of lip service to an empowered seat at the table is to actually show the nation exactly the impact we have. So, we went to work to create Startupjobscount.org. It’s a very simple Web app that asks entrepreneurs to register the number of jobs they have created. We’ll keep a running total, as well as roll call of the nation’s Jobs Creators.

No matter what market or industry you are in, please take a minute now to be counted as the Jobs Creator that you are. Let’s show Congress exactly who’s doing the hard work of putting America to work.

Special thanks to Dierdre Gibson, Guidewire Group’s senior developer, and designer Tom Loveman for scrambling to put this site together so quickly. StartupJobsCount.org went from idea to launch in under 30 hours.

Running a startup is like riding a monster roller coaster. You push your way through line, excited and a little nervous, maybe even scared. You talk a good game to all your friends, while secretly stealing an envious glance at some of the seemingly safer rides. As you approach the ride, all the signs warn of the dangers. You must be so tall. Not advised for people with this condition or that. You press on, strap into the car, and go for the ride of your life, climbing up until the bottom drops out, then climbing again. In a split second, the ride is over. You stagger in to the daylight, throw up, smile, and get back in line again.

Which is to say that being an entrepreneurial leader is exciting, scary, relentless – and some days, the days when you don’t throw up, it’s an incredibly rewarding job.

It seems to me that it may have gotten a bit surreal these last few months. The global campaign for entrepreneurship has spiked a fever. Public and private programs champion the entrepreneur as the engine of the economy, yet the economy hardly supports a budding startup. Seed financing is abundant yet difficult to find. The magnetic north that is Silicon Valley drags foreign entrepreneurs to its center even as politicians and pundits promote new business as the catalyst for emerging markets and revitilized cities.

A sort of Startup Industrial Complex has quickly grown up to support the business of starting businesses. Meetups and camps, seed funds and inclubators, trade missions and partnerships, media and events – all there to “help” the entrepreneur.

But are they really helping? Has all the attention on entrepreneurship shifted, even a little bit, the odds of success to the favor of the startup. Surely, so-called super angels are making money and politicians are nailing their talking points. Lots of people have met, camped, communed. But are they really getting what they need? Are they now really able to build better, sustainable businesses?

My guess is that these programs do catalyze some businesses. My suspicion is that they are hugely inefficient, and waste as much entrepreneurial energy and resource as they hope to create in the form of new companies. My fear is that would-be entrepreneurs have become the fuel in a machine that creates status and capital returns for a few Startup Industrialists while leaving the entrepreneurs themselves to live in proverbial company towns working for a new digital age “Man.”

The irony here is that these mostly well-meaning folks really are just trying to help. Maybe, though, the best “help” is a little less help. Give entrepreneurs open, transparent access to the tools and information they need to build their business. Be candid and respectful with your feedback. Provide mentoring when they ask, and encouragement even if they don’t ask. Reach into new communities, sharing best practices and leaving some of your DNA there to encourage a new crop of entrepreneurs grow in place.

That’s what we’re trying to do at Guidewire Group: build an open platform and information exchange. We are by and for entrepreneurs, creating an alternative to the Startup Industrial Complex. We are looking for partners who share our values and commitment. If this sounds like your kind of monster roller coaster, drop me a line. chris@guidewiregroup.com.

Steve Larsen is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur.  By his own admission, he’s not the “world’s greatest CEO” or even the “idea guy” of young businesses.  But by my observation, he is among the most willing among experienced executives and entrepreneurs to share his experience with those who have yet to cut their startup teeth.  Steve spent the day at Studio G, delivering a Master Class to our startup CEOs, sharing his observations and experience gained from over nearly 20 years of leading emerging businesses.

Blogger Judi Clark captured much of the great advice for ManyMedia.

It’s been my experience that when Steve mentors, a-ha happens, and I had one of those moments as I listened to Steve talk about the 10 Reasons Startups Fail.  He addressed each reason as a separate, potentially deadly challenge for young companies, but for me, Reason #6 (“Don’t Pay Attention to your Customers”) and Reason #4 (“Fail to State a Clear Mission and Focus”) came together as both problem and solution. While he was making the point that companies ignore their customers at their peril and that too many startups go sideways because they pursued too many “opportunities,” I heard the solution to problem #7 by solving #6.  Your customers will tell you what to focus on, if you just listen to them.

A case in point.  I was working with a startup team recently to help them develop their strategic messaging.   We talked for several hours about the company’s technology, its leadership in cloud computing, the evolution of the enterprise software market.  We drew on the whiteboard and argued perspective. After three hours, we agreed to a story arc, the company’s position in a rapidly evolving market, the coming disruption and the company’s opportunity to exploit that change.

Then we took a break.

After a 30-minute breather, I asked to see the customer testimonials that had been recorded for the soon-to-be launched marketing effort.  A virtual parade of customers talked about the company’s ability to help solve a critical problem. They talked about cost savings, but then only as an afterthought to real benefits the software delivered. They used lots of words to describe their happiness with the product –few of them the words the company echoed in its marketing and none of them that the company would have said was its focus.

Yet in just 10 minutes listening to customers, the four executives dispatched to the task of identifying the company’s marketing message found agreement in the company’s focus.  Perhaps most remarkably and what may have been the first time,  the company’s founder, product lead, marketer, and salesman reached quick agreement about the business and collectively knew they could sell the message – and the focus – to the rest of the company.

Why the instant Kumbaya?  Because the message came from customers.

Too many startup execs are convinced that the startup must teach and groom the market and when that strategy fails to deliver business performance, they chase to another opportunity and then another.  In the most extreme case, a prominent Web 2.0 entrepreneur suggested that his customers – by which he meant every consumer in America if not the world – were just not smart enough to understand the greatness he was bringing to their lives.

It turns out, though, that customers don’t have to be “smart” to make a decision to buy or not.  But entrepreneurs have to be genius in listening to the “why” in that decision if they ever expect to build a business.

Last night, 200 intrepid souls took on torrential rain storms to bring warmth and good wishes to our new offices and home of our Studio G program sin Silicon Valley. Dedicated to the startup community in Silicon Valley and around the globe, Studio G is designed to be a high-energy hub servicing entrepreneurs, their mentors and partners –working together to build the next wave of high-value and innovative technology companies.

If you missed the ribbon cutting, you can catch Kara Swisher’s video of the event here.   And catch some photos of the festivities here.

In the early days of any company, it is critical for entrepreneurs to spend their time wisely. One of the smartest things that they can do is to surround themselves with the right resources to ensure maximum efficiency. Studio G delivers resources such as strategic intelligence, programs and curriculum, and a network of mentors and advisors and a community of engaged fellow entrepreneurs working collaboratively towards a common goal — helping startups accelerate the value of their businesses.  This program really is all about shifting the odds of success to the favor of early stage startups and those who work with them.  Based on the fundamental belief that smart people working together build better businesses, Studio G is designed to provide an easy way for entrepreneurs to access resources, advice or guidance so that there is nothing to hold back a talented team of entrepreneurs from reaching its potential.

More than a place or a program, Studio G is where innovative technology meets business innovation. It is a practice of mentoring, resource sharing, and networking that gives startups the right help at the right time to drive predictable improvement into their business and market position. Studio G is a dynamic entrepreneurial community that helps companies achieve their growth objectives with clarity of purpose, speed and efficiency.

A select number of startups and more established entrepreneurs will be invited to become Studio G Resident Members, working from the facility in Redwood City. Studio G will be supported by a vibrant online network where members can exchange advice and ideas, find-pre-qualified service providers through the Studio G Partner Network and access research and other shared resources in a private, confidential environment that embraces the practice of design thinking and performance-driven engagement.

The new Studio G office is located on 806 Winslow Street in Redwood City, easily accessible by car or CalTrain. Entrepreneurs interested in learning more about the space and the resources should contact us at info@guidewiregroup.com.

The Obama Administration today jump-started a key initiative of the President’s national innovation strategy, The Startup America Partnership.   The program is a proposed alliance of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, CEOs, university presidents, foundations, and other leaders, “joining together to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of innovative, high-growth U.S. startups.”

And it’s no wonder.  Startup businesses add more jobs to the economy than do established corporations, according a Kauffman Foundation Study.  Small businesses (which are often startups on their way to becoming larger and sustainable businesses) represent 99% of all businesses in the U.S., employ nearly 120 million people, and capture some $22 trillion in revenue each year.   From microchips to the smart phones that use them, entrepreneurs and their ideas are responsible for some of the most significant, market-shifting, high-impact innovations of the last 40 years.

It’s fitting then that the President embraces startups as the drive or the economy.  More fitting that the program is designed as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with government at all levels to advance an agenda for entrepreneurial education, to clear a path for commercialization, and to accelerate startup growth. This isn’t a big government program so much as catalyst of entrepreneurs working to create more entrepreneurs.

The Startup America Partnership will marshal “private resources to scale up a portfolio of proven models at every stage of the innovation funnel, from the first stirrings of entrepreneurial ambition to the market success of a new firm,” the White House statement said.

Guidewire Group couldn’t be happier with that ambition, because it is our vision.  We’re less than four weeks away from cutting the ribbon on our new Studio G Business Acceleration workspace and we’ve begun to roll out our programs.  Our design goal:  to create a global network of entrepreneurs and mentors sharing best practices, leveraging resources, and providing the connections that shift the odds to the favor of startup success.

While the Studio G Business Accelerator is based in Silicon Valley, it is intended as a hub in a national and international alliance of entrepreneurship programs, grafting the entrepreneurial DNA of Silicon Valley into the root stock of communities around the country in order to grow new businesses in place to have the greatest impact of economic revitalization and job creation across America.

Silicon Valley is a rich, complete, well-tuned, and advantaged ecosystem.  In many ways, it is far easier to build a business in Silicon Valley than in Witchata.  But I was in Kansas last week and I assure you that the entrepreneurs in Witchata and elsewhere around the country are every bit as scrappy, as ambitious, and as capable as any I’ve met in Silicon Valley.  By reaching, encouraging, and working with these entrepreneurs where they are, we can build a better and more competitive America, and arguably a more competitive Silicon Valley.

That’s way programs like the Startup America Partnership and, dare I say it, Guidewire Group’s Studio G are so important.  They have the potential to tap the vital human resource of energy and innovation and bring it to fruition in the parts of the country that need it most.

As we work to build a global Innovation Ecosystem, I hope you’ll join me in supporting the entrepreneurs who are starting the next great American companies.

Those of us who live on the coasts can easily regard the space between New York and San Francisco as little more than a six hour plane flight.  After all, the brains of American innovation are in Silicon Valley and the pocket book to pay for it is in the Big Apple.  At least that’s what we’re led to believe by our own arrogance and the perennial question “How can we become the Silicon Valley of Fill-In-The-Blank?”

On the face of it, it’s a silly question, sort of like me wondering how I can become the Heidi Klum of overweight, middle-age women.   You, dear Fill-in-The-Blank, cannot.  No more than I can become a supermodel at this or any age.  We don’t have the right stuff and trying to fake it just makes us look silly.

That’s not to say that Fill-In-The-Blank doesn’t have the right stuff to be the center of its own business universe or that great companies can’t be fostered in the Fly Over states.   In fact, they are.

I had the honor of working with ten such companies earlier this month as part of the PIPELINE program, funded by the State of Kansas and expertly led by CEO Joni Cobb.  In each of the last four years, PIPELINE has identified 10 high-potential companies to participate in a year-long immersion program.  The companies come from a broadly-defined technology sector, and represent remarkable innovations in bioscience, materials engineering, consumer Internet applications, education, energy efficiency, robotics, pharmaceuticals, and a host of industry-specific enabling applications.   Over the course of the year, they receive support for business planning, run market validation studies, learn effective communications skills, and connect into a national network of business mentors.

Then, they grow their businesses in Kansas, hiring local talent, investing in local infrastructure, paying local taxes, building the local economy.   Indeed, PIPELINE is driving these entrepreneurs to better outcomes than a typical investment portfolio might experience.  These companies are doing astoundingly well – and during an economic downturn, no less. Most have exponentially grown their businesses, and others have retooled and started newer, higher potential companies after realizing they were not on the right track.  And in this awful economy,  we’ve seen PIPELINE companies with substantial exits completed or in process.  Most importantly, the entrepreneurs at the head of these PIPELINE companies are paying it forward by encouraging others to start and grow new businesses.  As the program enters its fifth year, it has spawned an active alumni network in which past Innovators, as the program participants are called, become active mentors to current participants and to entrepreneurs at large.

No doubt State and local legislators eager to see big change fast – or at least in time for the next election cycle — wring their hands and wonder why Kansas isn’t the Silicon Valley of the Heartland.  They may worry if one little program can do enough to revitalize the economy and stem the brain drain to the vaunted coasts.   I don’t have the numbers to make my case, but I have to think the bang for the buck of this little program is remarkable.   PIPELINE – a relatively low-cost, high-impact business development program —  is a model for economic development throughout a country where once vibrant towns and cities are struggling to remake themselves for the Information Age.  And through a network of national mentors, the program is making footprints in the Innovation Ecosystem far beyond the borders of Kansas, becoming an emerging brand for programmed mentorship.

No question, by comparison, Kansas is no Silicon Valley and never will be.  And that’s okay.  In fact, it’s better than okay; it’s essential.  Kansas, and every other Fill-In-The-Blank region, has a fundamental responsibility to foster economic growth, and nothing drives growth more effectively than entrepreneurship.  Delivering programs that shift the odds of success in favor of the entrepreneur and driving policy that incites young businesses to invest and grow locally are building blocks of economic growth and sustainability.    PIPELINE does both.  It is an effective program that other states and regions would do well to model.

Now that health insurance reform is out of the way (sort of), our employees in Washington (that is, Congressional reps and Senators) will surely turn their attention (if not their bipartisan cooperation) to economic stimulus and finance industry reform (get ready for Obstructionist Politics: Round 2).

Among the bits of joy in the financial reform bill proposed by the Senate Banking Committee are new guidelines for individual investors and the startups they support, guidelines that significantly and negatively impact the seed funding ecosystem.

The proposed legislation doubles the measure of net worth or income  required for an individual angel investor to be accredited, and nascent companies would be required to climb a mountain of paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission then wait up to 120 days for the SEC to review it.

These proposed rule changes throw sand into the gears of entrepreneurship and for what purpose?  If capital is not already difficult to come by for startups, this financial reform would effectively evaporate the pool of angel investment.  And while the SEC plods its way through filing reviews, time will be killing young businesses.

There are enough laws, regulations, and daily shenanigans to demonstrate that Congress hasn’t a clue about entrepreneurship.

So let’s be clear: entrepreneurship is, and always has been, the driver of the  economy.  Risk-taking individuals start new businesses, hire employees, create opportunities and build wealth that is often re-invested in local communities. Rather than imposing new regulation that makes these companies stillborn, Congress should be removing obstacles to capital.

Instead, Congress focuses on mega-banks and Fortune 500 companies, unwilling to let these leviathans of business falter.  They need to shift their attention and their policy initiatives to the Fortune 500,000 companies that are too small to be allowed to fail.  These companies employ more than 100 million people in the U.S. and earn upwards of $22T in revenue each year. Numbers, by the way, that stack up very favorably against the Fortune 500′s worldwide performance data of 24M employees and $9T in revenue).

We rarely use the Guidewire Group pulpit to incite political action, but if you’ve ever cared about an entrepreneur or imagine you might one day start a company of your own, now is the time to reach out to your elected officials and demand these onerous “reforms” be removed from the forthcoming legislation.