On Selection Sunday, I thought it would be nice to give an extra shout out to our own March Madness.
Each year on the second Tuesday in March, the Kansas Small Business Development Center (KSBDC) network recognizes our top seeds in the form of 16 Existing and Emerging Small Businesses of the Year. Two are chosen from each of our 8 regions and from all of the businesses we’ve worked with in the previous year. In 2013, that was more than 2,400 small businesses in Kansas.
Invitation to the Big Dance
The NCAA uses two stats, or actually one depending upon how you look at it, to determine who they will invite to the Big Dance. Rating Percentage Index (RPI) ranks teams based on their wins, losses, and Strength of Schedule. Strength of Schedule (SOS) refers to the difficulty or ease of the opponent as compared to other teams.
The KSBDC looks at wins and losses in the form of expansion into new markets or with new products and services, sales growth, jobs growth, improvement in profitability, skills growth, and more. And we look at the human element – wins for the entrepreneur, the business owner, and their families.
Strength of schedule is far more difficult to determine. One could argue that any small business has the most daunting competition no matter the industry.
Small businesses are competing against numerous other small businesses as well as medium-sized businesses and corporate giants with vast resources. Competition may even include non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government itself.
All Division I Teams
Unlike college basketball, entrepreneurs aren’t limited to a season.
For many, their work week includes weekends, evenings, early mornings, and whenever they can squeeze in some extra time. It’s for this reason that we salute every small business client at the KSBDC – our ‘Division I Teams’ – if you will pardon the analogy.
We know every small business team works hard all year long to achieve their goals and succeed in business. We’re excited to be their coaches, their consultants, their teammates on any day of the year.
Kansas SBDC 