Guest Post by Mark Heesen, NVCA President
Today's announcement that there was zero net job growth last month
is troubling indeed. I am very interested, as is the rest of the
country, in the President's planned jobs speech to Congress next
Thursday. One the areas I would expect him to highlight as having the
most potential for job growth is the start-up community. As the country
as a whole struggles to avoid a double dip recession, venture-backed
start-ups are pulling more than their weight in hiring Americans.
At StartUpHIre.com, an online jobs posting site for venture backed start-ups,
there were more than 14,000 open jobs listed in the second quarter of
2011. From August 1, 2010 to August 1 2011, more than 40,000 jobs were
posted on the site. And that is just a percentage of the total
venture-backed universe.
Indisputable fact: Every time a company receives venture capital
funding, jobs are created. And as these companies grow, so does
employment, especially at those companies that go public. While
venture-backed companies do fail and go out of business, the net job
creation is always positive.
As we approach Labor Day and search for a
bright light in these uncertain times, it is becoming more apparent how
vital these emerging companies are to the US economy and our recovery.
Public policies that support these companies are so very important and,
as Congress returns from its summer recess, we hope their priorities
will be in the right place.
