This year marked the fourth annual Nebraska Summit on Entrepreneurship held in Lincoln, Nebraska. Organized by the University of Nebraska system*, the event brings together over 400 educators, business leaders, government officials, entrepreneurs and small business owners to talk about different aspects of entrepreneurship and take a look at how Nebraska measures up in some of the areas.

Perhaps the high point of the day was an educational and inspiring talk by Bo Fishback, vice president of entrepreneurship at the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation. Bo has a great ability to weave raw statistics, stories and real-world experiences to show audiences not only what the Kauffman Foundation does for entrepreneurship, but why it’s important, as well. That, coupled with some very practical advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs, makes for a talk that is worth watching several times.

Bo Fishback, Kauffman Foundation – The Big Picture

Video by Nebraska Entrepreneur

A few highlights from Bo’s talk:

• Importance of large-impact, fast growth companies – “Size Matters”
• Never ever has it been easier to start a company, and it doesn’t matter where you are (though being in the United States is a huge advantage)
• The more educated you are, the more likely you are to start a company that grows fast
• Think really hard about what you’re uniquely qualified to do, as opposed to what sounds fun
• Every year since 1980, about 600,000 companies are started
• Without startups, there is no job-creation engine in the country – nearly 100% of net-new jobs are created by companies younger than five years old
• 300-1,000 companies create a disproportionate amount of economic growth
• Goal: Figure out how to start 300-1,000 of the right kinds of companies each year
• The science of startups is simultaneously very interesting and impossible
• Two most important things for a startup – the market and your network
• There’s no such thing as the “Two-trillion dollar healthcare market” or the “One-gazillion dollar life-sciences market”
• Your market equals the number of people who could/would buy your product times how much your product costs times the number of products you can sell to those customers. Period.
• A 10-person survey of potential customers is worth more than any market research report you can buy
• Existing markets that are undergoing rapid growth or transformation are almost always where really high-growth companies come from
• Entrepreneur’s most important job: Listening to everyone and making the best decision for their company or idea
• Live like a sponge, and know which parts to squeeze out
• Entrepreneurs who build scale-growth companies, when talking can seamlessly transition between a state of the world that is 5 or 10 years away, and what they’re going to do in the next 24 hours to start navigating down that path.
• Surround yourself with a team of advisors that are all smarter than you in at least one definable area
• With the right team, you can make money out of anything

Many of the other sessions and breakouts are available for viewing online, as well. Videos produced by Nebraska Entrepreneur:

• Summit Opening Remarks
• Session 2: Family Business in Nebraska
• Session 3: Entrepreneurship – A Student’s Perspective
• Keynote: Jim Clifton, CEO – The Gallup Organization
• Breakout 1: Stepping Beyond Outreach
• Breakout 3: To the Marketplace

A big thanks goes out to Pete Kotsiopulos from the University of Nebraska system* and Matt Sherman and his team from Three Pillars Media for taping each of the talks and allowing us to embed them here for you to enjoy.

*Update March 22, 11:10 a.m. – Orginally, it read University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Instead, it should refer to the university system, which includes all four campuses (Kearney, Lincoln, Omaha, and the Medical Center).