Small business advocate sees dearth of startup capital

Aaron Dirks, a Baton Rouge native and past president of the state chapter of the international Entrepreneurs’ Organization, says he bought his first company in 2001 with a $100,000 loan, which he obtained with little more than a business plan. “They just believed in me,” he recalls. But entrepreneurs he has worked with recently who are in the same situation are getting turned down “100% of the time,” even with banks’ balance sheets improving in recent years. Meanwhile, lots of venture and private equity money is either sitting on the sidelines or focused exclusively on helping established companies grow, he says. Dirks recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he met with Sen. Mary Landrieu, who chairs the Senate’s small business and entrepreneurship committee, and participated in a steering committee with representatives of chambers of commerce from across the country. The funding gap for startups and emerging companies was one of the topics he discussed with policymakers, along with the need to develop the nation’s “digital infrastructure,” create “educational programs for entrepreneurs,” and ease the tax burden. As Congress considers overhauling the tax code, Dirks hopes a national angel investor tax credit, similar to the one offered in Louisiana, will be considered. Dirks is the owner or part owner of several companies, and is chairman of PosiGen, a company that provides solar power and energy efficiency measures. —David Jacobs