The ever-expanding arm of entrepreneurship in Northwest Arkansas is about to wrap itself around the rest of the state. The Northwest Arkansas Council’s Onward FX[1] program is hitting the road for central Arkansas in late October to bring its formula for success to another region of the state.
As a matter of fact, the goal is to make this a statewide and regional success story.
“One of the lines we’ve used is if the next Sam Walton — and you can take that with Jack Stephens or William Dillard or whomever — if they’re in Arkansas now, we want them to be able to stay here,” said Nelson Peacock, CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council. “And that’s really what this is all about.”
Onward FX is the council’s high-profile entrepreneurship program for taking startup companies that have passed the crucial, initial phase of launch and help power them to the next level: finding major capital investors to scale in size, scope and reach.
“The Northwest Arkansas Council since our founding has really been focused on how can we create a better region for economic growth, to provide job growth and economic opportunities for everyone,” Peacock said.
THE ‘CAPITAL’ CITY
With the expansion of Onward FX into central Arkansas, the Northwest Arkansas Council is working with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) on a larger scale.
On Oct. 29 and 30, a version of the council’s successful format, which pairs entrepreneurs with significant investors and funders, will give new meaning to Arkansas’ capital city. Through structured and hopefully spontaneous meetings, startups and investors will roam the halls of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and Main Street Little Rock for curated sessions and chance encounters.
Serafina Lalany, who heads the Northwest Arkansas Council’s Onward FX experience, said there will be a full day of pre-arranged one-on-one meetings for pre-vetted startups, and she’s pretty excited about the enthusiasm that is building.
“I will tell you, just looking at the pipeline right now, this is definitely the most interest we’ve seen so far from startups all over the country, more companies than we’ve ever realized,” she said.
There are already 24 investment groups coming to Arkansas to meet with founders and other members of the investment community in state. More are expected to join before the event.
Lalany said the core of the October event will center around back-to-back meetings over a half-day period where a form of matchmaking will occur. Investors who specialize in certain sectors — such as fintech or health care — will connect with startups in those spaces. Curated salon dinners at many of the restaurants in downtown Little Rock will serve as the backdrop for further investment discussions. A community party will close out the official events.
“We want to deeply integrate these folks with the rest of our Arkansas community,” Lalany said. “For the most part, all of these investors are fairly new to our region. So these will be their first investments into the heartland or into Arkansas.”
REFLECTION OF SUCCESS
It will be easy to score success by the number of deals that birth from this event. Tabulating the number of meetings, the number of investors and entrepreneurs, and the amount of investments will be chronicled. But there is a bigger, longer-term play at hand.
“They [investors] know of Arkansas through reputation, good or bad, but we’re going to be able to show them that there are quality deals here,” Peacock said. “And that’s what Serafina and her team really help the investors out with. We also want to show that there is significant corporate engagement, government leadership engagement, and that we have the kind of environment that’s going to be conducive to them getting good deals, to having a good time, to putting our best foot forward to get these folks coming back. So even if they don’t find a deal this time, that they’ll want to come back when they’re invited in the future. That’s what we found in Bentonville. I have no doubt that we’ll be able to do that in Little Rock as well.”
Clint O’Neal, executive director of AEDC, has been financially and professionally invested in Northwest Arkansas’ efforts. Bringing the event to Little Rock is not only a natural extension to him, but it also fits in his agency’s mission of serving the whole state.
“One of the pillars that we have at AEDC is to help entrepreneurs,” he said. “So rather than having a limited number of programs to really put capital into a business, we want to be a matchmaking platform for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. The Northwest Arkansas Council has done a great job of standing up this program. We want to come alongside them, make this a statewide program, invite venture capitalists to the state, do matchmaking with eligible entrepreneurs, and hopefully some entrepreneurs in Arkansas get some good deals and scale up their businesses.”
Esperanza Massana Crane, director of AEDC’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development Division, echoes O’Neal’s expectations for the event.
“Onward FX pairs Arkansas’ high-potential founders with investors who can truly change the trajectory of their companies,” she said. “AEDC partnered with the NWA Council because of their proven success connecting venture firms with entrepreneurs in Northwest Arkansas. We are now expanding the model statewide to create more opportunities for one-on-one connections that fuel growth while showcasing Arkansas as a place where entrepreneurs and visionary investors can thrive.”
THE TIMING IS RIGHT
Peacock said Onward FX and the connections being driven by Lalany are well-timed and part of an evolution process. He said this type of programming could not have happened in previous years because Arkansas’s startup scene was too young. The growing number of accelerator programs around the state has matured to the point that now allows this next phase to develop.
“If we tried to do this five, six years ago before all of that work was done, it wouldn’t have worked,” he said. “There wouldn’t be enough investible companies here to keep attracting these venture capitalists to the region. All that work is now paying off, and hopefully, we’re going to continue to give great opportunities to those who’ve started something new and interesting. We’re going to give them a chance to grow and scale their business in Arkansas. Ultimately, this is about job growth and opportunity for people that live in Arkansas… I have no doubt we’ll be successful with it.”
The AEDC’s O’Neal agrees.
“Arkansas is not behind,” he said. “It’s just that some people don’t know about us, and now they will.”