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Entrepreneur All-Stars Join the Startup America Partnership

August 23, 2011 at 5:26 PM ET by Tom Kalil and Doug Rand
Summary: 
To help increase the success of young companies, the White House-led Startup America initiative has rolled out new policies in tandem with the independent Startup America Partnership, which has been hard at work mobilizing the private sector to “raise the entrepreneurial game of the United States."

This past January, President Obama called on both the Federal government and the private sector to dramatically increase the success of high-growth entrepreneurs, who are creating jobs and fueling innovation across the country.  To help increase their success, the White House-led Startup America initiative has rolled out new policies to benefit fledgling companies (including new efforts to attract and retain immigrant entrepreneurs) in tandem with the independent Startup America Partnership, which has been hard at work mobilizing the private sector to “raise the entrepreneurial game of the United States.”

Today the Startup America Partnership announced two major new developments.  First, they appointed their first slate of founding board members, who represent some of America’s most successful entrepreneurs.  The board includes Fred Smith, who came up with the idea for FedEx in a college economics class; Lynn Jurich, who grew SunRun into one of the nation’s leading home solar companies in just the last four years; and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who has built up Magic Johnson Enterprises and the Magic Johnson Foundation since retiring from the NBA.  The full current roster of board members includes:

  • Tory Burch, CEO and CCO, Tory Burch LLC
  • Scott Case, CEO, Startup America Partnership
  • Steve Case, Chairman,Startup America Partnership
  • Pamela Contag, CEO, Cygnet Biofuels
  • Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell
  • Raul Fernandez, Chairman, ObjectVideo
  • Reed Hastings, Chairman, President, and CEO, Netflix
  • Reid Hoffman, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, LinkedIn
  • Magic Johnson, Founder and CEO, Magic Johnson Enterprises
  • Lynn Jurich, President and Co-Founder, SunRun
  • Kevin Plank, Chairman, President, and CEO, Under Armour
  • Carl Schramm, CEO, Kauffman Foundation
  • Fred Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO, FedEx
  • Nina Vaca, CEO, Pinnacle Technical Resources

Second, the Startup America Partnership announced that four U.S. corporations have become its first sponsors: American Express OPEN, Dell Inc., Intuit Inc., and Microsoft Corporation.  These companies will join founding partners the Case Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation to provide financial support and other strategic resources to help the Partnership accelerate the success of America’s job-creating entrepreneurs.

The Startup America Partnership has already secured well over $400 million in private-sector commitments that will soon be available to as many as 100,000 high-growth entrepreneurs throughout the U.S.  Here are some ways to get involved in the meantime:

As a startup itself, the Startup America Partnership has made tremendous advances in the past six months—and with this new lineup of all-star supporters, we look forward to its next six months of service to entrepreneurs who are working to get started and grow faster.

Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy at OSTP and Doug Rand is Senior Advisor to the Deputy Director at OSTP