Politicians try to stimulate the economy by throwing cash at it.
San Marcos businessman Adrian Pelkus starts stimulating at the source: the ideas of fledgling entrepreneurs.
Pelkus is president of the San Diego Inventors Forum, a group that helps people develop their ideas and get them to market. In short, the forum helps turn inventors into entrepreneurs —- and employers.
“We motivate people by bringing in successful inventors, and we educate them by every month having another topic that’s relevant to becoming an entrepreneur,” Pelkus said.
“People stand up and say, I need a designer, I need a patent attorney, or I need a manufacturer,” Pelkus said. “And we hook them right up in the room.”
Members also get plugged into an extensive network of local organizations that help new businesses grow and get funding, such as Connect, San Diego Venture Forum and the San Diego Tech Coast Angels.
Pelkus is part of this network. He’s an entrepreneur-in-residence at Connect, a nonprofit that encourages technology-based entrepreneurship.
There are about 100 entrepreneurs-in-residence at Connect, who evaluate the potential of companies and serve as mentors to their executives.
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