Kyle
Nothing screams crazy startup entrepreneur like FedEx and Fred Smith. In fact business folklore says that when Smith wrote about his idea, that eventually became the largest logistics company in the world, for a paper at Yale he got a C. Think about how crazy the idea would be in the early 70’s to connect trucks and jets to deliver packages overnight.
In recent years FedEx has begun to pay homage to Smith’s entrepreneurial roots by opening up their own FedEx labs, and sponsoring the FedEx institute of Technology at the University of Memphis, among other things.
Now the company has followed in the foot steps of other companies like Pitney Bowes, and developed a small business (read: startups) contest.
Our good friend James Dowd at Startup Memphis reports that FedEx will award a total of 6 small businesses cash prizes totaling $50,000. There’s one $25,000 grand prize and the five other businesses will receive a $5,000 prize.
The business must have less than 100 employees and crowd voting will be done through Facebook. The voting started October 1st and runs through November 24th, and it’s not too late to enter. The winners will be announced in January.
“FedEx has long recognized that small businesses are incredibly vital to the health of both the global economy and local communities,” said T. Michael Glenn, executive vice president of Market Development at FedEx. “Providing these grants is yet another way for FedEx to show our support for small businesses as we continue to create programs to help give them a head start and access to new opportunities.”
Linkage:
Here’s one of the things that confuse me:
Some say an entrepreneur is one who creates businesses that can be scaled. And small business means a small market. But you’ve referenced both in this article, so it’s hard to know what FedEx is really looking for.
My guess is that with the crowd voting, they’re seeking fun and pleasing ideas of the Kickstarter variety and that small businesses that are merely very, very good at what they do don’t have a chance in this competition.