OtherSurvey Says: OEN Entrepreneurs Generated Estimated 800+ New Jobs in Last 16 Months
First-Ever OEN Benchmark Survey Also Reveals that the “Network” Works
A new Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) Benchmark Survey on the startup scene in Oregon reports that active OEN members who are entrepreneurs say they added more than 800 jobs to the Oregon economy over the past 16 months. The number of estimated jobs created actually tops 1,000 when counting survey respondents who have participated in OEN events but are not members.
According to survey respondents, OEN entrepreneurs reported 43% growth in employee count last year—and a further 10% growth in the first four months of 2012.
In addition, both entrepreneurs and investors surveyed report that the OEN “network” works, with an overwhelming majority of entrepreneurs (89 percent) and investors (94 percent) saying they made valuable business connections through OEN, the state’s largest non-profit organization serving the entrepreneurial community. Key findings include:
- 89% of active OEN entrepreneur members met an investor, customer, vendor, advisor or new employee through OEN last year.
- 94% of active OEN investor members met a vendor, an advisor or an entrepreneur in whom they invested or in whom they looked at investing.
- 90% of active investor members found potential investment opportunities—and 65% met someone at or through OEN in whom they invested in 2011.
Stay tuned for more insights from the first-ever OEN Benchmark Survey in future posts.
Conducted for OEN by Lynch Marketing Strategies, the survey included responses from 267 OEN members and non-member attendees of OEN events since January 1, 2011.
