HHC Startup Week: Financing the Innovative Economy
The U.S. has the most dynamic Innovation Economy in the world. But it’s not creating enough jobs to create real economic growth or address the issues of income inequality. As the digital economy and globalization reshape our world, what are the key issues and opportunities around our much envied Innovation Economy?
Joseph L. Schocken; President and Founder, Broadmark Capital, LLC
Broadmark Capital, a Seattle merchant banking firm, provides financing and advisory services to high growth, emerging companies primarily in technology and life sciences. Broadmark is also the co-founder and sponsor of the Pyatt Broadmark and Broadmark Real Estate Lending Funds which serve the Northwest and Mountain West regions. Mr. Schocken has guided Broadmark’s corporate finance practice through hundreds of transactions, from private placements through public offerings, from advisory services through mergers and acquisitions.
He has long been interested in politics, public affairs, and the importance of the Innovation Economy. He was Northwest chairman of the Kerry Presidential campaign and served on the DNC national finance committee. Via his 2008 white paper, ‘Restarting IPOs.. The Shortest Path to Recreating Economic Growth in the United States’, he is considered a major contributor to the JOBS Act.
He has written, testified, advocated among policy makers of both parties, and advised the Obama Administration on the importance of the Innovation Economy. Mr. Schocken also serves on the AIPAC National Council.
As a result of his recent (July 2016) Senate Committee testimony on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and his continuing passion and commitment to our StartUp-Innovation Economy, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker appointed Joe to serve on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). The mission of the Advisory Council is to Help Expand Entrepreneurship and Promote American Innovation.
Seattle Times excerpt:
If you want to fix the economy, bring back the IPOs. Look back to the Clinton era. The last time you had a large number of venture-backed IPOs, you had full employment and a balanced budget.”
Schocken argues that venture-backed companies are the backbone of a high-wage knowledge economy, as well as being important for exports. They are a critical competitive edge for America in the global economy. These companies represent 21 percent of gross domestic product with plenty of room for growth, and on average do 92 percent of their hiring after the IPO.