There’s Something Happening Here

Quick hits on The Gauntlet … and Normalcy

The Gauntlet: I had not been to the Gauntlet finale – the business mentoring and competition since the first one seven years ago, when it was a much smaller affair that wrapped up at the Grandin CoLab and featured startups from the immediate Roanoke area. This year the May finale was held at the Vinton War Memorial, the cash/in-kind services prize package was worth upwards of $300,000 and those small businesses looking for help with their growth came from as far away as the Alleghany Highlands and Buena Vista.

The Gauntlet roster this year was heavily female (about 70 percent I was told) and heavily “main street” oriented, as opposed to the high-tech startups you might see in the RAMP program, but most small businesses are Main Street. One common thread among the final group of entries that made it to the competition round – most if not all of their prize packages had an emphasis on in-kind marketing support, which is where many fledging businesses often lack the resources – to advertise/ market their company to the right audience. The Gauntlet, a creation of The Advancement Foundation is already seeking applicants for the 2022 class. See the website.

Back to “normal”: human nature is a funny thing. Once more people started getting vaccinated and the mandates for wearing masks came down – or an individual business decreed those fully vaccinated did NOT have to wear a mask inside its establishment – we got to see whole faces in many cases for the first time in over a year. It struck me when a friend invited me to Wilderness Adventure, the Craig County outdoor venue that has been rebranding itself in recent years as not only a great place for group or corporate outings, but as a camping destination.

Invited to a wine tasting, I was seated at a long table with maybe 30 other people. I suddenly realized that no one had a mask on, no one was 6 feet away, everyone was talking and sipping wine – and it all felt entirely normal. I didn’t even think about it as being “weird.” I assumed that like me this group of people had the smarts enough to be fully vaccinated before they sat down. This was their reward. Being free of the mask, able to establish contact with other human beings the way we always have. This is normalcy. And it felt good. Since then, I’ve been to a ballgame or two, an outdoor concert, indoor trivia at Martin’s Downtown in Roanoke and a brewpub or two. Maskless. Welcome to the “new normal”; it feels a lot like the old normal if you ask me and that’s a great feeling.

THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE

By Gene Marrano

Executive Summary:

Do you feel it too? Life as we know it is coming back.

Field / On Tap

from Page 36

micro-preneurs, startups, and quick-spin ventures designed for acquisition.

What middle-sized, mid-capacity, mid-range businesses that are providing products and services we have will be short lived. They’ll either be blasted apart and replaced by peripherals—or smacked into reorganization and absorbed by “Big + [name that industry].”

So what?

If this happens, I’d just say, be ready. If you’re entering or new to the vocational world, think about how you might fit and serve either in an established environment where you maximize the rules to advance—or a small, flexible, perhaps chaotic environment where you earn the trust to write the rules.

And if you’re working for a business who’s in the middle of the market ownership chart—dust off that resume.

The crystal ball says you’re going to need it.