August 18, 2008 07:04 AM UTC

What high-tech startups need from the state

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• by: DavidThi808

Prior to the recent “no one can be fired” initiative I always figured that high-tech startups suffered from benign neglect from the state – and that that was a great state of affairs.

But this initiative has gotten me thinking and I do realize that there are some things the state could do to help improve the climate for start-ups (which is admitably very good at present).

1. Don’t pass the Just Cause Initiative (enough said on this already)
2. Get companies out of the business of providing health-care. I delayed going from contractors to employees for over 9 months because of this single issue. It’s not just the cost (which is actually not that onerous), it’s the time involved and every employee prefering a different plan.
3. Broadband everywhere. We are looking at an office complex – question 1 is broadband access. An employee wants to work at home – they must have broadband. Want people to start a company at home – must have broadband.
4. Encourage groups like Jared’s Tech Stars program up here in Boulder. But it’s critical that they be quality programs that are focused on success, not on providing jobs for a bunch of consultants.
5. Sales tax – see below
6. And continue the benign neglect. Hands-off is the best way to help start-ups. A lot of us fail but a lot succeed too.

At present the federal government has eliminated sales tax for internet-only sales. And personally I’m fine with that. But sooner or later sales tax will need to be levied – it’s only fair.

And this will probably happen at the federal level rather than the state. But if the state is involved or has input here’s the biggie – K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple – Stupid).

The best solution is there is a single rate and we report all sales and make all payments to a single entity. What the tax rate is doesn’t scare me at all. Having to report to 50 states and 84 countries scares the #@*&% out of me – that’s killer.

If tax rates are variable, give us a way to electronically query by passing the company’s address and getting back the tax rate. And keep in mind that if someone lies to us, we have no way of verifying squat. Keep what verification we are required to do reasonable and in the realm of the possible.

That’s it. No tax breaks. No funding requests. Just some suggestions that would be useful to most companies in the state.