Lowe’s services to entrepreneurial support organizations fall into three categories:

• Educational activities
• Publishing
• IT software

Philosophically, Lowe and Pioneer Entrepreneurs share much common ground.  We believe that successful entrepreneurs are points of leverage when it comes to economic development and the cultivation of community leaders; and peer-to-peer interaction is critical to entrepreneurial learning and success.

Educational Activities

Entrepreneur Edward Lowe endowed his namesake foundation with an enviable asset: the 2500 acre Big Rock Valley learning center located in the forests of southwest Michigan.  Here, the foundation hosts an ongoing series of PeerSpectives™ retreats for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial support organizations.

Publishing

Like us, Lowe knows that better answers come from better, more informed, questions.  Consequently, through its web site, newsletter, and the content it private labels for entrepreneurial support organizations; Lowe strives to offer relevant, accessible, and purposeful information that is grounded in the experience of entrepreneurs.  Our own members have encouraged us to develop profiles in entrepreneurship that feature Pioneer Entrepreneurs’ personal stories.  We know that our members learn vicariously from such stories – and derive inspiration from their peers.

IT Software

Prior to my conversation with Dino, I had done a little research and had learned about Lowe’s PeerNet suite of technology-enabled services, which it offers on a “powered by” basis to entrepreneurial support organizations.  Like nearly all Web-based business networking models, PeerNet is built around a centralized database of member-maintained personal profiles.  As I understand Dino, however, PeerNet is differentiated in at least three ways:

1. Each PeerNet online community is a “gated community” that is defined by membership in an entrepreneurial support organization.  The embedded social relationships, and consequent validation, of such membership presumably encourages participation, the input and update of personal profile information, and confidence in the results of PeerNet searches.
2. PeerNet users can define their experience in some 150 different categories, which facilitates the “Experience Exchange,” connections and conversations with experienced peers.
3. PeerNet search results yield information about similar questions and links to related content as well as contact information, which helps users ask better questions of trusted sources of experience and expertise.

On the surface, PeerNet is very similar to our Water Cooler™ software project – maybe too similar.  However, I view the two tools as complementary rather than competitive.  PeerNet offers the distinct advantage of using technology to build upon existing relationships as manifested in common membership in an entrepreneurial support organization.  To the extent that such membership is anchored by a common geography and affinity, membership can be an effective proxy for reputation and trust.  That’s a problem, however, for entrepreneurs on the economic frontier who have few, if any, local peers.  In those cases, common membership in a local or regionally proscribed entrepreneurship support organization may not convey a functionally sufficient degree of trust in other members’ asserted expertise and experience.  To overcome this important hurdle, the Water Cooler incorporates a “bootstrapped” reputation system – you can trust in the expertise of referrals, because a trusted third party connects you to them.