Speaking yesterday during a webinar hosted by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Still also touched on the limiting factor of the state’s workforce shortage on technology and other sectors.
“Demographically in Wisconsin, we’re probably not in the best spot … I think policymakers in particular need to bear in mind that we need to do some things to reach out and find talent elsewhere,” he said. “We can’t just do it all by folks who are right here in Wisconsin.”
Also on the chamber’s webinar, Voximetry CEO Sue Wallace said she wasn’t as concerned as Still about the workforce constraints. Her company, which won the chamber’s Pressure Chamber recent pitch competition, has a platform for personalizing radiopharmaceutical cancer therapies.
“If the talent isn’t there, you can get people to move there,” she said. “Especially now with global warming and the cost to live everywhere going up so high. I’m coming now from the West Coast perspective, people are leaving in droves because of the cost of living.”
As a software company, Voximetry can also bring in remote workers from outside the state, Wallace added. But she raised the issue of limited fundraising opportunities in Wisconsin, noting the process of finding the right investor match can seem “inefficient” at times.
“Who are the investors for these kinds of areas? Who are the investors for these others? And help those groups come together faster and maybe kind of invest more strategically within more narrow ecosystems, so that we move faster together,” she said.
Still noted progress is being made in expanding angel and venture capital options in the state, but agreed there’s “always more work to be done” in that area. He explained many of the investors currently operating in the state got started in life sciences and continue to focus their efforts there.
“They’re not going to focus in other areas where they don’t have the expertise they need … we need to do better there, especially with some of the things coming down the road around energy and resiliency,” he said. “Do we have enough investors in Wisconsin who are already well-vetted in that? Maybe not, but I think we can get there and I do think we can attract them from elsewhere as well.”
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