Minnesota found itself in last place among states on a measure of entrepreneurial activity released Wednesday by the Kauffman Foundation. Entrepreneurial activity declined in 2012 across the United States. The number of businesses created per month fell by about 29,000 compared to the year before, and the Midwest was the weakest region. Roughly 150 out of every 100,000 Minnesotans is an entrepreneur, according to the report. The U.S. average, 300 per 100,000, is double Minnesota's rate.
What this means is complicated. Dan Carr, who runs the Collaborative, a group that helps growing companies get bigger, said Minnesota has done poorly in past Kauffman surveys. Also, the medtech sector, which moves slowly even in good times, is weak.
Patrick Steele, a Minneapolis guy on Twitter, had another theory for the low ranking:
