Mainebiz

V I E W P O I N T S W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 M A R C H 7 , 2 0 1 6 Get Maine's business news daily at mainebiz.biz and on Twitter (@Mainebiz). Below is some of the best from our online-only offerings: Featured @ Mainebiz.biz USM teams up with Maine Brewer's Guild The University of Southern Maine has partnered with the Maine Brewer's Guild to open a Quality Assurance Lab on the universi- ty's Portland campus, a major win for breweries in the state that currently rely on West Coast QA facilities. Drink it up at mainebiz.biz/usmbeer Another Maine adventure for Renys The family-owned discount depart- ment store will be opening its 17th location in mid-April in a 27,000-square- foot space in the Windham Mall that used to be home to a Big Lots. Hear about the new "sweet spot" from John Reny, the company's president, at mainebiz.biz/reny17 How is Wayfair bringing 1,000 jobs to Maine? Senior Writer James McCarthy took a closer look at the Q4 earnings report for Wayfair, the Boston-based home furnishings e-commerce site bringing nearly 1,000 jobs to Maine. See the impressive growth for yourself at mainebiz.biz/wayfairq4 For a daily digest of Maine's top busi- ness news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews M y colleague Ken Hanson passed along a recent story from the Boston Globe, "Entrepreneurs still escaping Boston," by Innovation Economy columnist Scott Kirsner. In a nutshell, Kirsner made the point that gutsy entre- preneurs are bailing out of Boston, not because of high rents, high taxes or "the creakiness of the MBTA." Many are leaving for San Francisco, where there's an attitude that "any idea is possible," according to Jason Evanish, one entrepreneur quoted by Kirsner. " ere's an infi nite amount of support for entrepreneurs. If you have an idea, the fi rst question is, 'Why aren't you starting it right now?'" Maine may not compete with Boston or Silicon Valley. But it can still draw entrepreneurs at the early stages of development. For many entrepreneurs, inexpensive, abundant space is a draw, combined with a network of start-up funds and angel investors. As Senior Writer Lori Valigra shows in her cover story on TechPlace, Maine does have inter- esting entrepreneurs, drawn for a variety of reasons. TechPlace at Brunswick Landing has made smart use out of former Navy buildings. And Maine has a solid anchor for growth. Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz From the Editor I read your From the Editor column in the Feb. 8 edition of Mainebiz regarding Maine's young people. I wanted to comment that e Landing School in Arundel, one of the top-rated marine industry colleges in the country, is busy educating many people from Maine for careers in the marine industry. We accept students from all over the world, but we have a large number of Mainers who have just graduated from high school, college or are just looking for a career change into the marine industry fi eld. We off er one year diploma programs in wooden boat building, composite boat building, marine systems technology and yacht design. Students may also opt for a two-year associate degree in marine industry technology by taking two of the diploma programs plus 15 semester hours in general education which we off er on site or credits can be transferred from an accred- ited college or university if it meets our requirements. We also have a joint program with Maine Maritime Academy for an associate degree program. e best educational value, however, is a collaborative three-year Bachelor of Engineering program with Southampton-Solent University in the United Kingdom, the leading small-craft design and production program worldwide. Students spend the fi rst year in our yacht design program then go to Southampton for years two and three and graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering in Small Craft Design and Production. Student placement in the industry is 100% with a histori- cal rate of 94%. With the recovery of the marine industry booming, our students receive many job off ers before graduation, many from Maine boat builders or boatyards. We have supplied countless grads to Hodgdon Yachts, Hinckley, Morris, Lyman Morse, Back Cove, Sabre, Maine Yacht Center, Portland Yacht Services, Yankee Marine, South Port Marine and many others. Several Maine com- panies are actually headed by Landing School graduates. I totally agree with your premise that there are many great opportunities for young people to stay in Maine, not only for their education but also for their careers. I hope you will continue to promote this to your readers. Barry Acker Director of development/industry relations e Landing School, Arundel To the Editor Entrepreneurs and exit doors bernsteinshur.com CELEBRATING 1OO YEARS Be smart. BE SHUR. When you want a law firm t hat puts your interests before [h]ours. Hey, young people: Here's 100% student placement, with a water view Source: Wayfair Inc. Wayfair gains, 2015 Q4 direct retail revenue Q4 total net revenue Full year 2015 direct retail revenue Full year 2015 total net revenue Active customers +97.8% $338.9M to $685.6M +81% $331.2M to $739.8M +85.2% $938.6M to $2.0B +70.6% $930.9M to $2.25B +66.6% 5.4M

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