Economic Development Federal, State and
City.
Consulting Activities
Define the types of businesses and management values the incubator
will accept and the kinds of businesses the incubator will not accept.
Do you want gazelles, elephants or a mixture? Each client types places
different obligations on the incubator to provide different levels of
value added services for growth. I can outline these special service
levels in discussions with your board and provide a forum for
formulating a policy that will help define the incubator organizational
model.
Review the pro-forma budget and develop recommendations and develop
several projections with different sets of assumptions. Most of the
flaws in incubator projections that I have reviewed are in the
assumptions not in the arithmetic. If the pro-forma is too aggressive
with respect to tenants rent, then it puts unnecessary pressure on the
staff to accept clients "to fill the building" rather than accept
clients that have a significant chance to have a real economic impact in
the area. In addition clients come in “flocks”. The first few clients
are the business types that he incubator is “then known by” for the
following clients so selectivity for the first few is critical. These
are all part of the pro-forma assumptions. Since most incubators do not
have a client waiting list, conservative forecasts are essential.
Also the incubator, unlike private business, lives in the public
domain so early successes or failures can do a lot to determine the
future incubator success. I can help the board work through a client
strategy that will increase the probability of early successes so the
incubator will be characterized as a real value add for new business
ventures. Controlling the public relations of this incubator aspect is
mission critical. Incubators all have a definite culture and it is
important to select and then deliberately build the culture the board
wishes rather than have it developed randomly.
Develop a job description for the director including management
flow diagrams depicting board relationships for various decisions re
client acceptance, review, equity liquidation and client eviction
including staff compensation and incentive plans. This is important
because any experienced candidate will wish to know what decisions the
director makes versus which decisions are board level.
Development of core value-add concept for the incubator. Identify
the core value that the incubator staff and board will bring to the
entrepreneurial venture. This is defining the “raison d’etre” for the
incubator. It is the most difficult issue to resolve, but it is the
basis for the incubator and is the foundation for what drives clients to
the incubator. The good clients will not come just for low rents. My
experience is an excellent sounding board to help your board work
through this important issue. I can bring to this discussion the full
extent of my incubator consulting experience and practical operational
experience with various incubator models.
Typically, this discussion will provoke the strongest opinions by
various board members, but it will be the most beneficial in ultimately
agreeing on the skills your director should have and what type of
specific experience the director really needs. For example, in one
situation, the board required that the director had to have at least one
IPO in his/her background. This experience is a marvelous selling point
when the director is dealing with gazelles but not so much with
elephants, and both business species survive quite successfully in the
jungle just in different ways.
Without a core value add concept, the incubator is only a real
estate project. I have surveyed literally hundreds of entrepreneurs and
the last thing on their list of success components is space. They need
capital, marketing, product commercialization, legal and manufacturing
assistance and usually in that order. The extent that the incubator can
provide these services and therefore increase the success probabilities
of the “start-up” is the core concept of the incubator, and ultimately
the success of the community investment as an economic development
activity. Download typical clients in a PDF file.
Topeka, Kansas....Commercialization Center business plan,
concept, development, & budgeting
Jacksonville, Florida....Engaged by Board of Directors
representing public and private interests of a new Innovation and
Technology Commercialization Center to evaluate the top ten
candidates for a CEO position, including developing comparative
assessment criteria, minimum acceptable experience qualifications
and final rating of candidates.
Kansas Value Added Center....Engaged to provide a review of a
technology commercialization center associated with a major
University and chartered to commercialize products from
University and privately funded development projects. Review
included both budget, management, process and strategy analysis.
North Florida Technology & Innovation Center.... 1994
Commercialization Center CEO recruiting
Enterprise Florida, Inc.....Management assistance in
commercialization center start-up of 4 centers, RFP award
committee, contracts, business plan development, client
recruitment, intern program development
Kansas Innovation Center.... 1993 Commercialization Center
business plan, concept development, budgeting & CEO
recruiting
Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation....Engaged to provide
a comprehensive multi-location review of 4 University Centers of
Excellence for Manufacturing Technology Commercialization. These
reviews including budget, staffing, compensation, process and
conformance with federal funding guidelines.
Albuquerque, New Mexico Technology Center.... Performed a
review and analysis of business incubator operations including
product commercialization capabilities, budget analysis, client
interviews and facilities analysis. Engagement was with the board
of directors.
Long Beach, California Business Technology Center.... Engaged
to write the business plan for the development of a high
technology business incubator
Ontario, Canada Business Technology Center....Engaged by the
board to review current operations and possible conversion from
business incubator to commercialization center exchanging equity
in the new companies for business assistance.
Burbank, California Innovation and Commercialization
Center.... Feasibility Study
South Bay District California Innovation and Commercialization
Center.... Business Plan
View an expanded list in a PDF file. |