Reston Incubator 'INCspire' is seeking new clients
It is not a closely held secret that Northern Virginia’s business community is host to many of the top technology companies in this country. The entire business infrastructure in terms of available talent, capital, customers, education and support institutions has seen phenomenal growth over the last ten years and now holds an undisputed position as one of the top technology areas in the country. The support infrastructure scales all the way from the largest technology companies to the rawest of start-ups and the synergy between these extremes is strong and mutually beneficial.
In the past 12 months, over 300 new technology businesses have been registered in Northern Virginia – more than one every business day. While many of these are single person consulting businesses, there is also a large number of entrepreneurs whose vision is to create lasting growth companies that will make key contributions to the technology base of industry. Recognizing the opportunity that these companies might add to the local business climate, in 1999 the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce formed a business incubator – now named INCspire - to connect technology entrepreneurs to a wide-ranging support structure which they can use to help grow their companies. In the past six years, over 40 companies have participated in the INCspire program, have generated nearly $30M in value, and have created over 250 jobs.
INCspire supports the entrepreneurs in as active or passive a manner as the entrepreneur wishes. Providing office space and facilities comprises the passive component. The active portions comprise access to networks of contacts and free professional services all the way through personal mentoring and business development introductions and support.
It can be difficult to identify suitable candidate companies for a business incubator program. Although one would think that with over 300 new technology companies being formed locally every year, it would not be hard to identify half a dozen to a dozen companies who could benefit from some turbo boosting. To find its incubator companies, INCspire has an active network of local technology business cognoscenti, runs an annual business plan competition, and is connected to local VCs and institutions like Center for Innovative Technology and George Mason University. Nevertheless, many start up businesses live under this radar, with the best ones totally absorbed in fleshing out their ideas and looking for their first customers. Many of them only come up for air when they see a need to hire people, secure capital, write legal agreements and so on. These activities are often seen as distracting to the main purpose and can be seriously debilitating to the company. It is at this point that an incubator such as INCspire can be most effective. We look for companies that are beyond the concept stage and may or may not have their first customer. This is where we can be most effective in supporting the establishment of a steady path to growth. If the company’s business plan requires infusion of external capital, we typically will see a company well before its ‘A’ round.
We would welcome any suggestions to help identify and filter potential technology growth companies in the area.
This Feature Article was submitted by Stu Miller, Director, Reston Incubator 'INCspire'.
Please send comments to Stu Miller at smiller@incspire.com or by phone at 571-323-3308
To learn more about the Reston Incubator, please visit their web site: http://www.incspire.com