Two Business Incubators Set for Polk

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

LAKELAND | An incubator by its widely used definition keeps eggs safe and warm, nurturing the chicks inside and giving them the best possible chance to grow into healthy chickens.

A business incubator, such as the two in the works for Polk County, does the same thing ó but for fledgling businesses.

Last month, University of South Florida Polytechnic announced that two incubators will open this fall under the name Blue Sky.

Blue Sky West will occupy 6,428 square feet at 116 S. Kentucky Ave. in Lakeland; Blue Sky East will occupy 3,000 square feet at 199 Ave. B N.W. in Winter Haven.

The incubators in their physical sense are offices complete with shared fax and copy machines and conference space.

Beyond the nuts-and-bolts sort of things businesses require, however, the incubators will also provide a wealth of intangible benefits, such as the expertise of USF Poly’s faculty and staff.

‘Entrepreneurs go in with an idea and come out with a business. They’ve gotten their product into the marketplace and they’re ready to be a big business. We move another one in. In five or 10 years, you’ve got 50 or 100 companies you’ve started,’ said Tom Patton, executive director of the Central Florida Development Council. The CFDC is working with USF Poly on the incubators and is donating $1 million to help start the incubator program, which down the line will include a facility at the future USF Poly campus along Interstate 4.

Between now and when Blue Sky East and West open in the fall, much work must be done to formalize the policies of the incubator program.

‘There are pieces we still need to put together,’ said

Steve Budd, USF Poly’s program director for entrepreneurship and venture planning.

Among the details to be hammered out:

Creating a committee to select incubator participants.

The application process.

How many businesses will occupy the incubators.

How long the businesses can operate out of the incubators.

How much the participants will pay in rent.

Systems to measure the success of the selected businesses.

In creating its incubator program, USF Poly is working closely with the University of Central Florida’s Business Incubation Program.

UCF’s program, which will be 10 years old this October, is the ‘baby’ of Tom O’Neal.

O’Neal said the program has worked with more than 80 companies, created more than 1,600 jobs and its participants have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital.

The program is complicated but works essentially like this: Entrepreneurs must meet certain eligibility requirements, such as having a strong market for their product or service and plans to remain located in Central Florida.

Next they apply to the program and complete a 21-hour pre-incubator course.

After the entrepreneur completes the course, the incubator staff evaluates the business, its plan and its potential for success. Only those that are determined to have the best chance of succeeding and growing are selected.

‘There is plenty of support for the mom-and-pops that will probably remain mom-and-pops,’ said O’Neal, the program’s executive director. ‘We’re looking to create companies that will grow and create jobs.’

Once accepted, UCF incubator clients pay market rate for their office space but receive the help of a dedicated business development staff as well as the guidance of other entrepreneurs and professionals.

A member of the incubator staff meets with the businesses once a month to track their progress toward milestones that are determined at the beginning of the businesses’ incubator experience. Businesses participate for three to five years.

O’Neal said the aim of the UCF incubator is to take people with great ideas and make them effective businesspeople.

‘Hopefully they become more business-oriented and less technology-oriented. A lot of them come in with a great understanding of the thing they invented, but not a good sense of the business world,’ O’Neal said.

One of the UCF incubator graduates is Cliff Ingari, vice president and co-founder of AVT, an Orlando-based training and simulation company that does work for the Department of Defense and commercial airlines.

Ingari said for a business to be successful it has to have a lot of things in its favor ó a good idea, a market, just to name a couple ó but completing the UCF incubator gives an added edge. Working with UCF incubator faculty and staff and other entrepreneurs is an experience one can’t get in a classroom, he said.

‘You can’t gain that knowledge in an MBA program,’ he said. ‘The only way to really gain the core knowledge is being enthralled in it.’

In the seven years since work to build AVT into a business began, it has grown from two employees to about 60, said Ingari, who graduated from the incubator two years ago.

USF Poly’s incubators will show a preference for ≠technology-related businesses to complement USF Poly’s emphasis on technology and the efforts of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, which include creating high-tech jobs.

Incubators, at least on the surface, may seem to mostly benefit the start-ups. They get the office space, the use of the equipment, the help of university faculty, chances to connect and brainstorm with other entrepreneurs.

But, Budd said, Polk’s incubators will go a long way in benefiting USF Poly and the community as a whole. For instance, faculty members will be involved in developing cutting-edge technology and ‘will bring that back into the classroom,’ Budd said. Additionally, the community will benefit from the creation of well-paying jobs at the incubator companies.

The incubators represent a much-needed support system for start-ups, said Steve Scruggs, director of the Lakeland Economic Development Council.

‘We haven’t done enough to help start-up businesses in Polk County and grow our own,’ he said. ‘This will be one way we can do a better job of that, support them, help them, nurture them, and help them grow and multiply.’

Kathleen Munson, president of the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce, described the incubators as ‘win-win.’

‘It’s a win-win opportunity for the business community and the county to provide resources to grow our business base and help up-and-coming entrepreneurs… ‘ she said.

Budd has already had 12 to 15 entrepreneurs express interest in the program. Those interested should visit poly.usf.edu/bluesky