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Business incubators spawn success
stories
By Jennie L. Phipps •
Bankrate.com
 Incubators
are responsible for nearly 19,000 companies that are still
in business, and more than 245,000 jobs. So, perhaps, it stands
to reason that success stories abound. Here are two -- as different
as banana bread and computer software.
David Wheeler -- Wheeler's millionaire
father was gunned down, gangland-style, while walking to his car
at a country club in Tulsa, Okla., in 1981. The murder made national
headlines. No one has been charged in the case.
Wheeler made it his life's mission to find out
who murdered his father. As he worked, he discovered the need for
an Internet search engine that would identify items that were similar,
even if they were not identical. Wheeler developed Detective Toolkit,
a program that enables investigators to identify serial offenders
who use false identifications.
Finding venture capital to pay for his startup
was easy, but Wheeler had trouble hiring good management help. He
decided to enter The
Austin Technology Incubator, sponsored by the University of
Texas, but officials there thought the market for his product was
too small. It took Wheeler three years to persuade the incubator
to let him in.When it did, people there helped him wrest control
of his business from the venture capitalists and reposition it as
a tool for insurance companies to detect fraud -- a much more lucrative
niche.
Because Wheeler didn't want to run the business
himself -- "I don't enjoy the CEO parts. Why ruin a good thing for
prestige" -- the incubator found him a top manager from its own
board of directors. This year, its eighth, the company is expected
to make $4 million in profits.
Wheeler says the incubator process has been
invaluable. "Industry specialists roam the halls. They just wander
in and advise you. We had one guy who was critical to our success
and he never asked for a thing. It's nice to have 24-hour air conditioning,
but what really made us take off was an organization that provided
an environment and people who could make a difference."
Jessica Nam -- Steve Massarsky was certain he'd
spotted a winner when Brown University student Jessica Nam enrolled
in his entrepreneurship class in Rhode Island. "She just walked
in and said she was sure that she could bake better banana bread
than anybody, and I had to believe her."
Nam actually bakes 15 different products named
for friends and family, including Kelli Belly Jelly Banana Bread,
Jammin' Jenn low-fat granola bar with jelly and Nutty Mama, her
mother's moist nut bread. The preservative-free goodies sell for
$1.50 a piece, and Nam moves about 100 pieces a day at convenience
stores and other student shopping spots.
The 21-year-old student from Somerset, N.J.,
is a junior majoring in linguistic anthropology. But what good will
that do in the world of baked goods? Nam says, "It's the study of
language and communication. I just bring it into focus -- concentrating
on the language of advertising and how people perceive it. It's
actually really relevant."
She's spending the summer commuting to the Manhattan
office of Massarsky's for-profit Business Incubation Group, where
she's developing a factory plan. The group stakes an equity claim
in the companies it helps.
Nam says, "Steve is awesome. He's helping me
focus. I'm going to run the business in Providence until I graduate,
then go national and then the world. I'm going to be the Ben and
Jerry's of baked goods."
Jennie L. Phipps is a freelance
writer based in Michigan
To comment on this story, please e-mail the
Bankrate.com
editors
-- Posted: June 7, 1999
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