The Incubator E-Mag
Summer 2012
Technology Innovation Center
The Incubator E-Mag Tim Lavengood gives keynote speech at Northwestern’s Entrepreneur Idol INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Collaboration in the Incubator
2
Functional Circulation News
2
Evanston Mini Maker Faire
3
New Incubator Companies
3
Tim Lavengood, Incubator executive director, spoke about processes and challenges in innovation at Entrepreneur Idol, held at the Kellogg School of Management on May 5, 2012. Entrepreneur Idol is the annual idea‐pitch competition hosted by InNUvation, Northwestern University's entrepreneurship and innovation forum. Lavengood was also a judge of the competition, in which student teams from many Midwestern universities competed for cash prizes. Hydramax, founded by a team from the University of Chicago, won first place in the competition. During the keynote, Lavengood gave examples from the Incubator's 25 years of experience in launching innovative technology companies. "When trying to innovate, a company may face internal as well as external challenges," he said. One of these challenges is knowing when to drop an old technology in favor of a newer one. "What's new now is old very soon," he said about technologies currently appearing in the marketplace. "Sometimes you have to kill your
own babies ‐ lay off people who didn't do anything wrong. They are trained in PHP, for example, but to stay competitive, you may have to move on to another language. "For those who spot the paradigm shift early and react quickly, the rewards can be tremendous," he said.
The Incubator co-sponsors YES! Program The Incubator is a co‐sponsor of the Youth Entrepreneurs Summer (YES!) Program, designed to introduce high school students to the basics of business, entrepreneurship and leadership, while helping them discover their passions and cultivate them into real business models. The Incubator will host YES! students for a half‐day seminar on entrepreneurship on June 22. YES! is a program of the Youth Organizations Umbrella (Y.O.U.) of Evanston.
Page 2
The Incubator E-Mag
Collaboration: a Win-Win Situation for Incubator Entrepreneurs
“One of the hidden benefits of the Incubator is the business ecosystem that exists here.” --Sam Safran Design Factory Int’l.
Inside the Incubator, dozens of startup companies are working to make their dreams for innovative products a reality, often without much capital but with an abundance of energy and brain power. The Incubator's space at 820 Davis Street is a rambling warren of small offices with a large central meeting area where members can discuss their business ideas and get feedback from their peers. Many entrepreneurs say that the most important benefit of joining the Incubator is the opportunity for collaboration with other companies. "There are all kinds of hard‐to‐ define but incredibly beneficial things that happen here," said Alex Arzoumanidis, president of Psylotech. "For instance, we’re developing a software product with Engrana, an engineering consulting company in the Incubator. To be able to sell our test instrument systems, we need to have software written. The owner can also help us
support the software product. And this came about because his company just happened to be down the hall from us," he said. Sam Safran, owner of Design Factory International , a company that designs and imports home décor products, also finds value in collaboration. "One of the hidden benefits of the Incubator is the business ecosystem that exists here," he says. Safran did not have to go out of his way to find useful synergies. One of his most rewarding collaborations began with the simple act of borrowing a hand cart. "I saw that the company next door had a hand cart, so I asked to borrow it. I struck up a conversation with the owner, Richard Moy, who designs custom software solutions for small business. I told him I had been having some problems with an off‐the‐shelf database management program. Richard came up with a solution: he said, let me build a custom
program for you. "If Richard weren’t next door, I’d still need this service. The ability to just walk next door whenever I need work done on the database – It’s one of the key drivers in efficiency for me," Safran said. The company on the other side of Design Factory, Illumen Group, has done design work for Safran. And a little further down the hall and around the corner, Warren Walker of Atmosphere Communications is Safran’s backup tech support. "It’s amazing – I am within proximity to everything I need," Safran said. Tim Lavengood said that these partnerships enable startup companies in the Incubator to do more with limited resources. "The Incubator is an environment where companies tend to be fairly long on technical expertise and intellectual property, and fairly short on capital. That creates a unique environment for collaboration,” he explains.
Functional Circulation wins Gates Foundation grant
Functional Circulation, a recent graduate of the Incubator, informed us that
they won a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the development of pest‐ resistant implements for small‐scale farmers in developing countries. This project, developed by
Functional Circulation CEO John Brassil and colleagues, will improve the bowls used by small‐scale farmers to carry cassava roots to market by embedding natural pest‐ repelling ingredients and passive communication electronics.
Page 3
The Incubator E-Mag
A festival of do-it-yourself technology, arts & crafts comes to Evanston On August 4‐5, Evanston will host a Mini Maker Faire, a celebration of technology and the making of things. Part of the Maker Movement gaining momentum nationwide, Maker Faires celebrate the creative spark in everyone, showcasing technology projects, arts and crafts, and the fanciful and bizarre creations made by inventors and creative geniuses among us. Members of the Evanston community are invited to exhibit their projects at the Faire, and see what everyone else has been making. Go to makerfaireevanston.com to sign up as a maker, volunteer, or sponsor of this event. The Faire is not limited to technology projects. If you like to cook, use power tools, sew, use 3D printers and laser cutters, or just like to work with your hands, you are strongly encouraged to attend or exhibit.
Among the things to see and do: watch or participate in the Power Wheels race, in which "teams of big people from all over the Midwest will be racing souped‐up little vehicles for speed (limited) and Moxie style (no limits)," according to the Faire's blog. Roth Mobot will present a circuit‐bending workshop, in which participants learn to make musical instruments out of old electronic toys. The Faire also features many educational events for
children, including a 3‐D manufacturing workshop offered by the Fab Lab of the Museum of Science and Industry.
“Part of the Maker Movement gaining momentum nationwide, Maker Faires celebrate the creative spark in everyone, showcasing technology projects, arts and crafts, and the fanciful and bizarre creations made by inventors and creative geniuses among us.”
The Evanston Mini Maker Faire is hosted by the Technology Innovation Center and Pumping Station: One, with special thanks to Northwestern University, the City of Evanston, and Downtown Evanston. Evanston Mini Maker Faire is independently organized and operated under license from O’Reilly Media, Inc.
New Incubator Companies CDM Novitec
Novinoor
Ducom
www.cdm‐novitec.com Contact: Bruno Meira y Duran
novinoor.ogmemis.com Contact: Omer Gokalp Memis
www.ducom.com Contact: Anirudh Dube
PreScouter www.prescouter.com Contact: Dinesh Ganesarajah
HistoryIT www.historyit.com Contact: Kristen Gwynn‐Becker
Technology Innovation Center 820 Davis Street, Suite 151 Evanston, IL 60201 Ph: 847‐866‐1879 www.theincubator.com The Technology Innovation Center is a 501(c)(3) organization funded in part through a partnership with the City of Evanston.
Technology Innovation Center
The Incubator E-Mag Tim Lavengood gives keynote speech at Northwestern’s Entrepreneur Idol INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Collaboration in the Incubator
2
Functional Circulation News
2
Evanston Mini Maker Faire
3
New Incubator Companies
3
Tim Lavengood, Incubator executive director, spoke about processes and challenges in innovation at Entrepreneur Idol, held at the Kellogg School of Management on May 5, 2012. Entrepreneur Idol is the annual idea‐pitch competition hosted by InNUvation, Northwestern University's entrepreneurship and innovation forum. Lavengood was also a judge of the competition, in which student teams from many Midwestern universities competed for cash prizes. Hydramax, founded by a team from the University of Chicago, won first place in the competition. During the keynote, Lavengood gave examples from the Incubator's 25 years of experience in launching innovative technology companies. "When trying to innovate, a company may face internal as well as external challenges," he said. One of these challenges is knowing when to drop an old technology in favor of a newer one. "What's new now is old very soon," he said about technologies currently appearing in the marketplace. "Sometimes you have to kill your
own babies ‐ lay off people who didn't do anything wrong. They are trained in PHP, for example, but to stay competitive, you may have to move on to another language. "For those who spot the paradigm shift early and react quickly, the rewards can be tremendous," he said.
The Incubator co-sponsors YES! Program The Incubator is a co‐sponsor of the Youth Entrepreneurs Summer (YES!) Program, designed to introduce high school students to the basics of business, entrepreneurship and leadership, while helping them discover their passions and cultivate them into real business models. The Incubator will host YES! students for a half‐day seminar on entrepreneurship on June 22. YES! is a program of the Youth Organizations Umbrella (Y.O.U.) of Evanston.
Page 2
The Incubator E-Mag
Collaboration: a Win-Win Situation for Incubator Entrepreneurs
“One of the hidden benefits of the Incubator is the business ecosystem that exists here.” --Sam Safran Design Factory Int’l.
Inside the Incubator, dozens of startup companies are working to make their dreams for innovative products a reality, often without much capital but with an abundance of energy and brain power. The Incubator's space at 820 Davis Street is a rambling warren of small offices with a large central meeting area where members can discuss their business ideas and get feedback from their peers. Many entrepreneurs say that the most important benefit of joining the Incubator is the opportunity for collaboration with other companies. "There are all kinds of hard‐to‐ define but incredibly beneficial things that happen here," said Alex Arzoumanidis, president of Psylotech. "For instance, we’re developing a software product with Engrana, an engineering consulting company in the Incubator. To be able to sell our test instrument systems, we need to have software written. The owner can also help us
support the software product. And this came about because his company just happened to be down the hall from us," he said. Sam Safran, owner of Design Factory International , a company that designs and imports home décor products, also finds value in collaboration. "One of the hidden benefits of the Incubator is the business ecosystem that exists here," he says. Safran did not have to go out of his way to find useful synergies. One of his most rewarding collaborations began with the simple act of borrowing a hand cart. "I saw that the company next door had a hand cart, so I asked to borrow it. I struck up a conversation with the owner, Richard Moy, who designs custom software solutions for small business. I told him I had been having some problems with an off‐the‐shelf database management program. Richard came up with a solution: he said, let me build a custom
program for you. "If Richard weren’t next door, I’d still need this service. The ability to just walk next door whenever I need work done on the database – It’s one of the key drivers in efficiency for me," Safran said. The company on the other side of Design Factory, Illumen Group, has done design work for Safran. And a little further down the hall and around the corner, Warren Walker of Atmosphere Communications is Safran’s backup tech support. "It’s amazing – I am within proximity to everything I need," Safran said. Tim Lavengood said that these partnerships enable startup companies in the Incubator to do more with limited resources. "The Incubator is an environment where companies tend to be fairly long on technical expertise and intellectual property, and fairly short on capital. That creates a unique environment for collaboration,” he explains.
Functional Circulation wins Gates Foundation grant
Functional Circulation, a recent graduate of the Incubator, informed us that
they won a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the development of pest‐ resistant implements for small‐scale farmers in developing countries. This project, developed by
Functional Circulation CEO John Brassil and colleagues, will improve the bowls used by small‐scale farmers to carry cassava roots to market by embedding natural pest‐ repelling ingredients and passive communication electronics.
Page 3
The Incubator E-Mag
A festival of do-it-yourself technology, arts & crafts comes to Evanston On August 4‐5, Evanston will host a Mini Maker Faire, a celebration of technology and the making of things. Part of the Maker Movement gaining momentum nationwide, Maker Faires celebrate the creative spark in everyone, showcasing technology projects, arts and crafts, and the fanciful and bizarre creations made by inventors and creative geniuses among us. Members of the Evanston community are invited to exhibit their projects at the Faire, and see what everyone else has been making. Go to makerfaireevanston.com to sign up as a maker, volunteer, or sponsor of this event. The Faire is not limited to technology projects. If you like to cook, use power tools, sew, use 3D printers and laser cutters, or just like to work with your hands, you are strongly encouraged to attend or exhibit.
Among the things to see and do: watch or participate in the Power Wheels race, in which "teams of big people from all over the Midwest will be racing souped‐up little vehicles for speed (limited) and Moxie style (no limits)," according to the Faire's blog. Roth Mobot will present a circuit‐bending workshop, in which participants learn to make musical instruments out of old electronic toys. The Faire also features many educational events for
children, including a 3‐D manufacturing workshop offered by the Fab Lab of the Museum of Science and Industry.
“Part of the Maker Movement gaining momentum nationwide, Maker Faires celebrate the creative spark in everyone, showcasing technology projects, arts and crafts, and the fanciful and bizarre creations made by inventors and creative geniuses among us.”
The Evanston Mini Maker Faire is hosted by the Technology Innovation Center and Pumping Station: One, with special thanks to Northwestern University, the City of Evanston, and Downtown Evanston. Evanston Mini Maker Faire is independently organized and operated under license from O’Reilly Media, Inc.
New Incubator Companies CDM Novitec
Novinoor
Ducom
www.cdm‐novitec.com Contact: Bruno Meira y Duran
novinoor.ogmemis.com Contact: Omer Gokalp Memis
www.ducom.com Contact: Anirudh Dube
PreScouter www.prescouter.com Contact: Dinesh Ganesarajah
HistoryIT www.historyit.com Contact: Kristen Gwynn‐Becker
Technology Innovation Center 820 Davis Street, Suite 151 Evanston, IL 60201 Ph: 847‐866‐1879 www.theincubator.com The Technology Innovation Center is a 501(c)(3) organization funded in part through a partnership with the City of Evanston.
