| AdvanTech incubates in Richmond
Virginia Business
July 2004
Attention startup companies: Richmond’s
AdvanTech can provide the low-rent space, technical
services and funding you need to grow to that next level.
But you’ll have to be patient. This small business
incubator, started just four years ago in downtown Richmond,
is so popular right now that it recently started putting
eligible applicants on a waiting list.
Currently 63 technology and traditional
small businesses are operating in AdvanTech’s
eight-floor facility in downtown Richmond; and six companies
are on the waiting list.
“It’s a sign that the entrepreneurial
spirit in Richmond is alive and well,” says Larry
Haines, executive director of the Industrial Development
Authority, which provided startup funding and oversight
for the now self-sustaining organization. “There’s
a seriousness to these entrepreneurs, a level of commitment,
that we’ve not seen before.”
For those that get in the advantages
are 30-day leases; room to grow; a ready-made infrastructure
with phone lines, high-speed Internet service, videoconferencing
and copy machines; access to professional training,
seminars and consultation and plenty of chances to network.
The incubator — which requires members to submit
solid business plans and have at least some sales figures
— also provides investment programs that help
match its businesses with venture capital; AdvanTech
businesses have received $11 million in private investment
monies.
The complete aid package definitely
puts companies on the fast track. Already, 28 firms
have graduated to self-sufficiency, including BayMountain,
a provider of managed Internet hosting services that
first joined AdvanTech in 2000. Founder and vice president
Mark Wensell says that the incubator allowed his firm
to focus on growing clients and revenues rather than
worrying about potential disruptions like renegotiating
leases or relocating to accommodate more employees.
“By giving us that extra help, they enabled us
to become a credible, successful business very, very
quickly,” he says.
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