So you want to start a business.
OK, let’s get started: First, you’ll need a plan outlining goals, objectives, timelines, marketing strategies, expenses and other assorted details.
Next, you’ll need space. Time to start pounding the pavement (and priming the funding pump) to find a place to hang your shingle.
Once you have space, you’ll need to fill it with whatever your business requires: office furniture, conference tables, equipment, supplies, personnel....
Then comes the need for contacts, networking sources, consultants, auxiliary services and the many sundries needed to give your business a fighting chance.
Now that those items are checked off, it’s time to start actually running the business, with the hope of turning a profit at some point.
“And keep in mind the 3-4-5 rule,” cautions Dr. Michael G. Gabridge, associate vice president of technology transfer and economic development at the Medical College of Georgia and director of the university’s Life Sciences Innovation Center. “Three out of four startups fail within the first five years.”
Odds are even bleaker for biomedical companies, which require massive investments in high-tech equipment that can easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But what if you could eliminate many of these risks and expenses? What if the office space was already optimally equipped, for instance? What if consultants were already on board? What if your business plan was carefully monitored to greatly increase your odds of success?
That’s when the 3-4-5 rule gets a one-two knockout punch.
“Over 80 percent of incubator startups are still functioning after five years,” says Dr. Gabridge, who oversees MCG’s biomedical incubator.
The incubator, in MCG’s state-of-the-art Interdisciplinary Research Building, houses and assists nascent biomedical companies that stand a good chance of flourishing if given a helping hand.
Dr. Gabridge is happy to offer that hand. He proudly reports that with four companies now occupying the center, the incubator is full. But don’t get too used to the tenants; the goal is to help these fledglings spread their wings, then nudge them out of the nest to make room for new startups. The result is a continual infusion of new ideas, products and services designed to improve health and quality of life.
“Some companies spend a considerable amount of time in the research-and-development stage, and others have sales within months,” says Dr. Gabridge. “We can be flexible, but basically, we’re looking to move the companies out within seven years.” And the door swings both ways. As MCG opens its doors to external biomedical entrepreneurs, it encourages entrepreneurship internally so MCG scientists can move their findings from laboratories to the marketplace.
For instance, one incubator tenant, Menoa Transgenics, is partially owned and operated by Dr. Joseph Kaminski, an MCG radiologist. He teamed up with a local attorney, an investor and a University of Hawaii colleague to use modern gene-splicing techniques to generate improved strains of plants and animals. “We’re developing a method to direct a gene to a specific site in the genome,” says Dr. Kaminski, whose company moved into the incubator in the spring.
And space can be tailored for specific needs. Mark Repko of ClariPath Laboratories noted that his company extensively individualized its space upon moving into two of the incubator suites in August 2005. “But the incubator provides all of our basic needs,” he says. “We had an instant lab to start working in. It would have been a considerable expense for us to start from scratch.”
Like Menoa, ClariPath relies on highly esoteric technology and equipment. The company, which processes and diagnoses prostate biopsies for clinics and hospitals nationwide, stresses speed and accuracy. “Clients can access reports via the Internet, consult with our pathologists in real time and be assured of chain of custody [thanks to technology including bar-coding and robotics]. Our whole workload is geared toward error prevention.”
The incubator enhances those features. “Automation and safety are two priorities for ClariPath,” Mr. Repko says. “The incubator provides centrifuges, refrigerators and other equipment that allow us to do our best work. This facility is excellent. We couldn’t ask for a better laboratory environment.”
Dr. Michael Stump, a bioanalytical chemist and co-owner of tenant company EMThrax, couldn’t agree more. “It’s the best lab space in the Southeast,” he says simply. “It’s really that good.”
“Our incubator laboratories are large and outfitted with all of the major equipment that a startup company in the life sciences might want,” Dr. Gabridge says. “Thanks to a generous grant from the OneGeorgia Authority to the Georgia Medical Center Authority, the incubator has items like laminar flow hoods, special freezers for biological specimens, incubators, water baths and numerous other items that every bio-lab might need.” The Georgia Research Alliance also was a major contributor to the center.
Incubator companies also benefit from MCG’s mentors, consultants and extensive networking environment. And tenants have access to MCG’s 12 core laboratories, which expedite research in areas including genomics, cell production, cell imaging and transgenic mouse studies.
“Incubator-run companies are more likely to succeed for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is the ability of companies and scientists to interact,” says Dr. Gabridge.
The tenants concur, noting that whether lunching in the Terrace Dining Room or striking up conversations while walking across campus, they feel like members of the MCG community. Dr. Gabridge applauds this collegiality, which he considers a natural outgrowth of MCG’s mission to improve health and reduce the burden of illness in society. For instance, tenant company Xytex Research freezes cells and tissue while preserving their viability for future use. A common application is freezing reproductive tissues for cancer patients whose treatment may otherwise render them infertile— a goal that MCG couldn’t take more pleasure in helping to expedite.
Likewise, EMThrax, which is seeking improved vaccines for anthrax and Campylobacter, is collaborating with Dr. Stuart Thompson in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology on the Campylobacter vaccine. Bringing the connections full circle, EMThrax owner Dr. Stump is working toward an adjunct faculty position in the Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine. EMThrax also is collaborating with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute and the University of Georgia Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.
The synergy pleases Dr. Gabridge greatly. “Our values and our goals have to jibe,” he says.
An admissions committee vets tenant applications, assessing factors including potential benefits to society and marketability of the products and/or services.
“They need a solid business plan,” Dr. Gabridge says. “Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It takes a certain mindset and skill set. But we do all we can to assist those who are interested.”
He recently hired Jonathan Goolsby, a marketing specialist, to spread the news of the Life Sciences Innovation Center to scientists and potential entrepreneurs statewide and beyond. But the current tenants insist that the incubator sells itself.
“As a startup, we’re already making money,” says Mr. Repko. “That’s remarkable.”
- Christine Hurley Deriso
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