10.25.16
Seven New Student Start-Ups to Launch through Northeast Indiana Innovation Center
October 25, 2016, Fort Wayne, Ind.–Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (The NIIC) Student Venture Lab Program recently accepted seven qualifying ventures to start-up on The NIIC’s certified technology park campus. This includes six companies and one aspiring non-profit venture.
NIIC’s strategic focus includes Four Resource Pillars of Entrepreneurial Success: capital, talent, placemaking, and connectivity. The NIIC provides innovative ideas and ventures with resources and access to resource partners around these four pillars as they refine, discover, and validate their business models and also prepare to present their business models at SVL Demo Day. The Demo Day audience includes investors, bankers, and leaders of the region’s business and technology community. This may lead to external funding and follow-on resources available from The NIIC.
“One of the most rewarding parts of my job is coaching students who want to be entrepreneurs through The NIIC’s Student Venture Lab Program. Getting the chance to guide a new generation of leaders is truly amazing. My favorite part is witnessing the hope, the passion, the drive they exhibit to make their businesses successful,” said Gary Fry, Business Coach & SVL Program Manager. The diversity of products and services of this group of SVL ventures includes everything from a non-profit organization to apparel, from mobile device applications to custom cosmetics.
One of The NIIC’s new SVL clients is 3B Apps, which is comprised of three brothers who joined to create the company. It focuses on small-to-mid sized restaurants. “We have been involved with the SVL for about three months, and I cannot emphasize enough how beneficial it has been for us. We have benefited from the mentoring, incredible connections, and by working in a productive environment alongside many talented people. I have personally learned the value of persistence, which is something The NIIC business coach has instilled in me. I have also learned the power of networking first hand and the importance of collaborating with others,” said Mitchell Skees, CEO, 3B Apps.
The NIIC SVL Program is funded in part through grants from the Lincoln Financial Foundation, the Edward & Mary McCrea Wilson Foundation and iAB Financial Bank. For more information about The NIIC’s SVL Program, contact Gary Fry, gfry@niic.net, telephone 260 487-3290 or visit our website http://www.niic.net/programs-services/student-venture-lab. For information about The NIIC and the programs and services offered through its campus, visit www.niic.net.
About The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC)
The NIIC is a non-profit, community-based entrepreneurial resource center that assists in the growth and development of innovative companies in Northeast Indiana. Formed in 1999 by a consortium of community and government leaders and organizations, The NIIC was recently recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top four under-the-radar incubators in the country. The Innovation Center is the country’s only ISO9001:2008 registered business incubation and acceleration programs, serving entrepreneurs, business owners and existing businesses who want to launch, expand or re-invent a company. For more information visit: www.niic.net.
Media contact: Tammy Allen, Director, Marketing Communications & Programs – The NIIC, info@niic.net | Telephone: 260-407-6442
Photo Cutline:
The NIIC Student Venture Lab (SVL) Client 3B Apps, Mitchell Skees, CEO, and Connor Skees, Coder/Programmer, conceptualize a business model with The NIIC Business Coach Gary Fry.
