SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IS JOINING THE BUSINESS INCUBATION REVOLUTION

Dateline Pasadena: Standing room only crowds spent another Saturday morning at an Incubator Fair. This one hosted by California Institute of Technology - Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum in Pasadena. It is the third one in Southern California this year, all attracting an overflow crowd. The Theme - Incubators - are they For You? Meet the Incubators - Incubator Fair featured 24 exhibits - from South Central LA Vermont/Slauson Business Enterprise Center to Pasadena's Wall St driven Idealab. The workshop presented a panel of Executives from leading technology companies for the entrepreneurs, VCs, Angels, MBA students, new and existing business owners attending. After trailing Northern California in recent years, business incubation in Southern California has taken off on a fast track in Y2K.

Business Incubation Alley
It appears that Pasadena is developing into a business incubator alley. The mixed use nonprofit Pasadena Enterprise Center, the for-profit Idealab, NASA Commercialization Center and several dotcom incubators are located there. LA County's Business Technology Center is located in nearby Altadena. This clustering has potentials for the kind of regional incubator system that can meet the challenges of delivering quality services for successful incubation.

New Emphasis
A welcomed strategic development of this new generation of incubators is the top priority given to business plan development and execution. The incubators, especially the new ones are marketing extensive services of commercialization assistance, access to capital and strategic knowledge networks. Earlier generation of business incubators were mostly driven by real estate considerations.

What's in a Name
In earlier times, there were questions as to the marketability of the business incubator nameplates. Then as now acceptance was a factor of the perceived applications and successes of the concept. In the current climate, a Business Incubator nameplate is gaining acceptability due to interest in startups, getting to market in internet time, and the for-profit business models being applied. The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, most Tech and Internet publications frequently carry Incubator Business News. Information/education about the business incubation process is growing significantly as demands for successful incubation of ideas accelerate. We are convinced that business incubators are here to stay regardless of the nameplate - It's all about results.

Among the Exhibitors: Inland Empire Business Incubator, KPMG Digital Media Business Incubator, Tech Coast Incubators and The Epoch Incubator were there. The IBM Incubator program has team up with The Epoch Incubator to mark IBM's entry into the LA market. Lab is popular - FortuneLab, GazelleLab, Idealab. So also were Tell it like it is names - AlaunchPad, GetStartedhere.com and ecompanies. CO2 (one of the few with wetlab space) WebMagic (a start-up incubator and think tank)and SmartCapital were in the mix with the traditional nameplates: Business Technology Center, NASA Commercialization Center, and Vermont Slauson Business Enterprise Center.

The incubation industry in California is ten years old. In this its second decade success in the "time to market" derby is heavily dependent on knowledge networks and collaboratives that include direct link to capital resources. It is a maturing industry reinventing itself to meet the demands of entrepreneurs and professionals in incubating new business ventures. Another welcomed trend of the revolution is that the role of startups in e-t commerce, that is the new economy, is gaining attention among the movers and shakers. However, it is a long road to hoe.

Is an Incubator Right for Me?
At the end of the day did the fair provide enough opportunities to answer the question? A sample of comments, mostly from MBA students, indicated that the Fair was great for networking, some leads and some bono-fide offers, and good information on what incubators do. In addition, questions were raised about the compelling customer value, protection of business plan/idea, the solidity of funding sources to take nascent companies to the next level, and the observation that competition will eventually tame the hubris of some of the exhibitors.

One of the best answer came from Daniel, an MBA student, "the right incubator is like finding a wife - it has to be a good fit".

For more information contact Sheila Washington at