Technology Commercialization Center at A-B Tech Helps Technology Start-Ups Grow and Create Jobs in the Asheville Area

Three Asheville, NC, companies -- all of them assisted by the Technology Commercialization Center (TCC) at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College -- are among the 16 entrepreneurial companies that will present pitches March 25-26 to investors at InnoVenture, the annual southeastern innovation conference. The Technology Commercialization Center is helping build the western North Carolina economy and its entrepreneurial climate, one technology company at a time, by working closely with each client's management team to achieve their short-term and long-term business goals. TCC, which is associated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has served more than 50 companies since late 2006, creating or retaining 89 jobs in the process.

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) March 22, 2008 -- Three Asheville, NC, companies -- all of them assisted by the Technology Commercialization Center (TCC) at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College (A-B Tech) -- are among the 16 entrepreneurial companies that will present pitches March 25-26 to investors at InnoVenture, the annual southeastern innovation conference. The companies are Emerge Industries, Infinity Learning Solutions and Lab Escape.

The Technology Commercialization Center (www.abtech.edu/sbc/tcc) is helping build the western North Carolina economy and its entrepreneurial climate, one technology company at a time, by working closely with each client's management team to achieve their short-term and long-term business goals. Much more than a business plan, the execution plan that TCC calls The Book includes the critical development issues such as a technology development roadmap; market research, sales, partnership and funding plans; and staffing, operation and infrastructure issues. The book also addresses proper organization structure, credible and sustainable business models, and financial statements. The focus is on preparing company management teams for sustainability or investment by capital financiers.

Established in 2006 on A-B Tech's Enka campus as a partnership between A-B Tech and Technology 2020, TCC has been made possible, in part, by a grant of $200,000 from Buncombe County that the Asheville Hub helped secure. AdvantageWest has also contributed operational funds. In terms of development, during the past 15 months, TCC has assisted more than 50 companies towards sustainability -- retaining or creating 89 jobs in the process. TCC is located within A-B Tech's Small Business Incubator, which provides an environment to help all types of companies grow.

Technology 2020 (www.tech2020.org) is connected with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and demonstrates ORNL's commitment to support economic development in a region that extends from western North Carolina to eastern Kentucky.

TCC's Approach
"There is no shortcut to creating a successful company," said Todd Fisher, TCC's director and veteran of multiple Fortune 50 companies and start-ups. "We require that clients achieve key milestones such as identifying their target customers, sizing their market niche, and validating that their technology provides value to their target customers. Attaining these milestones leads to the development of a profitable business model. To support clients, we offer outstanding network opportunities, hands-on business counseling from people who have extensive experience starting up and running companies, and access to capital."

"Often we have to convince the entrepreneurs we work with they have to start slower and smaller than they had originally envisioned," Fisher said. "Many come to us the first time thinking they are ready to raise a lot of money, and we have to show them they have a lot more preparation to do first, and that we can help them do it."

Fisher and Assistant Director Steve Poland lend their varied and extensive skills and experience to mentor client management team on various topics and critical development steps. They are supported when needed on issues such as fund raising, partnerships and channel strategies by three partners, Shawn Carson, Geoff Robson and Bob Wilson of Technology 2020's Center for Entrepreneurial Growth in Knoxville; Wilson is Technology 2020's executive director. In addition, a Mentor Council of 14 senior executives in the Asheville area provides contacts, feedback about presentations and other assistance to TCC clients.

To become a TCC client, candidates must have technology at the core of their business and match at least one of the following scenarios: be a current resident or applicant of the A-B Tech Incubator; have current facilities and operations based in Buncombe County; have an association with A-B Tech; or be a company that is being evaluated or has already accepted an investment from the Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network (BRAIN) or the Inception Micro Angel Fund (IMAF), two angel investor groups that are working as partners in western North Carolina. The TCC has also worked with clients located in other counties in western North Carolina via conference calls or meetings at TCC.

Raising capital is one of the most daunting tasks facing start-up companies. Companies that work with TCC through its formal program have the opportunity to get a low-interest loan of up to $35,000 from the Advantage Opportunity Fund, established a year ago by AdvantageWest. The focus is on funding opportunities to bridge critical events, thus helping technology start-ups get through the so-called Valley of Death. Generally, a company's high demand for cash happens at a point at which it still has a low ability to raise it. Three companies have received loans from the Advantage Opportunity Fund to date. As clients progress, TCC prepares them for the rigorous scrutiny they will undergo when they are under consideration by BRAIN, IMAF or other investors.

TCC's Clients
Some of TCC's clients that have moved past significant milestones are:

Advanced Composting (www.advancedcomposting.com), whose patent-pending forced air composting system is helping hog, turkey, chicken and trout farming operations convert dead farm animals into a compost that is cheaper than incineration and environmentally sound.

Augustara (www.augustara.com), which employs an advanced sound and light platform technology for the alternative health and wellness industry to use in healing patients' bodies, minds and spirits.

Emerge Industries (www.stickyyard.com) has developed the Amazing Sticky Yard™ Digital Measuring System, a proprietary measuring tool and software application that turns a digital camera into a precise electronic tape measure.

Infinity Learning Solutions (www.infinitylearningsolutions.com), whose Digital Chalk e-learning solution integrates video, audio, PowerPoint slides, images, text, closed captioning and html into course lessons with an easy to use and secure web-based authoring tool.

1 X 1 Media (www.1x1media.com), a high-quality, short-run CD and DVD reproduction service utilizing proprietary technology to fully automate the order and duplication processes.

Safe Home Filters (www.safehomefilters.com) has developed easy to install whole-house filter systems that remove allergens, odors and harmful gases generated from carpet, furniture, and other items found in everyone's home.

"The variety of initiatives receiving support through the Technology Commercialization Center is very encouraging," said Jenny Manner, chairman of Meet the Geeks, a networking organization for IT professionals that is based in Asheville. "Individually, each of the businesses is interesting, but to see them together as a group says a lot about the entrepreneurial talent in western North Carolina and hints at a bright future."

Sticking out at InnoVenture
InnoVenture 2008, held in Greenville, SC, is a big opportunity for Emerge Industries, which seeks funding to refine its marketing and sales strategy, develop new products, and build its core management team so it can do business across the U.S. and internationally. The product has been well received by sign designers, builders and architects who are using it to measure billboards, buildings and storefronts in seconds rather than hours, and Emerge hopes investors will show similar interest.

John Denison, vice president of sales for Emerge, has family roots in Western North Carolina that go back over two centuries. After a number of years living elsewhere, he returned to the area this past December, and within days, Pam Lewis at AdvantageWest introduced him to TCC's Fisher. Over the past three months, he has received intensive coaching from Fisher, Poland and TCC's Mentor Council about how to prepare his pitch to investors. TCC has also introduced Denison to local production, backroom IT support and other sources, and to Russ Yelton, executive director of the A-B Tech incubator, who can provide Emerge with space when the company is ready.

"With TCC's help, we've come so far in three months," said Denison. "I have learned that the local area has everything we need to grow our business." This summer, Emerge CEO Eric Carlson and Nichole Groenberg, vice president of operations, will leave California and relocate to nearby eastern Tennessee.

TCC's Goals
Going forward, TCC's Fisher and Poland believe that the TCC will help client companies already in the area reach their full potential and help draw companies looking for a new home to consider the Asheville area as a great place to do business. "Our goal is to continue to help companies become sustainable and fundable, which will create jobs and economic development for the area," said Fisher.

"The Technology Commercialization Center is an integral part of A-B Tech's comprehensive incubation program," said Russ Yelton, who heads the school's incubator. "The services provided through the TCC allow us to better serve our technology-related clients, especially those looking to raise angel and venture funding."

The Asheville Hub
The Asheville Hub is a community leadership organization that serves as a catalyst to spur collaboration and the incubation of community, cultural and economic development strategies that will leverage Asheville's and Buncombe County's strengths in technology, creativity, rejuvenation, land/agriculture, manufacturing and enterprise.

Its Technology Cluster is pursuing specific strategies for economic development, including encouraging technology start-ups to work with the Technology Commercialization Center and bringing attention to the Asheville area's growing technology community. The Technology Cluster is supporting the efforts of the Asheville-based Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction (www.climatealive.org) to provide trusted climate change information and analysis to policymakers, business leaders and the public. It also supports the work being done by the Media Arts Project (www.themap.org) to establish a digital media center that will send media arts and technologies from the southeastern United States onto the international stage.

For more information about the Technology Commercialization Center, contact:

Todd Fisher
tfisher@abtech.edu
828/254-1921, x5855

Steve Poland
spoland@abtech.edu
828/254-1921, x5856

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