July 7, 2004
Polishing your business plan
ASU’s Technopolis program mentors fledgling companies
Sally Mesarosh
The Arizona Republic
Small-business owner Julie Garvey knows the value of good advice.
Since completing an in-depth mentoring program through Arizona State University’s Technopolis program last February, Garvey’s Tempe company, Online Solutions has doubled its customer base.
“The process was very valuable,” Garvey said. “It helped us hone our market and how we talk to that market.”
Garvey participated in the initial phase of Launch Pad, an eight-week program offered by Technopolis. The course provides entrepreneurial training, coaching and networking to fledgling technology and life science businesses. At the end of the program, entrepreneurs present a polished business plan to a panel of local experts who possess experience specific to that particular company. Garvey said she found the advice from the panel especially helpful.
“You get feedback from seasoned experts,” Garvey said. “It’s a great sounding board made up of people who are very knowledgeable in your area, people who can really hit you with things you could do different or better.”
Garvey’s company offers an on-demand software subscription service called CitizenServe to city governments. The service allows communities to manage resident complaints, building permits, code enforcement and zoning efficiently. Queen Creek, Peoria, Avondale and Phoenix are using CitizenServe, along with several out-of-state municipalities. Garvey was one of the initial designers of the CitizenServe software package.
“Julie was seeking to grow her business, make connections and articulate her story,” said Sharon Ballard, founding management fellow of Technopolis.
“Out of 12 companies that went through Launch Pad, Online Solutions was one of the most mature in terms of sales, customers and product,” Ballard said. “She can scale it up because she has lots of product offerings, and that’s what makes it exciting.”
Technopolis was developed by ASU last fall to help bring technology out of the lab and into the marketplace. The entrepreneurial support team consists of Terree Wasley, director of Technopolis, and founding management fellows Ballard and Dan O’Neill.
In addition to Launch Pad, the team holds workshops on grant writing to help start-ups learn how to fund their businesses. The grant-writing workshops teach participants how to access federal funding grants that range from $100,000 to $750,000. The grants are an important consideration for high-tech business start-ups that often require significantly more research money up front than a regular start-up.
Garvey, however, said she was not interested in the funding aspect of Technopolis.
“Online Solutions was kind of unique,” she said. “My goal was not to get funding, it was to get feedback on where we were going.”
Feedback and connection to the community are an essential part of Technopolis.
To further strengthen the entrepreneurial environment, Technopolis recently launched the Engineering Entrepreneurship Institute, designed to network ASU faculty and students with local businesses.
“What’s neat that comes out of this is the connection with the community,” Ballard said. “The professors connect with real, live entrepreneurs, who connect with the students.”
But O’Neill makes it clear that Technopolis is not just focused on ASU students.
They welcome any technology entrepreneur seeking advice on growing their business, such as Garvey.
“We love to see a technologist walk in the door,” O’Neill said. “It’s fun to see them bridge their technology to the market. That’s really what we do. We help them construct a bridge from the technology to the market.”
Garvey, who has already successfully built that bridge, said her ultimate goal is for her company to be acquired. Then, like a true entrepreneur, she can start developing another new business.