 |
Celebrating
Bacterin's graduation from TechRanch were Bacterin
employees (from left): Matt Trebella, Lisa Benz,
Sara Handl, Sara Altenburg, Shane Stenerud and company
president Guy Cook. |
|
| by
Evelyn Boswell |
| No
one wore a cap or gown, but John O'Donnell was as proud
as any parent at commencement. |
| "This
is our first big graduation. To have a success story so
early in our operation's history is a really exciting
thing," O'Donnell said at a recent celebration for Bacterin,
the first sizeable company to graduate from TechRanch.
|
| O'Donnell
is executive director of TechRanch, a business incubator
that opened in 2001 to help Montana entrepreneurs develop
high-technology businesses that can compete in global
markets. Bacterin, now located in Belgrade, creates anti-infective
coatings for medical devices. |
| "This
is a great day for us," Bacterin president Guy Cook said
at his graduation. "... I don't think we would be here
without John." |
| Both
TechRanch and Bacterin have roots at Montana State University-Bozeman,
and they are still closely linked to the university. Besides
its location near MSU, TechRanch was formed with money
from MSU's TechLink Center. TechRanch also houses the
MSU College of Business' Center for Entrepreneurship for
the New West. Tom McCoy, vice president of research, technology
transfer and creativity at MSU, serves on the TechRanch
board. |
| Cook
started his career at MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering.
As a confocal microscopist, he went on to form his own
company and later asked TechRanch to help ramp it up to
a new level. Bacterin graduated after 10 months with TechRanch. |
| "This
is real economic development," said Richard Semenik, dean
of the MSU College of Business. "This is not propping
up industries that are really in a decline phase. This
is bringing on new companies and new industries. It's
the future." |
| Graduation
for Bacterin means that it moved out of TechRanch's facility
into a 16,000- square-foot building. Cook received a $250,000
loan from the city of Belgrade, and his staff has grown
to 10. He expects to have 25 to 30 employees in the next
1 1/2 years. |
| "There's
a lot of research activity in this community because of
the university and that's great," O'Donnell said. "But
to have someone take that research and knowledge and commercialize
it and create real products and real jobs is an important
part of this story." |
| Cook
said he's committed to staying in Montana, and four of
his employees so far are current or former MSU students.
One of them is Bacterin's business development manager
Shane Stenerud, '93 MTA, who moved back to Gallatin
County from New York City. |
| "You
appreciate Bozeman after you are in New York," Stenerud
said. "You see why they call it God's country." |
| O'Donnell
said Bacterin fits an ideal TechRanch client profile,
which is to have a local entrepreneur who has strong ties
to MSU, who has a great idea for a technology venture
and wants to commercialize it. Then he or she builds a
local company that provides good, high-paying jobs for
MSU graduates and other Montanans. |
| TechRanch
is particularly interested in talking to MSU alumni about
returning to the state to build new technology companies
through a program called "Grow Your Own," O'Donnell noted.
|
| TechRanch
can handle 10 to 15 businesses at once, and they must
all be Montana-based, said Deon Fackler, TechRanch's marketing
and operations manager. Even the investors primarily come
from Montana. TechRanch cofounded and manages Montana's
only private investor network, called the Bridger Private
Capital Network. |
| "We're
about adding value to Montana and growing the technology
community in the state," Fackler said. |
| She
added that TechRanch's commitment to economic development
in Montana has helped it win strong support from U.S.
Sen. Conrad Burns, who has responded to the incubator's
successes with public and financial backing. |
| TechRanch
provides its clients with a national network of advisors,
a network of private investors and venture capitalists,
NASA, DOD and MSU resources and new technologies, and
a network of service providers. Clients pay a monthly
service fee and provide a small equity stake in their
venture. After a period that generally runs between 18
and 24 months, TechRanch and the business owner decide
if the company is going to make it on its own. |
|
"It's very difficult to keep a company in Montana," Cook
said. "Our interaction with TechRanch shows us we can
still pursue that type of money but stay in Montana."
|
