New business-startup initiative announced

A nine-point program “to help create, support and sustain” new startup companies from the university was announced Nov. 12 by the Office of Corporate Relations (OCR).

The startup initiative is “a reflection of the fact that this campus has tremendous potential among its faculty, staff and students to form new businesses that will create new jobs and contribute to a stronger Wisconsin economy,” says Charles Hoslet, managing director of OCR.

“Programs like the Small Business Development Centers and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce have for many years provided outstanding support for entrepreneurs and new businesses,” Hoslet says. “However, the university can be doing more to help create, support and sustain companies arising from technology developed on the campus and from the ideas of our faculty, staff and students. This initiative is designed to do just that.”

Chancellor John D. Wiley calls the new initiative “another forward step in our determination to link the strengths of this university to the future of this state.” Wiley established OCR in 2003, directing it to “serve the increasingly complex needs of the business community and help build a stronger Wisconsin economy in the 21st century.”

Larry W. Cox, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the School of Business, says, “This initiative is a perfect blend of the three overarching goals of the university: research, education and outreach. It explicitly connects the business community with faculty and students, all of whom have something substantial to learn, contribute and gain from the starting of new ventures.

“Obviously, the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship is very pleased to be working with OCR to encourage the creation of new ventures — especially ventures that utilize intellectual capital created at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.”

Hoslet, who has managed OCR since its inception in mid-2003, explains, “This initiative is a key element of the OCR strategic plan to assist with the creation of new businesses that will help build a stronger economy. UW–Madison has already established a strong record of new business formation, amounting to more than 175 new companies that have been started by our faculty, staff and students and/or spun off from university-based research. Most of them have been started in the last 15 years, creating thousands of high-paying jobs.”

The nine components of the initiative have been organized into three areas, as follows:

1. Assistance
   • CEO Mentoring, which includes counseling and assistance for chief executives of UW–Madison startup companies, will assist them in fine-tuning their business and financial strategies, including presentations to potential investors.
   • An Entrepreneur-in-Residence, to be housed at the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship on campus, will be a non-funded, limited appointment that will assist faculty, staff and students who are considering a startup venture by facilitating access to MBA students, other university resources and local service-providers.
   • Business Opportunity Consultations will be provided in collaboration with the Entrepreneurial Management graduate course in the School of Business, under the direction of Larry W. Cox. This program will provide a venue for faculty, staff or students who have rough ideas about potential businesses to examine and vet their concepts with an independent business-oriented group.
   • Entrepreneurial Development Micro Grants will be awarded to early-stage entrepreneurs from UW–Madison startup companies to help offset the cost of their participation in conferences, forums, short courses and other seminars that are vital to their success.
2. Events
   • The CEO Breakfast Series will be a monthly meeting convened by the Office of Corporate Relations for chief executives of emerging UW–Madison-affiliated companies, and will provide peer-level networking and support.
   • Venture Capital Roundtables, hosted by the Office of Corporate Relations for the venture-capital community, will serve as a venue for early-stage and concept-stage UW entrepreneurs to discuss their business concepts with representatives from the venture-capital community to gain feedback on how to advance business ideas toward a fundable opportunity.
3. Publications
   • A “Guide for New Business Ventures at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,” which highlights the key steps faculty, staff or students should consider in starting a company, has been developed in conjunction with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).
   • “Succeeding with Tech Transfer at UW–Madison” is a unique conversation with UW–Madison faculty who have mastered the various aspects of business startups and ongoing industry-relations issues. Now in development by the Weinert Center’s Gerard George, an assistant professor in the School of Business, these conversations are being captured in both video and DVD formats, with funding and co-sponsorship by WARF. They will be provided to faculty and staff as a way to share the insights gained by other successful entrepreneurs in the UW–Madison community.
   • Surveys of Startup Outcomes will be conducted periodically by the Office of Corporate Relations to identify and examine issues that have been faced and lessons that have been learned by UW–Madison entrepreneurs.

The initiative’s Web site, will be managed and coordinated by OCR. The initiative’s expenses will be paid by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s Gilson Endowment.