New help for entrepreneurs: The UW Technology Business Development Institute

Brilliance in science and technology doesn’t always translate directly into successful and prosperous businesses. High-tech entrepreneurs who need practical business knowledge now have a new resource -the Technology Business Development Institute (TBDI).

TBDI is designed to help foster development and growth of technology companies in southern Wisconsin. It received funding from UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley’s Madison Initiative as part of the university’s mission to improve Wisconsin’s economic development by expanding the transfer of research results to the private sector.

TBDI, which was launched in February, is run by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). It’s a natural fit. For 24 years, SBDC has provided courses, business counseling and resources to assist founders in business startups and existing small firms.

TBDI offers a variety of courses of particular relevance to technology start-ups. Courses planned for fall include:

• “Business Planning for Scientists and Engineers”
• “Acquiring Angel and Venture Capital Financing”
• “Strategy Development for Technology Companies”
• “Sales Skills for Selling Technical Products”

CEOs of technology companies can also apply to be in a peer-learning group with leaders of growth companies in both technology-based and traditional businesses.

An important priority of TBDI is to create higher-paying jobs in southern Wisconsin to make the region more competitive in the marketplace. Wisconsin’s average annual personal income is just over $30,000, while the average skilled worker in a high-tech firm earns on average $45,000 to $50,000 annually, according to a recent national study conducted by the American Electronics Association.

Barbara Israel, CEO of Madison-based Platypus Technologies, which produces nanotechnologies for the life sciences, took a pilot program that is now the TBDI foundation course, “Business Planning for Scientists and Engineers.” Israel found that it gave her “a clear path to follow in the business planning process and helped my partners and me in writing our own business plan.” While pursuing primary research, she realized that her firm could also sell materials to other researchers. Platypus Technologies now has 20 employees, with plans to hire more.

“She’s a good example of how the program works,” says Neil Lerner, director of SBDC and TBDI. “She was determined to use what she learned in class. It was her drive that made it happen – the drive to look for ways to commercialize products.”

Thanks to creation of the Technology Business Development Institute, more high-tech entrepreneurs will have help in exploring ways to take their firms to the next level.

The UW–Madison Small Business Development Center and the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Network are major partners with the UW–Madison School of Business in the Technology Business Development Institute.