In time, Barry Schwimmer and his cohorts might enable military aircraft to change color at the push of a button or a dot-com to support a “community of drink explorers.”
In time, the Stamford Innovation Center hopes to be the ultimate enabler ”“ for entrepreneurs, anyway.
The Stamford iCenter commenced operations in Stamford”™s Old Town Hall with a half-dozen startups already enrolled, ranging from Arsanis Biosciences GmbH, an Austrian company hoping to develop treatments for cancer and HIV, to Muddler L.L.C., which helps members use social media to find the best drinks at bars and restaurants.
“When you work on a project like this and you have such high hopes for it, you never know,” said Schwimmer, iCenter co-founder and managing partner. “In five years ”¦ I will expect it will be humming with dozens of companies and people looking to form companies of all shapes and sizes.”
The iCenter was off to a tepid start on its own Facebook page, generating just seven “likes” four days after its official launch. Schwimmer said he was not disappointed by the slow start on Facebook, but said he and his staff planned to devote energies to putting the iCenter on the social media map.
“We haven”™t put enough effort into that,” he said. “There are just so many things going on here, (but) that is a very important (component). That is something we will expand on.”
Operated as a for-profit organization, but with possible plans to create a nonprofit affiliate, the iCenter is serving up a comprehensive menu for entrepreneurs, including a Stamford Startup Weekend just six weeks away for March 30 and April 1 sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship and several high-tech companies. Startup Weekends are designed to help entrepreneurs figure out if their ideas are viable.
On an ongoing basis, the building will feature meetings and seminars for the:
Ӣ Angel Investor Forum;
Ӣ Astia accelerator for women-led startups;
Ӣ Crossroads Venture Group;
Ӣ CT Digital Media & Film Academy;
Ӣ CT Digital Media Group;
Ӣ FairCo TEEM Meetup;
Ӣ Stamford Tech MeetUp; and
Ӣ other partners in industry and academia.
Initial sponsors include Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Robinson & Cole and Shipman & Goodwin.
An iLab accelerator program includes both designated and shared workspaces, meeting rooms, access to professional services, and mentoring, both generally via an entrepreneur-in-residence with Bill Gordon III the first to hold that title at the iCenter. Gordon is a director of PopTech and has advised a number of early stage companies.
In addition to Schwimmer, Patty Meagher, Ed Petner and Ted Yang are the founding managing partners running iCenter, with their collective background including entrepreneurship, private equity and venture capital, information technology and hedge funds.
