Incubator providing help for energy entrepreneurs

The Colorado Springs Technology Incubator is looking for some high-energy entrepreneurs with some low energy ideas.

The incubator won a state grant to provide business training and support to unemployed people with an entrepreneurial idea in the fields of renewable energy or energy efficiency.

Ric Denton, the incubator’s president and CEO, said the plan is to provide a “boot camp” version of the incubator’s regular program that helps entrepreneurs with everything from business plans to marketing. That process usually lasts one to two years, but this program will be condensed into about six months, he said, with the incubator working with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center.

The grant does not provide start-up or working capital, only the support needed to go from an idea to a workable business plan, Denton said.

“Our job is to try to identify companies that truly could make a difference based upon their idea and where they are in the process and jump in and try to provide this training to them,” Denton said.

The state is willing to cast a pretty wide net for what qualifies as a renewable or energy efficient business idea, he said. For example, Denton said, a more energy efficient means of manufacturing asphalt might qualify.

“Our challenge is trying to find people with truly good ideas,” Denton said. “We have no interest in providing training to people who at the end of the day are not going to be successful.”

The Colorado Springs incubator was one of three similar institutions statewide to win the grants, from the  Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. It received $99,000, paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to run the program over the next 18 months. The program is open to applicants from anywhere in the state, although Denton plans to focus his search on southern Colorado.

The program’s goal is to launch 30 successful entrepreneurs statewide, although Denton said he expects the incubators will have to train many more than that to come up with 30 viable businesses.
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Looking for energy entrepreneurs
The Colorado Springs Technology Incubator received a state grant to provide business training and support to unemployed entrepreneurs looking to launch a business in the renewable energy or energy efficiency fields. To learn more or apply, go to cstionline.org, or call Mary Fox at 685-7877, extension 100.