Incubator's chairman retires, saying it's 'time for new ideas'

Nearly 10 years after he joined the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator as its first CEO, Gary Markle has retired as chairman of the nonprofit organization that gives startup businesses both a home and the help they need to succeed.

Although he turned over the CEO’s post and day-to-day management of the incubator to Duncan Stewart in 2007, Markle has been the incubator’s chairman before recently deciding he had done what he could and “it was time for new ideas.” He will remain at the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corp., where he is vice president of local industry and supervises a program that helps local businesses stay and grow in the Springs.

Stewart said he expects to have a new chairman in place within two weeks, but said the incubator owes much to Markle.

“Without Gary, this city wouldn’t have an incubator,” Stewart said. “This incubator should have gone out of business 10 times already; funding has always been short, but Gary has kept it alive.”

A longtime local entrepreneur, Markle agreed in 2000 to head the incubator, which at the time had no building, little funding and no startup tenants. He brought a five-year effort to open the incubator to reality by rounding up more than $300,000 in funding from the city, state, EDC and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs as well as finding a home at UCCS, where it opened in 2001 — first in temporary offices and later a vacant building.

A month after opening, the incubator selected software startups XAware and Integrity PC Innovations as its first tenants. XAware became the incubator’s first “graduate” 18 months later, when it received $2.1 million in venture capital. The company was sold to Salt Lake City-based Sparxent this year for a undisclosed price. Integrity PC Innovations hasn’t filed an annual report with the state since 2006.

The incubator struggled in its early years, but was helped by UCCS agreeing to reduced rent payments and financial help from the city, EDC and other backers, Markle said.

By the end of 2004, the incubator had moved off-campus and housed eight companies that employed 65 people with a combined payroll of $4.5 million and had attracted $12.5 million in outside funding. A year later, the incubator added a homeland security focus, and in 2006 the organization used $900,000 from the federal and city governments as well as EDC to buy a 22,000-square-foot building at 3595 E. Fountain Blvd. to increase its space fivefold.

“Buying the building was a huge accomplishment, and we did it almost to the day when the business plan had called for owning a building — five years. That was a real milestone, and we were able to buy it for far less than it was worth because the seller only wanted enough to pay off its loan on the property,” Markle said. “Five or 10 years from now, I hope we are able to have twice as much space so we can build our client base.”

Markle said Stewart has “taken the incubator to a much higher level” by attracting new clients and expanding its programs for startup businesses, including a group that helps fund startups. The incubator now houses 10 companies with 40 employees. Eight companies have graduated from the incubator and nearly $38 million in outside investment has been raised by its tenants since the incubator opened.
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