Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 33 S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 9 F O C U S S TA R T U P S / E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P "We have a very educated workforce," MacKay says. "I've hired both from the University of Maine and Husson. Our new chemical engineer just graduated from the University of Maine." She's also found the local workforce is loyal because they want to be in the region not just for a job, but for the lifestyle. "at benefits a company like mine," she says. "I can invest in training. It's not trivial to make what we make. So you need people to commit." Mini Silicon Valley Marie Hayes and Ali Abedi, co-found- ers of Activas Diagnostics, are UMaine professors. "UpStart is a modern-day kind of Silicon Valley, which was a spinoff of Stanford University," says Hayes. ey moved into UpStart last year, after receiving a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research Award to bring its patented product — a fitted mattress undersheet instrumented with 16 wireless sensors — to market as a new approach to diagnostics and monitoring in early- stage neurological disease. e move allowed them to form a commercial entity and provided space for research and development, as well as routine busi- ness functions like video-conferencing. As it was for MacKay, entrepre- neurship was new to them. Hayes par- ticipated in SBIR commercialization training that complemented coaching provided by Veena Dinesh, director of business incubation at the University of Maine's Foster Center for Student Innovation, who also serves as an UpStart business advisor. Hayes appreciates UpStart's inter- active environment. "Other people there have the same problems I have," she says. "I'm exposed to strategies that other people use to kick-start their companies." Other benefits? UpStart's informa- tion technology capability, laboratory infrastructure, storage and a base of student interns. For students look- ing toward spin-offs of their own work, UpStart adds credibility to their resumes, Hayes notes. But UMaine isn't the only generator of tenants. Finnemore was working out of his basement in Old Town to get Box of Maine off the ground. Launched in 2017, Box of Maine allows customers to custom-order Maine-made items. He moved operations to UpStart last summer to take advantage of coaching he'd need to scale up. "I'm getting lots of opportunities to talk with other businesses, create standard procedures" and figure out things like branding and marketing. Michael Lessard, founder of WingsReality EDU, an aviation train- ing company, was pleased to find a per- manent base for his growing enrollment plus high-performance online capability for online instruction. Challenges Not that there aren't challenges. "Funding can be struggle," says Milan. "We have to be at about 90% occupancy in order to break even on our costs." A capital campaign covered the creation of the two labs last year. But generally, funding to run UpStart comes from lease income. Without full occupancy this summer, the center was barely covering costs. "It's hard, when you're dealing with startup companies," he says. "You can't make it cost-prohibitive for them to be there. So a challenge we have is, How do you we continue to stay open and provide services? We've been successful in doing that by partnering with the University of Maine." Overall, Milan says, UpStart is a great fit for Orono. "Our economic engine is really made up of smaller entrepreneurial compa- nies and individual employees of larger companies that are located elsewhere," Milan says. "e UpStart Center pro- vides them with quality space that they need to do work that might not be best to do on on the kitchen table. It's not about creating a company that's going to employ a thousand people. It's about cre- ating a thousand businesses that might have one or two people. at's the suc- cess we're seeing. It's creating jobs that provide a livable wage for folks to live in a place where they want to be." Laurie Schreiber, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at lschreiber @ mainebiz.biz South Portland — Making all things possible. Contact any of us about education and career opportunities in South Portland. Partners in entrepreneurial education, work force development, and economic opportunity! Workforce Development 2 Fort Road, South Portland (207) 741-5951 / workforce@smccme.edu Office of Community Partnerships 130 Wescott Road, South Portland (207) 773-5629 x3432 / community@spsd.org Economic Development Department 496 Ocean Street - P.O. Box 9422, South Portland (207) 347-4125 / business@southportland.org Where Education, Business and Community Come Together It's not about creating a company that's going to employ a thousand people. It's about creating a thousand businesses that might have one or two people. — David Milan Orono office of community development

• Cover