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V O L . X X I I N O. X X S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 6 20 I n 2012, designer and artist Colin Sullivan-Stevens needed a bag for himself. He was regularly riding his bike between his home and studio in Portland. He found backpacks incon- venient and messenger bags unstable and painful on the shoulder. He wanted a bag that held a lot, was easy to access and was comfortable and stable enough to carry around town without wearing him out. So he designed one from scraps of an old movie screen. e goal was a design he could position on his back for riding then, without unbuckling, reposition at his side for walking. It would be comfortable even when full. It wouldn't shift when biking. He came up with a design, inex- pertly sewed it together and went on his merry way. As it turned out, that bag was the most comfortable one he'd ever used. It carried plenty of stuff , much like a tote or messenger bag. But the weight didn't stress his muscles. And the bag didn't shift, even when bicycling. " e 'Aha!' moment for me was when I was doing dishes and I still had the bag on, and I was like, 'Oh, yeah!' I forgot I had it on,'" he recalls. Sullivan-Stevens made more bags and friends tried them. Reviews were posi- tive. So in 2013, he applied for a patent on the design, formed a brand called Anchorpak, and gradually has been bootstrapping the business. Resources are available for start-ups ose Aha! moments are a big part of Maine's strong start-up activity. And they're why Maine has so many resources for supporting start-ups, says Stephen Lovejoy, director of the Maine Small Business Development Centers in Portland. "Maine has a tremendous amount of services out there, and a tremen- dous number of funding resources," Lovejoy says, citing MSBD, SCORE, the Maine Technology Institute, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, Coastal Enterprises Inc. and Greater Portland Economic Development Corp., among others. He also mentions the help librar- ies can provide in helping to research fac- tors such as demographics and competi- tors a start-up might want to consider. At MSBD, he says, "We work with companies from startups and helping people develop business plans and do research so they have better chance of success, to older companies in need of fi nancial restructuring. I'm working now with a company just moving here from Massachusetts that's connected to the biotech fi eld. ey see Maine as a great place to locate. And one of the things they noted is the assistance and the dif- ferent players all contributing to that. I think more and more people are seeing Maine as a good place for business." MTI grant fuels Anchorpak Sullivan-Stevens is already familiar with Maine as a good place for busi- ness. A Freeport native, he's a long-time designer and studio artist who co-owned a business called Field, in Portland, creating custom wall paintings and restoring murals. Field closed several years ago, and he's continued to pur- sue custom design and fi ne art at his downtown Portland workshop. For his new business, he took advantage of just the kind of resources Lovejoy mentions. In March, a Maine Technology Institute TechStart matching grant of $4,563 went to develop a business plan with a mentor from SCORE's Portland branch. e plan identifi es outdoor and family use as top mar- kets, and cites L.L.Bean as a model for creating well-design products that "capture a piece of Maine." In June, MTI awarded a matching Seed Grant of $7,320, to fund a bio- metric study conducted by the Motion Analysis Laboratory in the University of New England's Department of Physical erapy. Tests will use state- of-the-art equipment including a 3D motion capture system, force plates and electromyography. Anchorpak's functionality is based on even distribution of weight through ergonomic conformity with the body's own shape — a "mirrored symmetry," as Sullivan-Stevens says — thus remov- ing the stress of weight from hands, shoulders, backs and necks. e goal is to obtain objective measurements P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Comfort in a bag Portland entrepreneur designs messenger bag he'd use F O C U S of services out there, and a tremen- dous number of funding resources," Lovejoy says, citing MSBD, SCORE, the Maine Technology Institute, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, Coastal Colin Sullivan-Stevens founder of Anchorpak, couldn't fi nd a bag that was comfortable when he was biking to work, so he created one. Now, in the past year, he's sold 2,000.

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