Developing and marketing a co-work space for Launch Terre Haute is about building an overall ecosystem that allows entrepreneurs to flourish and grow, rather than target individual companies to receive financial incentives.
That’s the premise of the book — “The Rainforest: The secret to building the next Silicon Valley” by Victor W. Hwang — John Wechsler, founder of Launch Fishers, Monday told a small group that included members of the Terre Haute Tomorrow Image Committee, a group that aims to create a 10-year success plan for the city.
“What is certain is if you don’t invest in this type of ecosystem, it is a lot harder to see innovation spur inside your community,” Wechsler said.
He referred to Indianapolis-based companies such as ExactTarget, a provider of digital marketing automation software, and Angie's List, a subscription supported business review company, as examples of innovative firms created in the past seven years. Over 14 to 15 such companies, that totals about $4.5 billion in revenues, Wechsler said.
“Those companies create entrepreneurial capital to go out and do it again. Until we get to the point where we have that happening regularly, it is up to us as leaders of the community, the universities, the government and nonprofits vested to see this happen. We have to make a concerted effort to make this type of culture of innovation take root,” Wechsler said.
One success for Launch Fishers is BlueBridge Digital, a mobile app developer with 20 employees, which plans to create 199 new jobs in the next nine years in Fishers — a rapid-growth suburb of Indianapolis.
David Hunt, David Dubree and Shelley Klingerman are the initial members of Launch Terre Haute, using Launch Fishers, which opened in Nov. 2012, as its model. The idea is to capture innovative ideas from students at Indiana State University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, along with other higher education facilities, to spur developers, designers and makers of small companies that remain in Terre Haute/Vigo County.
Unlike Fishers, Launch Terre Haute hopes to first raise $50,000 to further develop its co-work space on the second floor of 683 Wabash Ave., Suite 203, Hunt said.
Wechsler said efforts should first target a base membership of 30 people, followed by multi-year corporate sponsorships.
“First get 30 members, each at about $400, which will raise $12,000, then you go after the remaining $38,000 through (multi-year) sponsorships,” he said.
It’s a much smaller model than used for Launch Fishers.
The town of Fishers invested $350,000 to develop a shared office space, taking over a vacant ground floor of the Hamilton East Library. The 16,000-square-foot space got a $225,000 overhaul, which included high-speed, large-capacity Internet, with the remaining $125,000 used as seed money for the first year of Launch Fishers.
Launch Fishers operates as a nonprofit governed by a five-member board. It has an executive director, Tony Monteleone, who also attended the meeting, a community manager and two other employees.
Robert English, a professor of electronics and computer engineering and dean of ISU’s College of Technology, pointed to ISU’s work on unmanned aircraft. English said unmanned autonomous systems or drones are projected to grow into a $110 billion per year industry in the next 11 years, employing more than 100,000 people.
English recommended that Launch Terre Haute, once established, create student competitions to resolve business-world problems.
Norm Lowery, chief executive officer/president of First Financial Bank and a member of Terre Haute Tomorrow, said the concept of Launch Terre Haute “is an absolute remarkable idea, and we need to do it because our community needs to be in that arena. We have a lot of bright people in our universities and those who work and live in our community and this could be nurtured and grow into something very significant,” Lowery said.
Beth Tevlin, executive director of the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, said Launch Terre Haute “is a great way for entrepreneurs to have a place to work and make local connections. That is what much of our work day is, our connections to each other. Launch Terre Haute can help connect those people who have ideas that could become future employers within our community.”
Tevlin said Launch Terre Haute can apply for a grant through the foundation, which if approved, would provide some funds to help launch the co-space project.