New Albany’s new business incubator, INC@8000, is less than four months old, but nearly filled to capacity. Fortunately, companies don’t have to be housed there to benefit from its services.
Located in the building at 8000 Walton Parkway, the incubator features 16 offices and eight cubicles. Currently all the offices, as well as seven of eight cubicles, are being rented. Amenities include two conference rooms that can each accommodate 12 to 15 people, a shared kitchen space, and a training room that can accommodate up to 20 people.
“We also have TechColumbus on site three to four days per week, the Ohio Small Business Development Center has a full slate of educational workshops, plus one staff person one day per week on site,” says Tom Guy, business development executive for INC@8000.
The incubator is also connecting startups to local community resources, such as venture capitalists and other potential investors, and a New Albany CIO Roundtable advisory group has been created to provide mentoring opportunities to INC@8000 tenants, he adds.
Read our interview with Guy to learn more about how the incubator is assisting area small businesses and entrepreneurs.
[The Metropreneur]: An entire floor is dedicated to startups. Tell us a bit more about that.
Tom Guy: This initiative is an organic approach to local economic development. All the companies here are startups and the philosophy is, if given access to the right resources to enable these startups to grow and prosper, they may ultimately choose to locate their mature business in the New Albany Business Campus.
[M]: Does a business have to be housed at INC@8000 to take advantage of its services?
TG: No. We just recently received a furniture donation, which will enable INC@8000 to begin conducting co-working days and promoting co-working events to get people out of their basements and dining rooms to come and spend the portion of their day with us. We have created a unique combination of Information Technology, product and service startups that genuinely collaborate together and we want more people to participate. We will be soliciting local restaurants to hopefully support these co-working days.
[M]: What makes INC@8000 different from other local business incubators?
TG: I believe it is the total community engagement model, meaning local government, local companies. We have the local school district involved, investors, and we have our neighboring communities involved as well. A sizable portion of the New Albany Business Campus is in Licking County, so we have reached out to them to be included in the overall initiative and they are very excited. We have local companies that are interested in supporting companies as they begin to grow out of our space and provide Phase 2 type oversight and mentoring.
[M]: TechColumbus has an office at INC@8000. Is there an emphasis on helping tech-based companies?
TG: TechColumbus has been working with New Albany for three-plus years on starting and growing tech starts in New Albany. Now, they are a key resource in the Innovate New Albany Initiative. The majority of our current INC@800 Tenants are tech companies or tech service providers, but we don’t want to limit this initiative to just tech companies. We are really about promoting “innovation” in our entrepreneurial community, in all sectors.
To learn more about INC@8000, visit InnovateNewAlbany.org.
