Business Incubator Series: Jerry Creighton, Enterprise Development Center, New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Jerry: One of the areas that works well for us is I have very strong networking here. One of the reasons I have those networking sessions is so that people come in, and they actually sit down and talk to each other. Because of that, they might learn that they have skills that others may need.

I also do some brokering. For instance, I have a guy who’s a software guy. I think he works for about six different companies here now. Because we have this community of networking people, I keep introducing people to others, and they all work for each other.

I have a guy who’s a chemist. He’s working for about five or six different companies, that I’m aware of, right here in the center, doing subcontract work. If the entrepreneurs don’t want to buy equipment to do a particular study, they can go down the hall and this guy already has it. That’s an additional option. I work the networking thing within the center, and also I bring in people from outside the center who can help out.

Irina: What are your metrics for success?

Jerry: I measure the amount of progress that companies make against their milestones, the number of jobs created, and how many companies I’ve attracted to the center. For example, I’m a National Business Incubation Association, Soft Landings designated company. The NBIA has a program that designates incubators that help offshore foreign companies get established in the United States.

[The NBIA Soft Landings International Incubator designation recognizes programs that excel in helping nondomestic companies do business in the incubator’s country. In 2010, sixteen incubators from eight countries have earned this designation since the program’s inception in 2005].

One of the things I’m able to do is bring in off-shore companies. I have companies here from Portugal, companies from Israel. I have companies from China, Korea, all different places.

Irina: How does it work? What is the process?

Jerry: You have to have special programs to help foreign companies. They have unique situations. They may need legal services that are unique to understanding how to operate in the United States and be able to translate from their home companies to here. They need sometimes simple things, like how to get a driver’s license. I have an entire list of things we offer for companies that wouldn’t know how to start a business in the United States. Some need assistance in getting here. Those are the programs I’m talking about.

Irina: How does it work? What role does the NBIA play in this?

Jerry: The NBIA usually doesn’t get involved in referring the companies that I’m aware of. We get referrals from a variety of places. I had one company that came through the mayor of Newark. The mayor said, “Oh, we can help you. I’ll send you over to EDC. They can help you get established.” So, they’re here.

I get referrals from companies that just do website searches. I get referrals from organizations like the Economic Development Authority (EDA). They come from all different areas. They become part of my portfolio.

Irina: Would you share some success stories?

Jerry: Yes. We have quite a few [companies] that are developing great things. A lot of the companies that leave us disappear because they’re acquired or merged. It’s hard to track them. They become a department of something else or whatever. We have a lot of good companies working on some technologies that are well noted.

I’ve got a company, iSpeech. It’s a text-to-voice, voice-to-text capability. They have a drive safely program that if you’re driving your car, you can answer your e-mails or phone messages in a variety of languages, a variety of dialects. Those are some of the kinds of programs that we develop here.

Irina: On average, how long does a company stay in your incubator?

Jerry: It depends on the technology. A bioscience company may take many years. A tech company, usually they’re a lot faster getting started. If a company is still developing a new product or opening up new territories, I consider them still developing and still being incubated. I don’t have set time frame for when people have to leave. I see no reason for that.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Business Incubator Series: Jerry Creighton, Enterprise Development Center, New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark
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