Business Incubator Series: John Richards, BoomStartup, Provo, Utah (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

John: So, both years, one team in 2010 and one team in 2011, turned us down after we gave them the invitation.

Irina: Why do you think they turned you down? >>>

Business Incubator Series: John Richards, BoomStartup, Provo, Utah (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

John: We have about 50 top mentors who are listed on our website. Sometimes they provide only a few hours during the summer. Sometimes, they’ll come in and provide four hours every week because they fall in love with the program. They do it all free. >>>

Business Incubator Series: John Richards, BoomStartup, Provo, Utah (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: How do you feel about bootstrapping of a business?

John: Personally, I think you should bootstrap for as long as you possibly can, as long as it doesn’t hinder your growth opportunities.

>>>

Business Incubator Series: John Richards, BoomStartup, Provo, Utah (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

John: So, Bazari contacted the top 15 microfinance institutions in India and met with 13 of the 15 to offer them their online loan reporting platform.

[Bazari offers SMS interface to manage reporting and tracking of lending and collection of the micro-borrowers accounts.] >>>

Business Incubator Series: John Richards, BoomStartup, Provo, Utah (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

John: I took me a couple years or a year and a half to research and decide what to do. I was going to launch in 2009 but the economy … you know, you start these things for a summer program in February or March. >>>

Business Incubator Series: John Richards, BoomStartup, Provo, Utah (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to John Richards, co-founder and co-managing partner at BoomStartup, which is a mentorship-driven accelerator in Provo, Utah.

Irina: Hi, John. Where are you originally from?

John: I grew up in the Seattle area. Actually, I was born in Pennsylvania, and then my parents moved back to Seattle. I grew up in Seattle and had a long career in Seattle until I moved to Utah for the teaching position. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Mark Lieberman, Business Technology Center of Los Angeles County, California (Part 7)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What kind of support do you offer to your entrepreneurs with funding?

Mark: I mentioned before that Pasadena Angels are a resonance to our incubator. They do their screenings here. They do their due diligence sessions here. They do the prescreening sessions here.

We also have a special loan program geared for our clients, where they are eligible – again, the key word is eligible – to receive up to $200,000 in loan money. We are currently lending at 6% fixed, and for a startup company that’s very, very inexpensive. And of course we are looking at collateral and personal guarantees on those loans. The process is very similar to an SBA loan. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Mark Lieberman, Business Technology Center of Los Angeles County, California (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Mark: Actually, Gold Star started by thinking that [they were] going to be an employee benefits company, but they rapidly realized that they can only grow so far in doing that, and opened up to the public and that just took off. So, they did, in a sense, an industry pivot. >>>