Wing and a prayer

Facility works to help start-up companies hatch a future

Dick King’s chuckle hasn’t quite turned to clucking, but he’s enjoying his role as mother hen of Missoula’s newest business incubator.

By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian

His nest on the north bank of the Clark Fork River already has one egg. Two more are expected by October. And within two years, the new Montana Technology Enterprise Center hopes to have 12 to 15 start-up companies churning out products.

MonTEC, as it’s known, will show off its space at an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday.

"We don’t receive a penny of support from the state or the University of Montana," said King, who also is director of the Missoula Economic Development Corp. "We’re not a subsidized facility. This won’t prevent people from failing. It just gives them a better chance to succeed."

Businesses must be poised to create a new product, and have potential customers waiting, to qualify for space in MonTEC. It won’t be available to start-up professional services, such as an architect’s office. Nor will it lease space to already established business ideas like call centers.

Tenant No. 1 is Purity Systems Inc., a company that grew out of UM chemistry professor Ed Rosenberg’s work to develop a resin that can remove heavy metals from mine wastes.

"The incubator facility allows us to make larger quantities of material, so we can test it on an industrial scale," Rosenberg said. "They provided the basic facilities and setup to make a safe laboratory environment. PSI has 11 employees. This basic start-up company has already created several jobs."

And those jobs range from a $30,000-a-year lab technician to a research director making $54,000. Rosenberg said UM’s labs are large enough to learn if an idea has scientific validity. But something larger is needed to move from a test tube to a truckload. MonTEC will serve as the research space while PSI works out the technical bugs of producing its resin in commercial quantities.

Incubator companies are allowed two to three years to reach that point, King said. They must pay rent in MonTEC, at rates comparable to the rest of the Missoula market. But the facility provides office services such as telephone and data lines, building management and the MEDC’s resources for business development.

King said his staff would help ensure new companies kept up with their tax and licensing paperwork. They would also pass on information about new grants, programs, training sessions and other assistance entrepreneurs need to move forward.

In addition, the UM School of Business is ready to provide interns who can pick up business experience while helping companies crunch numbers or perform other chores. King said using MonTEC to exploit UM research discoveries had a double benefit: It could create new jobs for Missoula while helping UM increase its $60 million base of annual research grant funding.

MonTEC operates out of the former Sheehan Majestic grocery warehouse on East Broadway. MEDC’s offices have already moved there, and PSI’s facility is under construction. Other companies under consideration now are computer software makers and a "fiber hotel" that would help other businesses set up short-term Internet and communications networks. A second phase of office suites is under way.

On Wednesday, the Missoula County commissioners granted MonTEC an exemption from its county property taxes, worth $11,443 this year. King said he will also ask the city and school district for tax exemptions, bringing the total to $20,592.

MEDC is funding MonTEC through grants and contributions. King said he expects the project to run in the red for a few years. But he also expects it to become self-supporting. New start-up companies will be invited in as the first-round companies become ready to stand alone.

"The polite term is to ‘graduate’ them," King said. "But it means ‘kick them out of the nest.’ "

Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at [email protected].