Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator Ready for Prime Time
Stable of promising new companies well-positioned to attract savvy investors and forward-looking business development partners
Author’s Note
My name is Michael Ares, owner of MDA Consulting, LLC, a strategic corporate positioning firm that focuses on raising the visibility and reputations of promising start-ups, established multinational corporations, and leading institutes of higher education in the minds of those people and organizations that matter most to their success. In addition to my 40-year history of helping form, finance and promote successful start-ups and leading global enterprises in Silicon Valley, Dallas, New York City and Atlanta to the tune of billions of dollars in equity and debt financings, I’ve also been privileged to have worked with Auburn University, the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, and the Harbert College of Business to help raise their visibility across key target audiences nationwide.
Recently, Ward Swift, one of Auburn University’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Communications Director at the New Venture Accelerator (NVA), asked me to conduct an objective assessment of the NVA’s vision and capabilities and offer strategic recommendations for expanding their external communications footprint and reach – particularly among potential investors. After working with Ward over the past five years, I consider him to be one of the very best strategic communicators at Auburn, so naturally, I jumped at the opportunity.
Over the next 12-months, I will be reporting on what I find from an objective perspective to discover and illuminate the character and value of the start-ups, experienced business leaders, entrepreneurs-in-residence and all the others who make the New Venture Accelerator at Auburn University tick.
My charge is to be candid and forthcoming in both assessing the capabilities of the NVA as well as identifying the challenges it faces in expanding investor and business engagement with all the NVA has to offer. I intend to do just that.
I encourage you to join us on this journey by offering your questions, comments, and expert insight along the way.
Overview
Auburn University’s New Venture Accelerator is home to a portfolio of diligently vetted, high-potential start-ups founded by Auburn students, faculty and local area entrepreneurs. With 7,000 square feet of prime office space housed within the Research and Innovation Center at Auburn Research Park (“The Park”), Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator serves the needs of emerging new business enterprises that have progressed beyond the proof-of-concept stage and are embarking on their journey to entrepreneurial business success.
For start-ups accepted into the New Venture Accelerator, that adventure takes a variety of paths, but one thing they all share is the need for funding. And the first step in securing that funding is visibility – visibility for their own company’s prospects as well as for the extraordinary entrepreneurial ecosystem their New Venture Accelerator home provides.
Aspirational Goals Meet Reality
Literally every professional engagement I’ve taken on over the years begins with the exact same claim by senior leadership: “We’re not getting the recognition we deserve for all we’re doing.”
Not surprisingly, there’s usually at least one good reason for the gap between what start-ups, emerging companies, higher education institutions and multinationals alike think about themselves and how the rest of the world sees them. More often than not, after researching an organization, their competitors and the markets they address, I end up reporting back to them that this gap in perception vs. reality is at least somewhat justified. My typical response to what I find is: “Well, you’re really not doing all that much to differentiate yourself – or you’re not effectively communicating what you are doing – to warrant the high level of recognition you seek.”
I expect that my research into Auburn’s NVA and the other entrepreneurial initiatives at The Park will uncover similarly high levels of unrealized positioning potential as well as a clear path towards expanding and improving the positioning of the NVA in the minds of investors, strategic business partners and others beyond campus walls.
To be clear, visibility alone isn’t enough – not nearly. “You don’t get a second chance at a first impression” applies to start-up venture financing efforts, and this mantra drives much of what the NVA does to help prepare NVA-resident start-ups to pitch their new business ideas, value propositions and potential for success. But this tremendous level of guidance and mentorship in pitching investors appears, at first blush, to be only the beginning of the NVA story.
The Adventure Beckons
As I embark on this mission of discovery about what makes Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator tick, it is already becoming clear that this series of stories needs to illuminate the extraordinary people at the NVA.
Yes, world-class facilities matter, and Auburn has built some of the very best in college-based entrepreneurial ecosystems. Ties to Auburn’s highly ranked faculty and educational resources matter. And access to Auburn’s broad-ranging, internationally recognized research matters as well – a lot.
But above all, it appears from my initial conversations with Ward, Lou Bifano and a handful of resident NVA start-ups and graduates that the most valuable asset of Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator will likely prove to be the NVA’s extraordinarily valuable human capital – the expertise, drive and real-world entrepreneurial experience of its leadership team – that sets it apart.
Performance Matters
While people matter, results based on start-up performance matter even more – especially to current and potential investors. Auburn’s NVA has helped nurture a wealth of entrepreneurial success stories ranging from business plan contest winners – including the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition – to NVA alums securing multi-millions in external funding.
This year alone, Auburn NVA start-ups have closed critical financings that range from initial seed financing of $1 million to successful Series A capital raises of $15 million for each of two Auburn NVA-based emerging industry leaders, Yellow Card and Flashtract.
The Path Forward
I will begin, as appropriate, with the people behind the NVA mission – Lou Bifano and Scott McGlon of the NVA, Cary Chandler and Bill Dean from The Park, Joe Hanna from the Harbert College of Business, and many others who have contributed to the NVA’s success to date.
When all is said and done, I will be offering both strategic and tactical recommendations on how to leverage my findings to expand the visibility of Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator beyond campus walls and the State of Alabama, with the primary objective of introducing providers of seed funding, second stage venture capital, Series A, B and C financing to the tremendous, yet-to-be-fully-appreciated companies and talent resident at Auburn’s NVA.
A Call to Action
If you are an early-stage venture investor focused on providing promising, well-vetted start-ups with the capital and expertise necessary to help drive their success – consider working with us.
And if you are an Auburn alum with entrepreneurial success to share, connections to new venture financing sources, or have relationships that might help initiate and grow strategic partnership engagements – we want to hear from you. Please share your thoughts and pose any questions you may have by contacting Lou Bifano, Director of the New Venture Accelerator, at ljb0022@auburn.edu.
The New Venture Accelerator is jointly managed by the Harbert College of Business and the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation.
