Refining the market, retooling the message, reshaping the strategy, reviewing the overall approach – those are the objectives every other Tuesday afternoon when the OSU Advantage Accelerator’s clients give presentations to each other and a group of volunteer mentors from the business community.
The winter 2015 cohort, its third, began its five-month course at the Accelerator the first week of January. Under the co-direction of John Turner and Mark Lieberman and with the assistance of student interns, the Accelerator works with entrepreneurs from Oregon State and the mid-Willamette Valley at large to commercialize their innovations; it focuses on high-growth, traded-sector startups and early-stage businesses.
On Feb. 17, the current cohort presented for the third time – on the way to a total of 10 – as the entrepreneurs tune up their plans and their pitches.
“This group is just getting rolling,” Turner said. “To really appreciate the progress they’ll make, you need to see the evolution over time. Inevitably, you want to compare this cohort to the last, but this one is doing well. They’re making good progress, as good or better progress as the last cohort.”
Six companies comprise the latest group: Beauty Leaf, Inc.; Bridgeway Wellness; Danio Discovery; E-MSion, Northwest Research Laboratories, Inc., and Pure Living.
Beauty Leaf deals with plant-based skin care products, and Bridgeway’s goal is to operate a clinic for tissue regenerative therapies. Danio’s technology involves using zebrafish for pharmaceutical toxicology assessments, E-MSion has come up with an add-on for mass spectrometers, and Northwest Research Laboratories has developed a cleaning-audit product for facilities such as hotels and hospitals. Pure Living’s idea is a website that collects data from different resources regarding the potentially toxic effects of certain chemical compounds on expectant mothers.
“Demo Day is the end point of the process we’re going through now,” Turner said, referring to a June 25 event at which the entrepreneurs will present to an audience at Corvallis’ Majestic Theatre. “We’ll talk about their pitches, work on their pitches, work with them individually, go through the pitch, provide feedback a little at a time, go through the whole process.”
The OSU Advantage Accelerator is part of the South Willamette Valley Regional Accelerator Network, known as RAIN, created by the Legislature in 2013. RAIN has locations in Corvallis and Eugene, and those cities, along with Albany and Springfield, are partners in the network as well.
For more information, visit http://advantage.oregonstate.edu/advantage-accelerator.
