Oregon City Applied Research Incubator (OCARI) Newsletter blog

Scott Sandler, Oregon Entrepreneur Network (OEN) & Oregon Angel Fund (OAF), suggested that I write a blog to keep people posted about OCARIs progress when I met with him yesterday. So taking his suggestion, here I go.

First what is OCARI?

OCARI is a non-profit public benefit/public charity to promote, foster, and mentor science-based start-ups in Oregon. To do this, a state-of-the-art fully equipped wet-lab business accelerator will be built in Oregon City. As envisioned, the facilities will be about 45,000 sq with 12 chemistry suites, 12 biology suites, and communal labs for both chemistry and biology. The suites are intended for funded start-ups, and the communal labs are for any scientists wishing to develop a prototype/proof-of-concept before seeking investors.

OCARI also has an educational aspect. By being near to Clackamas Community College (CCC) it will be practical to allow CCC's more advanced chemistry and biology students access to our equipment as part of coursework, and to assist them in finding internships with OCARI's incubated start-ups.

OCARI's business plan and related documents can be found here:
Oregon City Applied Research Incubator Business Plan

What was my motivation for founding OCARI?

The answer is simple: help Oregon's economy, create jobs for scientists, and make it easier for scientific entrepreneurs to start businesses (largely through providing space and greatly reducing the required capital). I'm not a saint, one of the entrepreneurs I want to help is myself.

I'll talk about my for profit business concept another time, but in the effort to get that business going I ran into several roadblocks:

1. Many people told me scientific research is [only] done in universities, and not a business model
2. One must have a prototype before anyone will invest
3. Investors don't want to buy scientific equipment or to renovate a building into a laboratory for an early stage start-up
4. The supply of wet-laboratory space in Oregon is extremely limited
5. The insistence that one have a credible founding team

With the exception of the fifth issue, OCARI is my solution to those roadblocks.

Over time I'll write about the first four issues as they relate to OCARI, but today I'll address the last issue.

The need for a credible founding team

While it is possible to start some businesses by on one's own, consulting firms being a good example, having a team is better. Founding teams instill confidence in the business' investors. Literally, it should be much harder for someone to take the money and run with a team running the business. Another advantage of a team is that its members ideally bring skills others lack and cover each other's weaknesses.

To me that is logic one can't argue with. Unfortunately, and especially if one is an introvert like myself, finding the right key people takes time.  In the spirit of boot strapping, if you have a business idea but don't have a prefect team yet, get out there and start your business anyway then network like hell to find the rest of your team. Remember "perfect is the enemy of good," and "if you wait for perfection, you'll wait forever."

What's next?

September 6th, 2014: Celsi Celebration (Multnomah Democrats) Funudraiser - a chance to network and promote OCARI

Septmeber 10th, 2014: Meet with Lita Colligan from Oregon Institute of Technology's (OIT) Office of Strategic Partnerships and Government Relations - networking and hopefully, gain OITs support.

September 15th, 2014: Oregon Progressive Science & Tech Caucus - to discuss issues facing science & tech in Oregon

September 24th, 2014: PositivePDX - more networking

Thank you for reading,
Troy Wahl, PhD Chemistry
Founder & President of Oregon City Applied Research Incubator, Inc.