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Fredonia incubator serving its purpose

Business First - by David Bertola
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator is bursting at the seams with people, looking to add more this summer and is ahead of its original business plan to increase employment sooner.

Incubator director Robert Fritzinger said the facility, which welcomed its first tech company tenant last April, is ahead of its business plan on three metrics.• Number of companies in the building is more than a year ahead of plan.

Last July, he said the goal was five companies in the building. There are 14 there now, he said, which puts the incubator two years ahead of the business model. Plans call for increasing that to 16 tenants by July. And with an abundance of applicants, he said reaching that number is realistic.

• The amount of floor space rented is also ahead of schedule.

“There are a couple things that can happen where we can get substantially ahead,” Fritzinger said, adding that floor space rented is important because it translates to cash flow. Fritzinger estimates two-thirds of the incubator’s 22,000 square feet will be rented out.

• Employment figures there are ahead of what was predicted.

“My stakeholders care the most about employment, that we are creating jobs,” he said. A natural by-product of having more companies there, Fritzinger said, “The importance of getting a large number of companies early can not be understated. You look out, and the odds are that we will have a higher number of people working for that group, and my goal for this July is 16 companies. I still have a few things to do to get there, but I am confident we can.”

Fritzinger said the original plan called for five companies creating around 200 jobs in the community in a four-year period.

“I would rather start with 10 companies than five if my goal is to get to create 200 new jobs,” he said.

In the year since it opened, Fritzinger said it’s common for staffs at the 14 companies to collaborate with each other. One recruited another to set up shop there.

“There’s a vibrant little community developing, and these guys spend a lot of time together,” Fritzinger said. “A lot of it is consultative.”

Companies like TexTivia and SellingHive that work on online social media products, he said, “have a lot to contribute to each other, and there’s a layer of service in the building that’s ad hoc, people helping their friends.”

Fritzinger said he is excited about the coming months and years when the next wave of companies comes into the building. The plan was to have the average tenant stay three years.

“These companies will be young, and there will be a youth movement in this building,” he said. “There will be a buzz that gets into the building if we get a wave of young creative kids in it.”