PressCaptain of Industry: Good's incubator focuses on startup growthApril 4, 2010By Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette-JournalCaptain of Industry: Good's
incubator focuses on startup growth By Jason Hidalgo • jhidalgo@rgj.com • April 4, 2010 Being bitten not once, but twice, by an imploding startup typically is enough to make any aspiring businessperson gun-shy. But for Northern Nevada transplant Ky Good, two business failures during the dot-com bust era only served to fuel his entrepreneurial fire. As a successful engineer with various telecom firms in the '80s and '90s, Good traveled all over the world for companies such as Nortel, Alcatel and Advanced Fibre Communications. Once he decided to be involved in starting a business, however, Good's fortunes suddenly turned bad. "I came back (to the U.S. after five years in Tokyo and Singapore) in 1999 and joined a startup in San Jose, Calif.," Good said. "But that company imploded once the tech bubble went bust. So, I joined another startup in Southern California in 2002. Unfortunately, the company had a very similar result to the first one." While the failure of both companies hit Good hard, it also taught him valuable lessons about poor investment choices and working in a tough business environment. Good would take those lessons to heart when he moved to Reno in 2003 for a fresh start. Since then, he has had a hand in the formation of several ventures, including business incubator and venture company C4Cube, tech
consulting firm IN3, light armor developer 3D Armor Systems and eye-tracking tech company Eye- Com. C4Cube is an fitting endeavor for Good, given the setbacks he has experienced. A venture accelerator and business incubator, C4Cube focuses on helping aspiring entrepreneurs create viable startups -- and hopefully, avoid the same mistakes Good has seen in the past. "The failure of the two startups taught me that you can have good technology and still fail if poor investment choices and certain business conditions make a market no longer sustainable," Good said. "But just because you fail doesn't mean your life stops. You just need to learn from your failure, reassess yourself, look for other opportunities and continue growing." Nurturing growth These days, Good is heavily involved in nurturing Northern Nevada's technology sector, which includes his current stint on the advisory board of Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. The struggles of Nevada's gaming and tourism industries are a classic example of the need to diversify the state's economy, Good said. One way to diversify is by attracting and developing technology companies, whether it be firms that specialize in software, hardware, high-tech products or Internet-based services. Tech companies especially are attractive since they typically create quality, high-paying jobs. Many technology companies also have the ability to scale  Page 1
Page two.
up their business through manufacturing, which
leads to increased revenue and jobs, Good said. To grow the area's tech sector, however, Good think it's important not just to help develop young talent in the area but make sure there are enough opportunities available locally to keep that talent here. Northern Nevada, Good said, hasn't invested as much as it should on its education system, particularly as it pertains to tech. "In my view, you need to have both the education infrastructure and the business infrastructure present (for Northern Nevada's tech sector to be truly viable)," Good said. "Bridging the gap between those two is vital for the survival of the community and making Northern Nevada a much stronger and diverse community." Tied to bridging that gap is securing the capital needed to fuel startups, along with the programs necessary to educate tomorrow's entrepreneurs, Good said. Access to investment capital has always been an issue for Nevada, especially when compared to California. "The other piece to this puzzle is clearly the investment community," Good said. "We need to see a better array of qualified investors who want to invest time and money into business opportunities. But we also need to have the opportunities that will give investors a stronger rate of return." Leveraging assets Creating opportunities for investors is a key reason for the creation of C4Cube, which essentially is comprised of two companies. The "C4" part is a for-profit "venture accelerator" that focuses on the investment community. It has not yet made any investments but is at a stage of developing a venture fund. The "Cube," meanwhile, is a nonprofit business incubator that provides office space, mentoring and support for a select number of startups. Funding for the Cube comes from its founders, sponsors, grants, rent, services and events. So far, the "Cube" has 10 startups in its incubator since opening its doors in October 2009. It can potentially support a maximum of 25 companies. The goal is to have the startups "graduate" and become self-supporting businesses within 36 months, Good said. To do this, participants not only must have a great idea or technology, they also need to have great people. "A person can have a great idea or technology, but if that person has no experience making that idea into a business, then the chances for success are minimal," Good said. "Investors generally invest in people and not on the technology. A bad manager can make a good idea fail. A good manager can take a bad idea and make it successful." Good admits that C4Cube is just a small piece of the overall puzzle and that a lot of work still needs to be done to get Northern Nevada's tech sector where it needs to be. But Good said he thinks the ingredients also are present to make tech happen here. The only thing needed is the spark to light the fire. "Northern Nevada has great quality of life, a good tax environment, close community access to local politicians, and easy access to California, Seattle and other areas in the West," Good said. "We have tremendous strength here in the area for supporting a tech industry. We just need to leverage those as best as we can." Side Bar
Ky Good, managing director of C4Cube, is in the company's Reno office on March 18. (David B. Parker/RGJ) TIPS from GoodBe objective: You need to be able to take an objective look at your industry and your company and not buy into all the hype. Quote"Investors generally invest in people and not on the technology. A bad manager can make a good idea fail. A good manager can take a bad idea and make it successful." VITAEName: Ky Good |
iN3 Partners - building businesses around the world.
©copyright 2013 iN3 Partners, Inc. All rights reserved.
Site designed and hosted by Mustang Internet Services, Inc.