When the tech buzz was at high pitch a few years ago, business incubators - offering low rent and mentoring for struggling startups - were all the rage.
Now the term du jour is accelerator, and the Tampa Bay area is ready to open its first.
STAR Technology Enterprise Center has 20,000 square feet of space in the Young-Rainey Science, Technology and Research Center in Largo, seed funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and Pinellas County, and space for about 10 tenants.
So far, it's got one: Imaginail, a company that has developed and marketed a machine that prints customized designs on fingernails.
To ignite some interest in the center, which will offer below-market rates and light manufacturing space, STAR TEC is holding an open house Sept. 15. Besides touring the facility, visitors will have the chance to hear war stories from three local entrepreneurs.
Dan Behuniak, founder of DSJ Companies; Nancy Preis, chief executive of Sensor Systems; and Mark Swanson, managing director of Lane Five Ventures, will each have 20 minutes to tell their tales in a pseudo speed-dating format. Suzie Boland, chairwoman of STAR TEC's advisory committee, said she's arranged the timed talks, which will be held in separate rooms, to put a little zing in the presentations.
"This is a more intimate way to interact directly," she said. "A panel of speakers is kind of boring."
Boland, who was one of the founders of TechVillage, the incubator at University of Tampa that closed in 2002 after a year of operation, said two years has made a big difference in the pool of potential tenants.
"Back then, you couldn't turn your head without running into somebody with a business plan," she said. "Now it's a lot more difficult to find people with good ideas and some traction. But in a way it's good. The weeding-out process may have been done by the marketplace."
More information about STAR TEC and the event Sept. 15 is available at the accelerator's Web site, www.startecflorida.com
