An Interview with Mark Lieberman, Ex. Dir. Business Technology Center of LA County

Recently Juan Felipe Vallejo, CTC’s project coordinator, interviewed Mark Lieberman, the executive director of the Business Technology Center of Los Angeles County (BTC), the largest technology incubator in California. It is owned and operated by the Community Development Commission, an agency of Los Angeles County. BTC’s mission is to assist early stage and seed technology companies in their efforts to grow and prosper.

What are some of BTC’s services?
The BTC is a 40,000 square foot, secure facility located in an enterprise zone in Altadena. It provides a complete infrastructure for young technology companies, including below-market rent, Internet and phone services, conference rooms and other facilities to enable entrepreneurs to directly focus on developing their businesses. We even have furniture to lend. Our services are finely tuned to support our technology entrepreneurs. Some of the most outstanding aspects of our program services are that we provide a team of expert mentors for our companies. We also provide access to capital through a County loan program, entrée to both the Pasadena Angels and the Tech Coast Angels, and to venture capitalists. The BTC has an equipment leasing program. We hold workshops and training programs, and we have a large referral network of superb service providers that will offer special discounts to our community. We also leverage our Los Angeles County purchasing power to provide significant discounts on our services. Our website is www.labtc.org

What kinds of companies are eligible for the B.T.C. and how are these companies selected?
We accept only technology companies as tenants and affiliates. Most of our tenants are accomplished researchers with prior work at Universities and Federal Laboratories such as USC, Caltech and JPL. The admission process is by application. Our general criteria are fivefold: 1)the entrepreneur must be a technology company either engaged in developing new technology or using existing technology in a new and unique way; 2) the entrepreneur must have a business plan; 3) we have a strong preference for product rather than service; 4) because we do charge rent, the entrepreneur must have some financial capability; and 5) most importantly, we must be able to help the entrepreneur through our resources.

What kind of support do you receive from the Angels and V.C.s?
I am a member of both the Pasadena Angels and the Tech Coast Angels. The Pasadena Angels conduct their pre-screening, screening, and first due diligence meetings at the BTC. We have members from both Angel organizations on our Advisory Committee and in our mentoring committee. You will find an Angel investor at the BTC on almost any given day.

What kind of programs do you have in conjunction with local universities?
We work closely with a number of local Universities because internships are important to the life and vitality of the BTC. We are currently in an expansion mode. We are working to bring our programs to other areas of Los Angeles. We expect to initiate Affiliate programs in the Santa Clarita Valley and in Monrovia within a few months.

In addition to being the director of the incubator, you are also an instructor of technical entrepreneurship at the Marshall School of Business, what do you think is the biggest challenge for students thinking about becoming entrepreneurs?
Becoming an entrepreneur is an exciting challenge in this economic environment. There are many new and engaging ideas for businesses. Many are feasible with good market opportunities. The single most important attribute for entrepreneurs is the capacity to execute. Entrepreneurs with the fortitude to continue with limited resources and significant risks are those that will succeed.

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University-wide Business Plan Competition Qualifies 40 Teams

The business plan competition is in full swing and 40 teams have met the initial qualifications to compete. The teams come from the schools of business, engineering, social work, education, cinema, and the health sciences campus and include graduates, undergraduates, faculty, and researchers. Competing for a $25,000 cash prize, the entrants were required to certify that they are not currently in business with their concept and that they intend to start the business within six months of receiving the prize.

The participants spent a Saturday morning on Feb 5 with Professors Allen, Belasco, Crookston, Henry, and Sankey of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The purpose was to give the entrants a taste of how their business plans will be judged. One by one the teams came to the front of Edison Hall and presented their business concepts to the group. Then the panel of professors, all of whom are entrepreneurs (and Darius Sankey is also a venture capitalist), grilled the teams with hard-hitting questions and suggested ways that the teams could improve their concepts.

There will be one more workshop for participants in March; then the business plan will be due on March 30. During April, a panel of independent reviewers will reduce the number of plans to approximately five. This final group will present before a panel of private investors and venture capitalists. The prize will be awarded on April 28 at the annual awards banquet for the Greif Center. Learn more about the competition at www.usc.edu/techalliance.

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Inventory of USC Technologies Now in Phase 2

In our January newsletter, we introduced the Technology Readiness Index (TRI), a database that includes a description of technologies being developed at USC, their areas of application, and their readiness for market. This database enables CTC to align its resources with the needs of USC researchers at various stages of the commercialization process.

We are now in the second phase of the development of this project and have started to input specific information about the different USC technologies into the TRI. A team of graduate students with backgrounds in computer sciences and mechanical, electrical, and biomedical engineering is interviewing USC researchers across the two campuses and working with them to expand the database. Researchers interested in participating in this project may input information directly into the TRI themselves, accessing it at www.usc.edu/techalliance. You can also request an appointment with one of our team members by contacting Juan Felipe Vallejo at juan.vallejo.2005@marshall.usc.edu. Once you have entered the requested information into the TRI, you will receive an e-mail with details on how to change or update the information you provided.

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