Tagged: business incubators

Correction: We originally referred to one of NxtArrow's incubator clients as "WorkSmart Solutions" in this story, but as founder Michelle Maria Nicholas notes in a comment below, the name of her firm is "WorkSmart Small Business Support, LLC." The Innovation Trail regrets the error.

One trip around the sun ago, NxtArrow launched in Buffalo.

To recap, this for-profit private business incubator offers free rent and other services for any business willing to move to western New York.

While the venture saw some success in its first year, it also experienced some growing pains.

Business incubators are mostly home to young companies shopping new technology, like medical devices or apps for smart phones.

But there’s an exception at the University at Buffalo Technology Incubator: an exception more likely to be at home in the humanities department, than in the engineering school.

No one would argue that new businesses don't face hurdles.

To help clear those, the University at Buffalo recently trucked in a few experts to deliver a dose of help - and constructive criticism.

The Pre-Seed Workshop is an intense 3-day traveling seminar meant to provide an environment where nascent ideas can get fleshed out into practical businesses - or nipped in the bud.

A small company in Buffalo is trying to change the way people drink. Ladybug Teknologies envisions a future where breathalyzer kiosks are available in bars so patrons have the ability to check their level of intoxication before getting behind the wheel.

To hatch their idea, Ladybug officials have barnacled to a local business incubator.

When your logo is a recently hatched egg, where else would you meet but underneath Albany's iconic Egg Auditorium?

That was the highly symbolic site of the Business Incubator Association of New York State's annual meeting today.