City officials are hoping a program meant to help start-up businesses provides a similar boost for downtown Williamsburg.
Beginning Oct. 1, the Triangle Business and Innovation Center, commonly called the incubator, relocated from its former location in James City County to the Williamsburg Health Evaluation Center at 332 North Henry St.
The incubator is designed to help accelerate the growth of small businesses into successful companies through a variety of resources and services. Until Sept. 30, the College of William & Mary Technology and Business Center managed the incubator.
In the past, companies affiliated with the incubator have worked with William & Mary’s Mason School of Business to assist their growth. The college provided different services and resources for incubator businesses, including assessment programs, business development programs and informal networking programs.
Bill Bean, director of the Technology and Business Center at the College of William & Mary, said the incubator’s move to the Health Evaluation Center in the City of Williamsburg would help both the program and the start-ups affiliated with it.
“You can see New Town from [the former location], but you can’t walk to New Town for lunch,” he said. “The fact that the new incubator building is in Williamsburg will be really good.”
At the former Health Evaluation Center, furnished offices come with private bathrooms, board rooms are stocked with conference tables and chairs, fiberoptics throughout the building provide high-speed internet service, a private parking lot allows for easy car access, and a backup generator from the building’s past as a medical center provides emergency electricity.
The building has two floors. The first floor’s south side is being reserved for incubator businesses. The building’s second floor is currently available for lease by other businesses.
Economic Development Director Michele DeWitt said the building’s design would provide ample space and resources — like high-speed internet and a backup generator — for start-ups, and its location offered easy access to the heart of the city.
She also believes bringing the incubator downtown could have a benefit for the city. DeWitt said nurturing small businesses in the city center, combined with successful operations like AidData and the possibility of co-working space, could create a vibrant business corridor for Williamsburg.
When the incubator businesses set up operations in the former Health Evaluation Center, they will share office space with another start-up venture — I-texts.
Owned by venture capitalist Frank Kristan and local businessman Myrl Hairfield, I-texts uses SMS services to partner with more than 700 charities and nonprofits, like the USO and the Wounded Warrior Project, to assist with fundraising.
Kristan’s company, Ludvik Holdings Inc., currently leases the building with an option to purchase, a move Hairfield said was highly likely in the coming months.
Kristan and Hairfield have been business partners for more than a year. The two were introduced over a conference call set up through a mutual connection. They purchased the company in April 2014 and relocated the company’s headquarters from Austin to Williamsburg.
Hairfield has connections to the area stretching back nearly 40 years. He first came out to Williamsburg in the early 1970s as part of the Anheuser-Busch team that developed Kingsmill. After the resort was completed, Hairfield stayed in the area and was involved with the creation of James City County’s Williamsburg Landing, WindsorMeade, Brandon Woods and Stonehouse developments, and the Williamsburg Health Evaluation Center.
Originally from Australia, Kristan spent 20 years in New York as a consultant on mergers and acquisitions before relocating to Williamsburg five years ago.
Kristan and Hairfield’s latest venture is still in the start-up phase, which they think could benefit the future incubator location. Hairfield said I-texts can relate to other start-ups, and his company’s growing size and specialty in technology could be a good resource for new firms setting up in the incubator.
“We’ve all been involved with starting new businesses,” he said. “We know what some of those challenges are that they face. Having somebody nearby that you can talk to, interact with, is very helpful.”
City officials agree. DeWitt said the incubator would provide many services to nurture start-up businesses, but Kristan and Hairfield’s business experience would offer a unique resource.
“Start-up businesses are just inherently risky. Not all will succeed, but we go with eyes open,” DeWitt said. “I think the setup with [I-texts] is perfect. Their experience as entrepreneurs will be highly useful for the companies that come in.”
The city continues to solicit businesses to set up shop in the incubator, but DeWitt said they are waiting for a new incubator manager to be hired before signing up new companies.
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