What Corporate Incubators and Accelerators Mean for Your Business
With a host of companies under his belt, serial entre-preneur Rich Schmelzer launched his latest company, Boulder, Colo.-based GeoPalz, pretty much the only way he knew how. He bootstrapped.
But then a funny thing happened: Schmelzer met the Swoosh.
Yes, that Swoosh--Nike. Schmelzer's company makes the iBitz, a personal activity monitor for kids. And late last year, when Nike announced it was launching a special accelerator for startups developing high-tech solutions that could leverage the Nike+ platform, it was serendipity.
"It literally couldn't have been a better fit," says Schmelzer, who serves as CEO of GeoPalz. "I had done companies the old-fashioned way. It was time to take a different approach."
Schmelzer and his GeoPalz co-founders--his wife, Sheri, and Alexandra O'Leary--represent a new wave of entrepreneurs launching ventures with a little help from companies who've done it before. Like renowned programs such as Y Combinator and Dreamit Ventures, these corporate-run initiatives help early- and midstage companies get from the concept phase through adolescence and
