The Mobile-based Innovation Portal, a nonprofit incubator and innovation hub focused on accelerating startup growth, has a new director starting and making plans for next steps.
Todd Greer was recently named executive director and he takes the helm of the organization on March 1.
Greer, who has an extensive career in academia, was most recently vice president of economic affairs at the University of Mobile, but he has been working with the portal and serving on its board of directors.
Alabama Inno sat down with him to talk about his plans, the state of the Innovation Portal and how he plans for the incubator to get more involved in Alabama’s startup community.
Innovation Portal recently opened an office on St. Louis Street, and with Mobile being a city with an increasing number of business applications, Greer is looking to facilitate ways to support that growth through the portal.
"What we're doing right now is working to be able to support individuals that are high-growth startups, that are looking to scale and grow and access venture capital, as well as those that are more of our mainstream entrepreneurs — those that are working to establish and grow small businesses here in Southwest Alabama and bring an impact to the community," Greer said.
He wants to make a further impact on the Innovation Portal through increasing programs and partnerships. He is looking to build excitement and energy but at the same time build a mutual environment for people to have similar conversations when it comes to startups and their businesses. The portal so far has secured partnerships with the Alabama Capital Network for getting capital access and the Economic Development Partnership for Alabama for helping to establish more programs. Greer is also eyeing relationships with corporate entities.
Having a relationship with the EDPA and the Alabama Capital Network has brought the Innovation Portal into a relationship with the Birmingham area, but Greer would also like to expand partnerships in Birmingham and across the state.
“We recognize that as we work to cultivate that venture or a funding source for entrepreneurs in the state of Alabama, we've going to partner together,” he said. “We're not going to be as big as Atlanta. We're not as big and certainly (not) as demand-driven as Silicon Valley, Boston or New York. For us, it is recognizing that we need each other and that we're not competing against each other, but that we're collaborating is a great opportunity for us to move the needle for the state of Alabama.”
Greer wants to work with local institutions to increase access to entrepreneurship education, which he said can be a struggle for communities in Mobile and South Alabama. He would like to see the Innovation Portal work more with both higher education and K-12 schools to inform students that entrepreneurship and technology can be a career path.
He also plans to leverage the network of founders in the area to help companies share resources and work together to solve common problems.
