A group of entrepreneurs senses opportunity in the Charlotte region, hoping to spur innovation by utilizing the area's abundance of talent in the racing industry.
First Turn Innovations yesterday held an open house at its 5,000-square-foot facility at 11148 Treynorth Drive, between Cornelius and Caldwell. The business incubator focuses on mobility, manufacturing and hardware-based products. The venture is led by a group of seven co-founders. They have expertise in racing, machinery, wireless technology, engineering business development and patent law.
Co-founder Kevin Mahl is especially hopeful that First Turn can land entrepreneurs from the racing industry to focus on vehicle performance. With the emergence of NASCAR's Next Gen Car, Mahl feels First Turn can find an opening with workers in the industry.
"That's the potential that we see with this new car coming," Mahl said. "The focus of it is going to be the reduction of the engineering staffs. There's a lot of talented folks that will be looking for work, looking for opportunity. That's what we want to set up an infrastructure for."
First Turn's co-founders aimed to cover all bases for entrepreneurs that would be interested in working with them.
Mahl leads First Turn and is the president and CEO of Champion Tire & Wheel, which works in several NASCAR series. Co-founder Jeff Schultz's background is in business, product and technology development. Todd Mory helped found First Turn and is the founder of Techmor, which specializes in wireless technology, among other things. Albert Brunner owns AB Consulting, which specializes in automation and manufacturing.
Co-founder Nathan Horn is the vice president of Claytex USA, a systems engineering simulation and software consultantancy. Edwin Sisson is a patent lawyer that helps with matters regarding intellectual property. Laura Cardaropoli is First Turn's director of business operations, focusing on talent acquisition, recruiting and human resources.
Schultz and Mahl told the Charlotte Business Journal that the range of services and expertise available at First Turn makes it unique. They said First Turn has the ability to make prototypes for their businesses in-house. That, along with Sisson's services, are not aspects present at most incubators, they said.
The incubator has partnered with LaunchLKN, a group of entrepreneurs that will provide mentorship to businesses at First Turn.
First Turn has financial support from the First Turn Innovation Fund, Schultz said. The fund, which is led by three venture capitalists, provides two phases of financial support to businesses accepted into First Turn. Upon acceptance, they will receive initial seed funding to develop a prototype and find customers. A second phase of funds would be allocated to commercialize the business' products, Schultz said.
"We're not local-, regional-, university- or government-affiliated," Schultz said. "We're a group of entrepreneurs, businesspeople that have been successful and want to grow the next generation of businesses."
First Turn is currently working with three businesses. Ellipticraft developed a machine for users to go through an elliptical workout on the water. SUP-v manufactures kiosks for renting paddleboarding equipment. Wrapsat creates customized wrap designs for satellite dishes. Schultz said that he envisions First Turn working with around five businesses per year.
Mahl has worked in racing for over two decades and believes the talent in the industry is attractive to businesses and investors. He compared the Charlotte area's racing talent as being the equivalent to Silicon Valley for software. First Turn's mission is to help spur innovation among those in the industry to live up to that comparison.
"Why can't we become the equivalent of (Silicon Valley for) vehicle performance and measurement? That's all possible, I think," Mahl said.
