University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will launch a new business innovation incubator this fall to help prepare 10 startups for angel and venture capital funding.
The incubator was formed through a partnership between UWM and local angel investing group Milwaukee Venture Partners Inc., said Matthew Friedel, senior lecturer in UWM’s School of Information Studies and director of the new incubator.
“Most entrepreneurs who are creating their business (and) who are really passionate don’t do it for the money, they do it to solve a problem or create a solution for their customer,” said Friedel, who is also co-founder of Milwaukee Venture Partners. “I’m doing this because I want to help those teams out and progress.”
The 11-month program is free for participating startups and funded through $5,000 grants associated with each startup from UWM’s Lubar School of Business, Friedel said. The incubator sessions will be held on Wednesday nights in the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, although participating entrepreneurs don’t have to attend every one as some are tailored to specific industries.
The idea for the incubator came from Lubar School of Business dean Kaushal Chari, who wanted to leverage UWM’s resources for it, Friedel said.
“I get to tap all these experts inside the walls of UWM, in a cool touchdown space where these entrepreneurs can work together.” Friedel said. “Milwaukee Venture Partners is really going to be like the mentors and coaches behind the scenes.”
The weekly programming will include workshops this fall from experts on sales, marketing, product prototyping and designing and other skills entrepreneurs might need, Friedel said. It will also include one-on-one consulting in spring 2023, where Friedel or one of his colleagues will directly mentor the startups on areas like fundraising or management building.
Friedel described the program as a “later-stage” incubator that is designed for startups with some previous revenue traction, a strong business idea or intellectual property (IP) that are trying to get into a program like gener8tor – the nationally ranked, Wisconsin-based startup accelerator – or receive funding from a venture capital firm.
Sandy Padala from Rex Academy, a Milwaukee-based computer science education platform that recently won $5,000 as the third-place winner in the Summerfest Tech Pitch Competition, and Steve Glynn from Experience Milwaukee are “soft commitments” to participate in the incubator program, Friedel added.
Friedel cited Milwaukee’s Frontdesk Inc., a vacation rental startup that was the Milwaukee area’s fastest-growing company in 2021, as an example of what the incubator hopes to help startups accomplish. In August 2021, the company had raised $18 million in total funding and had around 250 employees.
“That’s the end goal,” Friedel said of Frontdesk's recent success. “We want to create exciting new startup entrepreneurial activities here.”
The innovation incubator is currently accepting applications for its 10 spots. It will host a virtual information session on Aug. 2 at 6 p.m.
