The Growth Factory accelerator launched by entrepreneur Mark Haney began its first 16-week program in Rocklin this week with 15 companies in its first cohort.
The companies range from early-stage startups to companies that have raised millions of dollars in seed rounds, Haney said.
“Sacramento has great founders and the ability to launch world-class companies,” he said.
The Growth Factory had originally planned to put only a dozen companies through the program, which is a yearlong after an initial four months of more intensive support, but there were more than 75 applicants, Haney said.
The accelerator is a nonprofit, but investments into its cohort companies are made through the for-profit Growth Factory Ventures, a recently launched early-stage venture capital fund with $10 million available.
Unlike some accelerators, the investments made into Growth Capital accelerator cohort companies vary by the company, Haney said.
Part of the initial 16-week program includes "mandatory Mondays," where entrepreneurs spend the day at Haney’s offices in Rocklin with workshops and forums. They also get access to 65 mentors from local businesses and investors in the region.
The mentors will observe and offer support and feedback to cohort companies, Haney said. “Success breeds success.”
Eventually, each company will get a lead mentor, who will be chosen and invited in by the company, said Rick Spencer, vice president of community growth with HaneyBiz and managing director of Growth Factory Ventures.
The mentors are volunteers, but they could potentially invest in the companies.
Haney has personally, and with other groups, invested in more than 50 companies, but Growth Factory Ventures is a pooled fund and includes “other people’s money,” he said.
Investors in the fund include Dale Carlsen, founder of The Sleep Train Inc., and Tom Kandris, founder of PackageOne Inc.
The Sacramento Growth Factory has partnerships with Folsom-based venture capital firm Moneta Ventures LLC, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council and the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University Sacramento, Spencer said.
Haney said he plans to have two cohorts go through the program every year, with the eventual goal of grooming local startups to attract $1 million of outside investment money into the Sacramento entrepreneurial economy. Haney said he is interested in growing the local economy, so companies going through the Growth Factory accelerator must be local.
The mentors include local investors, and also leaders of local startups that have raised millions of dollars for their companies, including Brandon Brown, founder and CEO of influencer marketing management company Grin; Greg Connolly, founder and CEO of nutritious meal delivery company Trifecta; and Anthony Romano, CEO of commercial real estate technology company CREtelligent.
In addition to the workshops and classes, members of the cohort have access to meeting rooms, conference areas and other support from the HaneyBiz Ventures Inc. offices in Rocklin.
Haney made his own fortune by launching, growing and selling several video security companies over the years, including Northern Video Systems Inc. and Tri-Northern Security Distribution Inc., both to Dallas-based private equity company Brazos Private Equity Partners LLC in 2010. He's still involved in Surveillance Systems Integration Inc., which makes video surveillance systems for casinos. That company is now based in Las Vegas, which has freed up considerable room in its former headquarters in an 18,000-square foot space in Rocklin. That is the location the Growth Factory uses for its programs.
