The University Village, in addition to IRP, contains more than 1 million sq. ft. of retail, entertainment, restaurant, and fitness choices.
Beau Turner was pitching his mobile app, just out on the market, to the two men in the front row – Mayor Paul Fraim and City Manager Marcus Jones.
The game is “Zombie Tag: Challenge,” pitting people against the brain-eating monsters. Apple stores Wednesday began carrying the 99-cent GPS-based app, which allows participants to chase one another on the streets of Norfolk – or anywhere else.
The mock presentation was an exercise at the midway point of Hatch Norfolk. It’s a three-month-long mentorship program for five local startups, whose products include a wireless camera for tugboats and a Web-based platform to coordinate a plan for at-home care.
Hatch Norfolk, supported by the city and a group of businesses, is part of a sprouting movement known as “economic gardening,” aimed at nurturing local businesses rather than enticing out-of-town companies.
“I think it’s definitely a trend across the country, and the reason is one of necessity, in large part,” said Dana Dickens, CEO and president of the Hampton Roads Partnership, a regional organization that also has worked to boost local companies.
If that happens, advocates say, it will be easier to attract and retain even more businesses.
Before Hatch Norfolk, there was Start Norfolk.
That event, sponsored by a coalition of local companies during a weekend in November, teamed budding entrepreneurs with mentors in fields such as technology and design. They crafted business plans, and a $10,000 prize was awarded to the most promising idea.
The buzz was so positive that organizers did it again, with Start Norfolk 2.0 in April. That inspired thoughts of taking it bigger.
Hatch Norfolk stretches 11 weeks. All five participants are from Hampton Roads.
Their backgrounds and experience levels vary sharply, from military – Evangelista said he spent 18 years as a Navy SEAL – to med school. Daniel Parker, a founder of OurCareDirect, is a third-year student at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
They have received guidance from mentors, a range of contacts (“We have opened up our Rolodexes,” Miller said) and $10,000 each. The city also has donated round-the-clock office space on Granby Street, where the pitches took place.
“We’re spending a lot more time together,” CEO Byron Morgan said, sometimes meeting at 10 at night at the office.
And now VinylMint doesn’t have just a “cool product,” said Jeremy Johnson, chief of product design. It has a sharp business plan.
Dickens, of the Hampton Roads Partnership, said he’s cheering them on. “If there was a Hatch Norfolk on every corner, I’d be thrilled to death,” he said.
Last fall, the partnership offered a program providing about 35 hours of guidance to executives of five local companies. One, SimIS Inc. of Portsmouth, was a modeling and simulation business looking to reduce its reliance on the military.
Johnny Garcia, president and CEO of SimIS, said he benefited from the “tons of reports” and contacts the program provided. Since then, he said, SimIS has branched into medical and manufacturing modeling and simulation, working with institutions including Duke University and the University of Virginia.
Its workforce grew to 40 from 11 a year ago. Garcia expects SimIS to more than double its revenue of $2 million last year.
The Hampton Roads Partnership’s next goal, Dickens said, is to engage 50 local companies in economic gardening, with funding from local economic development agencies. “If you get 10 or 12 or 20 that have the kind of results that SimIS has had, wow, what a home run,” he said.
Darryl Gosnell, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, described his job as “marketing the region to attract new companies to locate in the area.” Efforts such as Hatch Norfolk could help, he said.
The Hatch participants dreamed – and talked – big during the presentations.
Most predicted hefty financial returns. Christopher Machut, chief technology officer of GM Engineering Services LLC, creator of the TugCam, said it could bring in $50 million in revenue within five years.
Mallon wasn’t giving away money, but the speakers acted as though he were, outlining ambitious requests for investors.