This year, Business Development Director Peter Gregory added some more local flare and talent to the event with the addition of investor breakout sessions – a true success! Accelerator clients and small business owners from around Orange County sat down with capital investment specialists from as far as Buffalo and Rochester for a unique educational opportunity, free of charge.

The mouth-watering sessions were an appetizer for attendees, as the main course included a forum led by Brian Cohen, Chairman of the New York Angels, one of the longest running active angel groups in New York City. An independent consortium of over 75 individual accredited angel investors, The Angels group has invested over $45 million in entrepreneurial ventures in numerous industries.

OCBA Business Development Director Peter Gregory chats with Orange County IDA Attorney Phil Crotty at the UVANY event at Homewood Suites down the road from the Accelerator.

The entrepreneurial opportunities right now are vast, and the attendance at this year’s Hudson Valley Capital Forum indicate that capital investors are more willing now than ever to invest in new, innovative ideas.

For more info on how we can connect your talent with capital, feel free to drop us a line. We’re in business for your business!

For a full catalogue of photos from the event, please visit our Facebook page.

Here’s the story by David Levine…

As we continue to watch all our traditional institutions — government, business, the media — struggle, it has become clear to some that the key to success is to start their own business. Just about every county offers help to those trying to do just that. But Orange County is the only county in the Valley that offers would-be entrepreneurs a physical location to build their better mousetrap.

The Orange County Business Accelerator, located at the New York International Plaza at Stewart Airport, is a “community of start-ups,” says Peter J. Gregory, the enterprise development director. “We take in companies, from those that are just a concept all the way to those already making a million dollars in annual sales, and we provide a space where they can benefit from being around each other.”

With 10,000 square feet of office/incubator space in New Windsor, the Accelerator offers budding executives below-market-cost rental space with high-tech amenities such as broadband Internet service, Wi-Fi, a 35-person conference room (equipped with an integrated video-conferencing system), and a reception area. Staff can provide in-house management, marketing, legal and real estate services. The office also facilitates the networking that helps companies grow by providing access to academic and corporate partners; state and local government officials; and venture capital providers, including the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (IDA).
peter gregory

Gregory calls it “the CEO water-cooler effect. These new executives benefit from meeting others like them, bouncing ideas around, seeing what works.” He joined the Accelerator in 2009, “when it was just a dirt floor,” bringing with him more than two decades of experience in business development. A Dutchess County native who lives in Poughkeepsie, Gregory, 48, earned a degree in electrical engineering from SUNY Buffalo; an MBA at the University of Rochester; and an MS in electrical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. His experience includes capital procurement and marketing strategies for companies — both his own and others — up and down the East Coast. While living in Atlanta and consulting for the Solar Energy Consortium, he wrote business plans for solar farms in the Hudson Valley. “By 2008 I saw there was actually more business up here than down there,” he says. “That drew me back.” Gregory, who is single, is thrilled to be here, he says, to take part in hiking, biking, skiing, and other outdoor activities that he enjoys.

The newly formed Accelerator tapped him to find grant money. It is not funded by taxes. Rather, it falls under the direction of the Orange County IDA, which provides a 3-year, $1.5 million commitment in operating capital, Gregory says. That project began a regular consulting relationship that turned, in July 2011, to full-time employment. His bona fides in finance, marketing, and operations are coupled with a rare ability to translate business-ese into regular English. “I enjoy the people side of business,” he says.

So much so that he literally dives into their ideas. When a company called Continental Organics LLC came to the Accelerator with an idea for raising fish in an enclosed, eco-friendly tank, Gregory not only helped draft the business plan, he learned the business. “I got certified in raising tilapia from Cornell,” he laughs. “That’s how far we go here.”

Continental Organics, by the way, already has a large client “who will take everything they grow, on the order of $6 million a year,” Gregory says. And they are still in Orange County. So is a company called CymoGen Dx, a biogenetics firm. The company features Canadian technology and California financing, but the principal lives in the area. “He had no idea where to put his office, and he could have gone anywhere, but we gave him a community and he decided to stay here,” Gregory says. The firm will soon employ 25 people, and it has encouraged another high-tech firm to locate here as well, Gregory says.

And that’s the bottom line. “It’s well-known that most innovation comes from small companies,” he says, “and we have become a beacon in the Valley for start-ups.”

Founded in 2005, Parallel Media publishes two local independent online news sites, News from Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson and Newburgh Circle. Both online publications provide up-to-the minute local news, along with stories about the community and business development, the arts, schools and entertainment.

Michael DiTullo, managing director at the Accelerator, said, “Parallel Media has grown to become a well-trusted source of information in the Cornwall and Newburgh communities. Nancy has done a great job building this reputation and we hope to be a great catalyst for further growth in the future.”

Nancy Peckanham, editor of the websites, is a village resident who brings 25 years of journalism experience. She’s an author, past executive producer at CNN in Atlanta and in New York, and has produced six documentaries on issues of global conflicts that have aired on PBS and internationally.

News from Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson features a public forum for discussion of ideas about the village and town, as well as in-depth articles about the village’s past and plans for its future. The site also offers the My Cornwall feature, a community blog and photography host, as well as classifieds. Newburgh Circle features local human interest stories, neighborhood and community news, as well as an events calendar updatable by viewers.

DiTullo added, “The Accelerator, now with 21 clients/tenants and nearly 60 people working at our facility, is not holding back the throttle at the beginning of this New Year. With the addition of Parallel Media, we continue our quest to become the epicenter of business development in the Hudson Valley.”

OCBA, located at 4 Crotty Lane in New Windsor, N.Y. at New York International Plaza at Stewart Airport, is a business incubator program launched by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (IDA). The incubator, 12,600 square feet of Class A high-tech research and development space, is designed to attract new entrepreneurial investment by providing businesses with below market occupancy costs, a menu of mentoring programs and a high-tech plug-and-play office environment.

If the number and quality of companies entering the Accelerator fold is an indication of overall improving commercial opportunity, then 2012 should be a great year. Leading up to year’s end, it seems many work-from-home entrepreneurs were harassed by the long series of foul weather that started the end of August with Tropical Storm Irene.

What does that have to do with the Accelerator success?

Well, I suspect the long and frequent power outages from Irene and the October snow storm were the tipping point for many entrepreneurs to approach the Accelerator to investigate our programs, both resident and associate.

We’ve recently welcomed Hudson Valley Brewery, ITS3, Sugar Websites and Parallel Media to our facility, and anticipate more announcements soon as we have a full pipeline of eager entrepreneurs applying to become clients. See all our clients’ profiles at ocaccelerator.com

Important Entrepreneur Opportunity:

January has always been an important month to the Accelerator and this year is no different, as we prepare for the Tuesday, Jan. 17 Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY) meeting to be held at Homewood Suites on the Stewart Airport grounds.

This is the third January UVANY has shifted their meetings south to the Hudson Valley – perhaps in hopes of warmer weather than further upstate experiences? The Accelerator is pleased to be a continued sponsor of this important event that enriches the ecosystem of the Orange County startup business ecosystem.

UVANY’s Hudson Valley meeting (see UVANY.org to register) is headlined by speaker Brian Cohen, Chairman of the New York Angels. Brian is considered one of the fathers of science and technology strategic communications, having founded Technology Solutions, Inc. (TSI) in 1983. TSI’s client list read like an entrepreneurial who’s who list of startup technology companies in computing, communication, software, education and entertainment.

Let’s hope that our continued snow-lessness continues to avoid conflicts on the date of the event.  Come on out for this valuable business networking and educational event, and become part of the startup community.

And remember to keep up to date with our valuable seminar series by way of our events tab on the Accelerator website- this season’s list to appear shortly.

With warmest wishes for a great start of business in 2012,

Best!

Peter

If the number and quality of companies entering the Accelerator fold is an indication of overall improving commercial opportunity, then 2012 should be a great year. Leading up to year’s end, it seems many work-from-home entrepreneurs were harassed by the long series of foul weather that started the end of August with Tropical Storm Irene.

What does that have to do with the Accelerator success?

Well, I suspect the long and frequent power outages from Irene and the October snow storm were the tipping point for many entrepreneurs to approach the Accelerator to investigate our programs, both resident and associate.

We’ve recently welcomed Hudson Valley Brewery, ITS3, Sugar Websites and Parallel Media to our facility, and anticipate more announcements soon as we have a full pipeline of eager entrepreneurs applying to become clients. See all our clients’ profiles at ocaccelerator.com

Important Entrepreneur Opportunity:

January has always been an important month to the Accelerator and this year is no different, as we prepare for the Tuesday, Jan. 17 Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY) meeting to be held at Homewood Suites on the Stewart Airport grounds.

This is the third January UVANY has shifted their meetings south to the Hudson Valley – perhaps in hopes of warmer weather than further upstate experiences? The Accelerator is pleased to be a continued sponsor of this important event that enriches the ecosystem of the Orange County startup business ecosystem.

UVANY’s Hudson Valley meeting (see UVANY.org to register) is headlined by speaker Brian Cohen, Chairman of the New York Angels. Brian is considered one of the fathers of science and technology strategic communications, having founded Technology Solutions, Inc. (TSI) in 1983. TSI’s client list read like an entrepreneurial who’s who list of startup technology companies in computing, communication, software, education and entertainment.

Let’s hope that our continued snow-lessness continues to avoid conflicts on the date of the event.  Come on out for this valuable business networking and educational event, and become part of the startup community.

And remember to keep up to date with our valuable seminar series by way of our events tab on the Accelerator website- this season’s list to appear shortly.

With warmest wishes for a great start of business in 2012,

Best!

Peter

Never holding back the throttle this past year, we proudly boast that the Accelerator currently has 19 clients and tenants – in a variety of industries – bringing more than 50 jobs through the Accelerator’s doors. Up to 500 high-tech, high-pay jobs could one day result from graduation of these firms. One of them in particular is already beginning to deliver.

In 2011, Continental Organics, our first client, broke ground at a brand new 900,000-square-foot aquaponics facility just down the road from the Accelerator’s Crotty Lane offices. Praised by business development and public officials from across the state – prompting two trips from U.S. Senator Charles Schumer – the aquaponics firm is on its way to creating more than 120 jobs right here in Orange County.

Additionally, fellow resident client Frugaldoo (mobile software development) has grown into a larger suite and doubled its workforce. One-time associate client 4E Productions, a multi-media production company that balances entertainment with education with a focus on strong values and healthy lifestyles, this year matured into residency, and has launched its successful Letters to Daddy screenplay, which it plans to eventually take to the national theatre scene.

Numerous other early-stage startups were added to the ranks: Community Communications (full-service event coordination), FUTRFAB (chip development) and Hudson Valley Brewery.

Our Associate Client Program, launched in 2010, also continued to grow this year with the addition of 911 Family of Services (emergency USB hardware and software), ITS3 Cyber Security Institute (cyber security training for veterans), Parallel Media (news), Sugar Websites (website design and development), Synergy Development (high-efficiency lighting), Tracking Systems (GPS fleet technology).

The New Year will no doubt present us with a host of challenges that have been plaguing businesses across the country for several years now – a recession, collapse of the real estate market and an emerging technology shift.

Here in New York State, conducting business becomes increasingly difficult with little tax relief in sight. And, though Orange County’s unemployment rate continues to be lower than the state average, we have to continue to foster a low-risk, competitive advantage for our small business innovators.

The Accelerator continues to grow while other large corporations in the Hudson Valley and around New York State continue to downsize.

What does this mean?… It shows that man, at a time of need, draws inspiration from his own experiences and spawns an entrepreneurial spirit. As this spirit grows, more and more early-stage innovators will knock on our doors, eager to innovate and accelerate.

With that being said, a final few words to all who have supported our cause and continue to do so… THANK YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

More photos are available on our Facebook page. Click here for a copy of David’s presentation.

More photos are available on our Facebook page. Click here for Rob’s PowerPoint presentation.

Many thanks to Rob for his participation and many thanks to those who attended. Here’s a sneak peek at some pics; please visit our Facebook page for more!

Sugar Websites was founded in 2010 by international marketing executive Kay Rubacek and web designer and creative director Kate Vereshaka in an effort to provide business owners with real, in-person service and effective business websites built on best practices in web design and Internet marketing.

Kay, center, stops for a quick pic with Mike and Tamara Underwood, of Community Capital New York.

Kay has been a repeat attendee at our events, and has been featured as a guest speaker, as well.

The company provides custom web site solutions to small businesses and offers a free Website Strategy Session, which can be booked online, can help identify website goals, and build a customized web site solution with precision and effective messaging.

Now with 19 clients and tenants with nearly 60 people working at our facility located at New York International Plaza at Stewart Airport, the Accelerator continues to strive to become the epicenter of intellectual capital in the Hudson Valley!

Congrats and good luck to Kate and Kay!