John Osborne, one of the founders of The Harbor, revisited our Club this week to give an update about the organization that he help create. Started during September 2013, The Harbor is an organization designed to create “collision among entrepreneurs.” In other words, the Harbor brings together creative, entrepreneurial individuals for collective brain-storming and business development.
Osborne said that many entrepreneurs have great ideas but no idea how to execute on them or how to raise the capital needed to create and operate the business. The Harbor provides an environment where these initial ideas can blossom and become business realities. Through a collaborative group environment that is “completely uncompetitive,” the group “weighs in with their past experience, relevant contacts, and offer[s] support.”
Osborne and his co-founders modeled The Harbor on the Nashville Entrepreneurial Center, which Osborne described as a “beehive of startup activity.” The Harbor began with an accelerator program, whereby 8 startup companies participated in a 14-week program designed to provide mentorship, resources, support and an environment in which to make the companies grow quickly. At the end of the accelerator program, the owners and executives of the startups know what is needed to advance their companies to the next level and are introduced to possible capital sources to make that advancement possible. Osborne noted that over $650,000 has been invested since the first class of startups finished the program during April. There were two accelerator classes during 2014, and the third is slated to begin during January 2015.
The Harbor also provides work sites for use by startup companies. There is a flat rate charge on a month-to-month basis with a deposit that is refundable when the startup leaves the space. Participating startups have 24/7 access to all Harbor sites, conference rooms and infrastructure. The Harbor began with one work site on Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant, added a second site on Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant, expanded to Summerville, and will open a King Street site in Charleston this month. Harbor sites also host events, forum groups, private meetings, investor meetings, and enable brain storming sessions on informal bases among those using the space.
The Harbor also offers an entrepreneur studio program twice during each accelerator program, which features a successful entrepreneur who elaborates for the audience about his or her own journey, successes and failures as an entrepreneur. Osborne said that example speakers would be Mason Holland, Co-Founder of Benefitfocus, and Steve Swanson, CEO of Automated Trading Desk, which was founded locally and sold several years ago to Citi Group for approximately $680 million.
During May, the South Carolina Department of Commerce issued a challenge grant to improve innovation. Grantees had to match a $250,000 grant. The Harbor was able to meet the match within 6 months, and Osborne was excited to report that the organization now has a $500,000 operating budget for operations and further expansion in 2015.
— Amy Jenkins