My Business BlogThe leading business search engine and business directory
Out to prime upstate pump
ALBANY — A Little Falls man who built up a successful human resources business in Silicon Valley is trying to unlock the economic potential of upstate New York.
Martin Babinec, who founded TriNet HR Corp. in San Leandro, Calif. in 1988, has started what’s known as Upstate Venture Connect, a nonprofit based in Syracuse.
Babinec is trying to bring together universities, economic development and business leaders across the state to work together to make upstate as fertile for start-up companies as places like San Jose, Calif., Austin, Texas and Boston.
And he has already started making connections in the Capital Region, placing one local economic development official, Peter Pritchard of the Center for Economic Growth in Albany, on his advisory board.
Babinec said New York state has the largest collection of college students working toward science and engineering degrees, and it ranks second or third in terms of patents generated in university settings. Upstate is also home to industrial technology giants such as General Electric, IBM, Kodak and Corning. Yet, it lags other places when it comes to successful start-up companies and venture capital investment.
“We should be a powerhouse,” Babinec said. “What’s wrong with this picture?”
Babinec said all of these universities in upstate New York, places like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cornell University, Syracuse University and Rochester Institute of Technology, all must better coordinate their entrepreneurial efforts, along with the state’s economic development groups like CEG and The Tech Garden, a business incubator in downtown Syracuse.
“Our assets are generally disconnected,” Babinec said. “We have our assets, but they are spread across a broader region. Even within each market, there is not a lot of connectivity. There’s not a sense of community.”
Babinec, who has since stepped away from TriNet but remains on its board of directors, said venture capital is not the only focus of the organization, and in fact, a lack of venture capital activity in the state is not the fault of venture capitalists, he said.
“I don’t blame them,” he said. “The VCs will go where the deals are.”
Babinec, who has funded the creation of Upstate Venture Connect with his own money, hired Nasir Ali, the former president of The Tech Garden, as the organization’s first chief executive officer. Ali is also founder and executive director of the Seed Capital Fund of CNY.
One of the first members of Babinec’s advisory board is Pritchard, a program director at CEG who oversees early-stage technology funding, including CEG’s Tech Valley Angel Network. Pritchard has worked closely with Ali in the past, which is how he became interested in participating in the new organization.
“Upstate Venture Connect is really about human capital,” Pritchard said.
Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.
Similar Posts:
- UVA business school enters partnership with UVa-Wise
- DREAMWORKS’ SIXKILLER TO KEYNOTE LOUISIANA ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY
- Sarasota County officials forget to vote on Jackson support resolution
- BARNES TO SPEAK AT BREAKFAST TO BUSINESS EVENT
- Goodrich Corp – $16.5 Billion Cash Deal
Leave a Reply