NIREC selected for roll out of SBA program to mentor startups

The Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization headquartered at Incline Village is one of four business accelerators nationwide selected to spearhead a new mentoring program launched by the Small Business Administration.

NIREC is by the far the smallest organization to be selected for the program from a field of 75 groups nationwide that sought to participate.

Other groups that will participate in the Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps are headquartered in San Diego, Chicago and San Francisco, the SBA said last week.

The four organizations will provide intensive mentoring to a total of about 100 clean-energy companies nationwide. All of the companies have previously received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

John Argo, entrepreneur-in-residence at NIREC, said the Incline Village organization will provide mentoring services to some companies from the Sierra region and also will serve companies elsewhere in the nation.

He said a "heavy-touch" mentoring process used by NIREC appears to have gotten the eye of SBA administrators.

Unlike other mentoring efforts in which advisers stand alongside startups and guide them with advice, NIREC's heavy touch puts mentors directly into operational roles in some startups, filling whatever gaps can't be met by the young company's founders.

As startups progress toward independence, the NIREC mentors take a smaller role.

NIREC is focused on commercialization of clean-energy and renewable technologies. It helps startups create businesses around promising technologies and provides funding to a few firms each year.

It's a nonprofit funded by colleges and universities in Nevada and California, private organizations and the U.S. Department of Energy. The Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps program at NIREC will be funded with a $100,000 allocation from the SBA.

Argo said the Incline Village organization has begun contacting about 150 companies that meet the criteria for participation in the new mentoring program. Each company will be assigned two mentors through the SBA program.

The SBA said NIREC was selected for participation in the program because of its expertise in clean energy, its experience in providing assistance to entrepreneurs and its capacity to handle the workload.

Karen Mills, administrator of the SBA, said the federal agency ultimately hopes to provide mentoring to 1,000 startups annually across a number of industry sectors.

The Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City organization that's focused on entrepreneurial development, will help identify best practices in mentoring for the SBA.

Mills noted that the SBA, often known for the help it provides to Main Street businesses, also plays a role in creation of high-growth businesses often in technology that generate new employment.

"As we emerge from the recession, we see a new crop of entrepreneurs who are posed to build these high-growth firms," she told reporters in a conference call. "These are the people who create the jobs. The mentors will put these small firms on the fast track."