Earlier this week I was warmly welcomed into the UMass Venture Development Center (VDC). After a few stops on the redline and an easy shuttle ride over to the UMass campus, I walked three flights of stairs in a pretty drab building only to be completely taken back by a stunning, 18,000 foot facility for entrepreneurs. Appearances aside, the VDC founders, their vision and the entrepreneurs housed there are what really impressed me.

Since launching in the Spring of 2009, the VDC currently houses 18 startups, all but one from outside of UMass (although housing more student startups is on their radar as part of a much larger vision you can read more about below). The center complements the university’s recent introduction of an entrepreneurship curriculum as well as the school’s commitment to offering valuable internship opportunities to its student base.

Companies who rent the space at the VDC range from founders initially hitting the ground running with their idea to teams of ten with products actually being shipped. And while the space is gorgeous, the mentorship and resources offered at the VDC is what has made it a success. The center has taken off in the last couple months, with a waiting list now in front of other area startups looking to tap into this center.

Beginnings & Vision

William (Bill) Brah, Executive Director, and Dan Phillips, Entrepreneur in Residence, lead the VDC. One tends to play relationship builder and one hands-on startup mentor, complementing each other in personality and skillsets. Brah’s career has spanned academia and government, and Phillips in high-tech.

Brah followed his wife to Boston after working on the business side of a think tank in the public sector. He ended up working on a team in innovation at UMass building an IP program that has brought the university $75 million in license fees. It was there he began being drawn to the idea of an incubator, and eventually met Phillips.

Phillips has had a 25-year career in the high-tech space. He has been part of the initial executive teams of four successful startups: two IPO’ed, one was acquired by EMC, and his last was sold to Dell. Alongside this track record, for eighteen years he has been close with UMass, building a scholarship program that has put fourteen students there through school.

Phillips and Brah coalesced around UMass on one front: “What can we do with startups here?” Their vision was to allow those in the life sciences and high tech with big ideas to have the support they need to bring their innovations to market. The pair helped raised $8M through grants (both state and federal), and the center’s doors opened to startups in April 2009.

UMass VDC & Entrepreneurship Today, 18 Months Post-Launch

Today, startups who approach the VDC are drawn to its gorgeous space (including its much sought-after lab space), hands-on mentorship, access to UMass students for internships (from software development, science, marketing, finance to sales), as well as access to UMass’ equipment – sophisticated equipment that many young startups could not afford otherwise.

“Like any startup, we’ve evolved over the last three years since idea formation,” Phillips said. The closely entwined center and entrepreneurship curriculum now ascribe to a three-tiered approach: learn, practice, and launch.

• Learn. As mentioned, the VDC complements UMass’ recently introduced entrepreneurship curriculum. Students who specialize in entrepreneurship at the graduate level are required to participate in a “real” startup in order to graduate. Undergraduates are allowed to take these courses as electives.
• Practice. “There is entrepreneurship theory, but you really have to live the real thing,” Brah said. So also part of the entrepreneurship curriculum for students is workshops, events and one-on-one mentoring with the “who’s who” of the high tech startup environment in Boston. To date they have facilitated sixty paid internships from software development to marketing – each crafted to be highly mentor oriented
• Launch. This is the real deal — building a company in the VDC. You pay for space, and on top of the space, receive mentorship and connections from Phillips and Brah as well as access to UMass facilities. And after speaking with several entrepreneurs there, the mentorships and connections are incredibly meaningful —  not just selling points.

So how does a high tech or life science startup become part of the UMass VDC? Brah and Phillips are the gatekeepers and meet with entrepreneurs with big ideas consistently. “They need to be completely serious,” Phillips said. “This is a quality model, not a quantity model,” Brah added. The pair looks at things like if it is a viable business, is in the right market at the right time, and if the entrepreneur is mentorable – which often means Brah and Phillips form a personal connection with the entrepreneur before they join. “At the end of the day, we want big ideas and entrepreneurs who can add value to their business from UMass Boston students, faculty, and equipment.”

The Future of UMass VDC

Brah and Phillips aim to accept 5 new companies a year, with hopefully 3-4 graduating at the same time. While they don’t want to expand too quickly, helping develop more student startups at UMass Boston is high on their list. Why? Because Brah and Phillips are thinking bigger than the VDC – they’re thinking about creating an ecosystem in the greater Boston area that fosters careers in the startup world, not just founders.

From ‘98-2008 Massachusetts lost 55,000 jobs in the innovation economy. Brah and Phillips are on a mission to help regain these jobs lost in the last decade. “We need to double the number of students in the startup ecosystem,” Brah explained. “There’s lots of focus on producing great founders in the Boston area, and Umass will – that’s the price of entry. The more unique thing we want to help do is build the workforce for those startups. Everyone can’t be a founder.”

And for the success of something at this scale, they don’t plan on embarking on this alone, and are happily speaking with collaborators.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more stories about the high tech and life sciences companies being built at the UMass VDC. And in the meantime, make sure you follow their developments on Twitter.