Crusade to help inventors, entrepreneurs in Snohomish County
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 17, 2017
By Tom Hoban
HBJ Columnist
With costs rising for housing, office and labor in Seattle and Bellevue, the idea of incubating start-ups in areas outside of King County is gaining momentum.
Diane Kamionka, executive director of the non-profit Northwest Innovation Resource Center, is one of those leading that effort.
After a successful career in the corporate world, Kamionka found her calling to entrepreneurism in a tent on Vancouver Island several years ago.
“I was ready to unplug from the corporate life that had been so good to me, so I took a cross-country trip by myself and landed on a remote beach on the Pacific,” said the unassuming Kamionka. “That’s when I realized that I wanted to relocate and help communities outside of the major urban centers become entrepreneurial and feel all of the benefits.”
Her concept is simple.
“There are great ideas being birthed all around Snohomish County and up to the Canadian Border. Why do they need to go to King County to launch when they can bring their business ideas to life right here?”
To do that, she’s worked with local business leaders to create the elements required to help entrepreneurs and inventors succeed.
For inventors, that includes a program called Slingshot NW, a subsidiary of the Innovation Resource Center, that helps inventors get their product to market. Through the center, they can tap into the advisory support they need to launch, then work with Slingshot to get to the finish line.
For those entrepreneurs who are starting a new business, they often have all the elements required but lack enough money to hit the start button.
Without private investors in our area, they are driven to King County, other urban areas or their idea dies. Local investment funds are the missing component, according to Kamionka. Usually referred to as angel investors, they are often an entrepreneur’s first source of outside capital.
“Angel investors are entrepreneurs themselves, so they are a source of capital, a network of connections and often the best advisors to the entrepreneur” she explains. “What I’ve seen in Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties impresses me. Angel investors here just needed someone to organize them.”
The Innovation Resource Cener is seeing early success with some of the ventures it’s already backed. Kamionka admits she’s walked right into a perfect environment.
“With all of the elements in place for a vibrant entrepreneurial support system, we’ll be able to evaluate local concepts, back the ones that look strong and watch them take off,” she said.
The benefits to the community include diversifying the job base, creating more jobs and creating more local wealth. “Bill Gates started this way. Jeff Bezos started this way. That’s what inspires me. Maybe we can find the next Bill Gates right here in Snohomish County?”
That’s not the endgame for Kamionka, though, “Obviously, we want investors and the entrepreneurs to all do well. But the community is the real winner. The best places to live and work are entrepreneurial at their core.”
To learn more, visit www.nwirc.com or www.slingshotnorthwest.com.
Tom Hoban is CEO of The Coast Group of Companies. Contact him at 425-339-3638 or tomhoban@coastmgt.com or visit www.coastmgt.com. Twitter: @Tom_P_Hoban.
