Techshot expects to help area startups advance with Purdue Research Foundation partnership

Business First of Louisville - by Ben Adkins Staff Writer

Techshot Inc. officials plan to share the product- and technology-development company's expertise through a new partnership with the Purdue Research Foundation.

Through the relationship, Techshot will advise startup companies at the Purdue Technology Center of Southeast Indiana, in New Albany, giving Techshot access to potential future clients and perhaps a portion of the proceeds from technologies the company helps commercialize.

Rich Boling, Techshot's vice president of corporate advancement, said as the startup companies expand in Southern Indiana, they could attract industry suppliers and service providers to the area, creating jobs and boosting the local economy in the process.

"The more tech activity that we can get in the region, the more we all benefit," he said.

'Gut check' for tech companies

The partnership gives Boling office space at the New Albany park, one of four similar parks the foundation manages. Others are located in Indianapolis, West Lafayette and Merrillville, Ind.

The four parks have a combined total of 204 companies, including eight companies at the New Albany location, according to the Web site www.purdueresearchpark.com.

Techshot will provide a "gut check" to burgeoning technology companies at no cost to the companies or Purdue University, Boling said.

This assistance could include helping companies assess the technical feasibility of products they want to develop, along with advice on fund-raising and help navigating the patenting process.

"I think we'd be remiss if we didn't try to pass along some lessons learned to folks," said Boling, whose company is 22 years old. "There's a level of information that I think we could easily provide that is greatly valued by startups."

John Hanak, statewide director of Purdue Technology Centers, said the partnership with Techshot likely will aid recruitment to the research parks by making new services available to client companies.

"Techshot is really unique in that they understand the development of intellectual property. They understand the development of technology. They've had a (lot of) experience, obviously, commercializing technology," he said. "They are pretty unique in terms of the services they can provide."

For some companies, Boling said, Techshot would provide CAD renderings of those companies' developments to include in proposals for SBIR contracts.

And for "the most promising technologies," Techshot might create the proposals, a cost equivalent of up to $25,000 in terms of the time spent to develop one proposal.

Techshot does not expect to take an equity stake in the companies for which it makes proposals. But it would own some portion of the intellectual property so that it would receive future revenue in exchange for applying its expertise, Boling said.

"If we're going to share the risk, we want to share in the reward," he said. "How that would be split up, who knows?"

He said Techshot wins about half of its Phase One SBIR proposals and 70 percent to 80 percent of Phase Two proposals.

The company has won about 75 SBIR contracts - which generated nearly $50 million in revenue - during the past 19 years.

Boling said agencies that review SBIR proposals look favorably on contractors with a history of commercializing products with government money, when compared with those with no or little experience doing so.

"It gives our proposal a greater chance of being selected," he said.

About 80 percent of the Techshot's revenue comes from government contracts, Boling said, and the rest comes from the private sector.

Boling said the company hopes eventually to occupy office space at the other three Purdue parks, which would help the company develop relationships in other parts of the state.

Assisting early-stage companies in the New Albany park might later lead to more formal client relationships for Techshot, he said.

"Certainly, that'd be great."

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