SYRACUSE — Syracuse’s StartFast Venture Accelerator has a new entrepreneur-in-residence who believes the region is poised for success and more growth in the years ahead. Kyle Blumin was born and raised in Central New York and graduated from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 1993. He’s since mentored students at […]
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SYRACUSE — Syracuse’s StartFast Venture Accelerator has a new entrepreneur-in-residence who believes the region is poised for success and more growth in the years ahead.
Kyle Blumin was born and raised in Central New York and graduated from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 1993. He’s since mentored students at Whitman, worked with the Student Sandbox incubator at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse, and served as a mentor for StartFast last year.
Students, he says, are telling him they want to stay in the area and grow their businesses here. It’s something he says he didn’t imagine hearing while he was in college.
“These are scalable businesses,” he says. “It’s going to provide a tremendous amount of wealth over time and a bunch of jobs.”
Blumin has experience as an entrepreneur and investor.
He led the turnaround of a family-held business in the waste services industry and its successful sale to a Canadian firm. He then led U.S. mergers and acquisitions for the acquirer.
He later acquired a facility services company just entering bankruptcy, according to StartFast. The firm improved and was eventually acquired.
Blumin also started a company to deliver technology and services that identified areas for employers to minimize risk and reduce costs associated with providing health care coverage. That firm was acquired in 2010.
As entrepreneur-in-residence for StartFast, Blumin says he’s helping to recruit the teams for this year’s program. Once the program begins, he’ll continue providing mentoring and coaching.
He says he’ll also look for potential investment opportunities among the companies chosen for StartFast and could even wind up joining a management team through the program.
StartFast organizers are looking for more companies that are farther along in their development in 2013, Blumin says. He says he wants teams to focus tightly on business development once they’re here.
“We want more mature teams,” he says.
The vast majority of startups ultimately fail, Blumin notes. And while failure can spark innovation, StartFast is hoping its businesses have a strong chance to thrive.
StartFast is a private capital-backed accelerator for software, Internet, and mobile startups.
Its focus is on helping the young companies develop and validate a prototype product and secure enough funding for them to move forward with their work. The program’s first round in 2012 featured eight teams chosen from a group of more than 300 applicants.
StartFast is part of the Global Accelerator Network. The network grew from the TechStars program that began in Boulder, Colo. in 2007. TechStars has since expanded to Boston, Seattle, and New York City and includes a separate program for companies working on cloud computing and infrastructure.
The network includes 45 accelerators around the world.
Each company chosen for StartFast receives $18,000 in seed funding. StartFast investors receive a 6 percent stake in exchange. The businesses also get access to a number of in-kind contributions from national sponsors like Google and Rackspace through the Global Accelerator Network.
Teams receive regular coaching with mentors from around the country and from managing directors Chuck Stormon and Nasir Ali.
The Seed Capital Fund of CNY (SCF) is providing 40 percent of StartFast’s $2 million in funding. The rest is coming from private investors. The initial funding round will allow StartFast to run for four years.
More information is available at www.startfast.net. StartFast is accepting applications now for its summer 2013 program.
Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com
