Halo Institute Bridges Gap Between Ideas and Investments

The costs of starting an independent business are sometimes a roadblock for success.  That’s where business incubators step in.  These incubators provide assistance for initial costs and provide a bridge between ideas and investments. The Halo Institute, a relatively new Omaha business incubator, provides area businesses with the resources and guidance to make their ideas a reality.

The Creighton University College of Business established the Halo Institute in partnership with Omaha area entrepreneurs and businesspeople in an effort to create a unique and local private business incubator.  Halo’s name was created because the institute guides business to angel investors, a person or persons that provides funding for a business to flourish.

Most incubators are publicly funded and provide space for entrepreneurs to build a business.  They also help with smaller services such as copying and business card production at lowered or no cost. The Halo Institute takes this one step further by focusing on people and by allowing the entrepreneur to maintain control of the business venture in less than six months.

Halo also looks at the impact on society rather than the amount of money a particular business could earn.  Halo uses John, James and Edward Creighton, the first millionaire entrepreneurs in Nebraska, as a prime example of successful social entrepreneurship.  The focus on people, society and the environment makes Halo’s successes stand out among other incubators across America.

Dr. Anne York is one of the board members for Halo and an associate professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Creighton University.  York said the most successful business incubators are ones tied to universities, such as University of California-San Diego, MIT or University of Texas-Austin.  She also said Halo takes the incubator process further than most incubators.

“The [incubators attached to universities] often become a great success,” York said. “Creighton’s biggest contribution to Halo is education and some funding behind it. There’s a virtuous cycle that starts. Someone helps establish the incubator [Halo].  The University helps the entrepreneur.  The entrepreneurs give back.”

The Halo Institute follows a seven-step process that focuses on leadership, competition, intellectual property, finances, human capital, laws, contacts and marketing strategies.

Dr. Anthony Hendrickson, dean of the Creighton University College of Business and Halo board member believes these steps fills the gap between ideas and investments.

“Often people have ideas but they haven’t got a plan about due diligence or competitors,” Hendrickson said. “All of these factors in the seven steps have to be thought out in order to share in an organized manner to invest with an angel investor.”

Halo runs on a board of advisors that creates 10 to 20 ideas for five companies at a time.  The advisors look at the businesses individually and see where it is in terms of potential.  The advisors then provide the selected companies with space, services and guides them through the Halo process to investments.

Hendrickson said one downside to Halo is not every idea gets funding.

“Sometimes we hear things that don’t have legs to go on,” he said. “But if we turn somebody down, we always explain why we do that.”

York said Halo is still in its infancy and until an endowment is given to the company, the institute has to be careful each month on what it can provide.

Despite having to turn down some ideas and still establishing an endowment, York and Hendrickson both said the possibilities of the still new Halo Institute outweigh any and they’ve already seen some successes in one year.

One such success is Dr. Sameer Bhatia who established Guru Instruments, LLC.  Bhatia created a company that provides cost-effective and innovative devices for medical facilities that help the performance and comfort in laboratories and operating rooms.  Bhatia’s company focuses on great quality of products at low costs during a tough economy, making his idea an ideal candidate for the Halo Institute.

York said Bhatia is the perfect example of what an incubator is supposed to do.

“We provide the [entrepreneur] with resources until they are able to get on their feet. Once they’re able to stand on their own and be successful, they’re able to make a profit but ultimately give back.”

Halo Institute resource listing on Nebraska Entrepreneur

Also, check out this article and videos from the Halo Launch in 2009 on SiliconPrairieNews.com