Trailhead seeks to be a starting point for startups

Trailhead, a new nonprofit that was created to support startup companies, is moving into downtown Boise and planning its first events for March. In April it will open co-working space and regular programming.

The new organization, which Boise Mayor David Bieter introduced in a speech last year, is financially supported by the city and the Capital City Development Corp., as well as a trio of experienced entrepreneurs.

Several organizations in Boise offer advice and training for startup companies. Trailhead Executive Director Raino Zoller said Trailhead will serve as a hub where first-time entrepreneurs can learn about starting a company and about how to connect with other organizations that can help.

“We’re going to be the place where they can get started and hook up with all the different resources that are available in the community,” he said. Trailhead has a list of dozens of small business and startup resources run by Boise State University, local or state governments and other non-profits. He said Trailhead isn’t trying to duplicate existing services.

Rick Ritter, lab director for New Ventures Lab, a Meridian incubator set to open next month, said he’s spoken with Zoller and other Trailhead board members and he doesn’t know how Trailhead will differ from existing organizations for new businesses. But startups require working space, he said.

“There’s clearly a need. What I don’t know, without know more about what their plan is, is whether or not they can fill it,” said Ritter. He also labeled himself the “den mother” of the Watercooler, a nonprofit workspace for entrepreneurs in Boise.

The nonprofit has 7,500 square feet of space at the corner of Myrtle Street and 8^th Street. Zoller chose the spot for its high visibility on Myrtle and proximity to downtown Boise businesses as well as Boise State’s campus and its computer science space, which is under construction nearby.

“Nothing else has the same profile as this space,” Zoller said.

Trailhead will offer a range of work spaces, from an open office setting that can be converted into event space to a quiet structured work space that will take up the eastern third of the building. The organization also has access to an unfinished 6,500-square-foot unfinished basement that could be converted into more office space.

Zoller said Trailhead’s space will be a place where anyone can come in and meet with entrepreneurs.

“It creates many more interactions and collisions between people who are part of the ecosystem,” he said.

Rent on the space is being paid for the next five years by CCDC and the City of Boise. The city money comes from an economic development fund that is derived from Union Pacific’s payments for storage of railroad cars on city-owned rails.

Nic Miller, Boise’s director of economic development, said Boise’s involvement started when entrepreneurs Jason Crawforth, Faisal Shah and Karen Meyer approached city leaders saying they needed help to strengthen Boise’s entrepreneurial environment.

“Trailhead came out of that discussion,” said Miller. He said Trailhead would augment existing resources, including the city’s Greenhouse business incubator.

Miller said he hopes Trailhead increases the business startup rate in the city. Owing to the recession, the share of new businesses to total businesses in the Treasure Valley fell by half from 2006 to 2012, according to data from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

CCDC Board Chair John Hale said the city’s urban renewal agency is supporting Trailhead because it also supports economic development. One of CCDC’s goals is to help add more high-paying jobs. Another is improving underdeveloped real estate in the city. Hale said the support from CCDC and the city are intended to provide a foundation so that local businesses can support Trailhead’s programming.

“Having that sustainability, that base, makes it easier for the community to get involved,” he said.

Hale and Miller sit on Trailhead’s board, as do Crawforth, Shah, Meyer and Zoller. Zoller said that Trailhead will add four to five staff members to cover administrative duties.

Zoller said Trailhead’s success will be judged by the number of new companies it helps get started and grow, as well as the number of mentors it connects with entrepreneurs and the number of companies locally that can raise money from investors. He said he’s focused on trying to build success in the Treasure Valley.

Opening events

Trailhead has its first event March 9, when Startup Grind Boise brings Scott Kupor, chief operating officer and managing partner of venture capital investor Andreeson Horowitz, to town to share his impressions of Boise. Andreeson Horowitz is the biggest early-stage investment company in the country, and was an early investor in Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Airbnb and other companies.

Jess Whiting, who started a local chapter of Startup Grind last year, said she’s working to build connections between Boise and Silicon Valley, a hub of investment capital and startup activity.

The Trailhead space will also host an Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission event on March 11 and be the kick-off spot for the Treefort Music Fest’s Hackfort and host some of the festival’s Ale Fort events. Trailhead’s space will open for co-working and other events April 1.