Upward Thinking in Economic Downturn
by Carl Schulthess

Mission Viejo Innovation and Entrepreneurial Institute is my concept to match ideas, resources and opportunities.

An alternate name for this organization could be “If you can’t find a job, create one.” The current economic climate in America is at a tipping point, screaming for a creative means to encourage new enterprises to create jobs for the currently unemployed and the new graduates each year. It is likely that some government support could be arranged from agencies like the SBA.

When I was looking for a job in 1990, I involved myself with “Experience Unlimited” at the local EDD. As I participated in the one-week indoctrination, I realized that there was a great cross-section of critical skills in a variety of industries in attendance – enough to build a business from scratch.

I proposed and got permission from the Director to form a group as named above. We met twice (I got a job!) and it fell apart due to no leadership. At the time there were about a dozen participants. The basic premise was to have the group troll through the NASA Tech Briefs and, ultimately, the other National Labs and Universities Technology Transfer literature until one of the participants found a technology that resonated with him based upon his experience. He was to then solicit other participants with complimentary and pertinent skills in the basic areas of engineering, manufacturing, marketing, finance and management to form a cell that would write both an SBIR Proposal and a business plan to permit solicitation of Seed and follow-on financing.

These “Technology Transfer” programs are a goldmine waiting to be tapped. The U.S. government has funded applied research in hundreds of business areas all the way through the pre-production stage WITH patents that are offered with an EXCLUSIVE license to use for the purpose of creating a business around it. In most cases, the inventors-researchers are available to consult as part of the package.

Out of 100,000 or so Mission Viejo residents, there are thousands of skilled, experienced people that are either unemployed, underemployed or retired who have valuable skills that can be invested in non-prime time to create new enterprises. Our residents will also bring a treasure trove of their own business opportunities to the table and permit the Institute to round out a viable business plan with the right talent to attract investors.

The city’s involvement in this activity can be limited to providing a place to call home and broadcasting the opportunity to our citizens. I am sure that the lawyers can figure out an iron-tight disclosure statement to keep the city out of any responsibility for deals that go bad.

This activity will attract investors from within and outside of Mission Viejo, since there is more money than good investments available. We can probably encourage investors to be part of the “Business Creation” Cell right up front to ensure that the plan is done properly and is saleable to other investors. He can be the point man in the task of finding other investors. Mission Viejo possesses human resources that form the single most important asset to a new company that is looking for Investment Capital. I have some contacts in the Angel and Venture community that will be helpful.

In return for the city’s involvement, the process will focus on renting industrial space in MV and hiring MV residents. Beyond this, I can visualize a relationship with all the MV High Schools and Saddleback JC to encourage participation by students as part of a mentoring program. These students would be prime sources for labor as the process of creating a business matures. Educational activities at the center, including Art, Sciences, Engineering, Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design would feed into the experienced labor pool to create a high-octane Business Plan.

Another opportunity is to associate ourselves with one of the new Charter Schools. They seem to be searching for space and a reason to exist. I can visualize connecting with Unisys, which has a large percentage of the building on Jeronimo available. The school space could be rented and the students could be enrolled in Work/Study programs in Business, Science, Engineering and Manufacturing. This model has been used before, particularly in Schenectady NY with General Electric. The schools became relevant and General Electric had a readymade workforce.

Relationships with leading organizations within Mission Viejo like Mission Hospital or Unisys could bring ideas with merit as well as a cadre of Medical and Engineering professionals to participate in new ventures. There are a number of other Mission Viejo businesses that could benefit from cooperation in this “incubator” approach as a low-cost, low-risk method of new product development.

The Innovation AND Entrepreneurial Institute could use city facilities as a meeting place and possibly expand into a more industrial setting such as renting part of the Unisys building for R&D and beginning production as projects obtain funding. Perhaps Unisys would participate by providing mentors in return for rights of first refusal as business takes off in a particular group. This has been a very successful strategy for the 3M Corporation.

Other resources in Mission Viejo are the educators and professionals in our midst. We could tap them as lecturers for a regular lecture series on current topics in science and engineering, much like the Monday night lectures at Cal Tech’s Beckman Auditorium. We could charge for these lectures and work towards bringing in top people from outside MV. These lectures would be ideal to stimulate local students in the sciences and engineering.

This is just the kernel of the idea. It is a blank sheet of paper in an economic environment that screams for innovative ideas with which to form small companies around. The possibilities are endless.

The city of Mission Viejo would earn a reputation as a forward-looking city that invests ALL its resources wisely.