We recently checked in with the new, dynamic leader of the Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NACET) to see what his plans are for the city’s incubator and accelerator in the coming year.
Scott Hathcock, who most recently served as VP at the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce (and was instrumental in many of their new initiatives) took the helm at NACET in October.
During his first three months as President and CEO, he has already generated a renewed sense of energy on the NACET campus, according to accelerator tenant Kinney Greene of War2In, who said Hathcock “brought along a lot of momentum” to his new role.
The accelerator will be a major focus of Hathcock’s work in 2017. He noted that to date, it has leases or letters of intent from War2In, SenesTech, HYPO2, Poba Medical, MAKA Digital, Merit Automation and WIT Insurance, and anticipates the accelerator’s occupancy will be at more than 50 percent by mid-January.
Hathcock also hopes to boost occupancy by offering affordable co-working space (as opposed to offices) on the NACET campus. Rates will range from annual leases to daily “drop-in” rates, with an emphasis on attracting professionals from the digital sector.
“The idea is to bring a sense of community and an infusion of digital DNA,” Hathcock said. “Our co-working tenants have all agreed, as part of this community, to be available and advise NACET clients and tenants on matters related to their individual specialties, be it user interface or user experience designs, developing and deploying websites, SEO or apps.”
Hathcock’s expertise and much of his work in Flagstaff has centered in the digital sector. After several years with start-ups in the Los Angeles area, Hathcock came to Flagstaff in 2013 as VP of Business Development & Sales at Made with Math, a digital creative agency.
Then came a two-year run with the Chamber, where he was the force behind several digital sector initiatives, including Ready.Set(){Code}, which has introduced more than 300 Flagstaff youths to coding since its launch. During that time, he also co-founded (with ECoNA) Flagstaff Tech Track, a business-led collaboration of digital product companies, tech workers and professionals in the region; and helped the Chamber establish “Hiring Flagstaff,” a career website aimed at addressing Flagstaff’s perennial trailing spouses issues.
Since 2011, NACET job creation has exceeded 500 new quality jobs, with venture and angel investment exceeding $100 million. While the national average shows less than half of new companies survive into a fourth year of business, 78 percent of NACET’s clients are still going strong after four years.
We look forward to working with Hathcock and his team at NACET to continue and grow this story of success in 2017 and beyond.
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