Growing Montana one business at a time.

• Author: Lacock, Missy

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Economic growth is nothing more than the sum total of growth in businesses everywhere--in communities, as well as the state and the nation. And so strategies and policies that are aimed at producing economic growth must ultimately help businesses grow. How can we make that happen?

One way is to literally do just that--work with individual businesses and provide them with tools, knowledge, advice and support. It's happening in Montana as we speak. There are programs and resources around the state that provide a wide range of support, especially for startups and emerging businesses. Perhaps the best way to tell you about them is to recount the story of how one business grew. So let's meet Agile Data Solutions, a startup based in Missoula, as it navigates its way on the path to business success.

As many startups do, Agile Data Solutions sought to address a need. As a practicing attorney and University of Montana computer science professor, Joel Henry wanted to create a product that would reduce time and costs associated with the legal discovery process. And so what began as a UM research project conducted with students evolved into a desktop software solution that makes "conceptual searching" possible. The technology hunts through hundreds of thousands of documents and deduces the concept behind keywords (including misspellings and acronyms), saving small- and medium-sized law firms considerable time and money. When commercialization of the project became a distinct possibility, Henry turned to Montana Enterprise Center (MonTEC) for help.

Montana Enterprise Center (MonTEC)

Home to pioneering entrepreneurs, MonTEC is a technology incubator, providing space, internet access, conference rooms, and video conferencing to fledgling businesses. Whether a business is in need of interns, seed funding, or business mentoring, MonTEC is there to make connections. To make a start, Henry knew he would need a mentor, and MonTEC President Joe Fanguy took on that critical role.

Fanguy encouraged Henry to pursue commercialization and use MonTEC services to lay the groundwork. "We started at MonTEC as an affiliate, which means we didn't have an office, but we could use their rooms for meetings and video conferencing, as well as have a mailbox," said Henry. Having these facilities at his disposal simplified scheduling meetings with his collaborators. And when he was ready for an office, MonTEC offered low-cost space that included power and internet, so that he had one bottom-line payment a month.

When Agile Data Services joined MonTEC, it became part of a community of entrepreneurs. Its corridors are home to early business ventures that face similar hurdles, and the unique, incubator environment encourages people to share ideas and collaborate. When Henry was frustrated about the slow adoption rate of technology into the legal field and the unpredictability of sales month to month, he knocked on doors at MonTEC and asked for advice. Henry said, "When you move into MonTEC, you find you're not alone."

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Still, starting a business involves a steep learning curve, as Henry soon discovered. So he turned to Blackstone LaunchPad as another resource to grow his business.

Blackstone LaunchPad (BLP-UM)

Blackstone LaunchPad is an international network of co-curricular and experiential campus programs designed to help drive economic development in communities with partnering universities, in an effort to increase the likelihood that students will remain in their communities to develop business initiatives. At the University of Montana, BLP helps all their clients turn ideas into real-world businesses and nonprofit corporations. Since opening in February 2014, as part of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation's Entrepreneurship Initiative, the BLP has met with more than 500 people interested in receiving...