The next big high-tech or consumer goods idea may be coming to you from an office building in Mineola.
That is the hope of LaunchPad Long Island, a self-described “business accelerator” company that recently opened a 12,000-square foot headquarters at 55 Mineola Blvd.
LaunchPad Long Island co-founder Andrew Hazen said the company will provide aspiring entrepreneurs with office space in Mineola to brainstorm and help turn their ideas into reality.
“If we understand it, we’re open to possibly investing in it,” Hazen said.
Since February, Hazen said he and his LaunchPad partner Richard Foster have heard more than 200 presentations from people looking to get seed money for new business ideas.
Hazen said he has personally set up a fund of $250,000 to support ventures in which LaunchPad might take an equity share.
LaunchPad made its first investment in Hauppauge-based GroupGifting.com, a social gifting service started by the founders of Invision, earlier this year.
Prospective start-ups are occupying some of the 11 third floor office suites in LaunchPad’s 12,000-square-foot headquarters with other companies just leasing space, Hagen said.
LaunchPad is also offering aspiring entrepreneurs a desk in a second-floor co-working space for $100 per month – $200 if the person wants a dedicated desk.
In its first floor Blastoff Lounge, entrepreneurs can relax on couches and exchange ideas or watch TV, play pool, foosball or ping pong.
“It’s like an entrepreneur paradise,” Hazen said. “People are looking for ways to do marketing. You’ll have a better chance of success if you’re in our ecosystem.”
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano recently visited LaunchPad to give the company his imprimatur for its efforts.
Hazen said LaunchPad located near the Mineola Long Island Rail Road station to provide the entrepreneurs it draws with ready access to Manhattan.
“We wanted to be less than an hour by train to Manhattan,” he said.
Hazen, a lawyer with Ruskin Moscou Faltischek and an entrepreneur himself, knows something about the high-return business terrain.
Several years ago, he developed a full-service Internet marketing agency called Prime Visibility. He sold it in 2007 to private equity investors and stayed on as CEO. The company was subsequently bought by Blinx for $36 million.
Hazen is also CEO of the Angel Dough Fund in Hicksville, which spawned a custom bobblehead business, AllBobbleheads.com, a few years ago.
Angel Dough also has a mail order bagel-of-the-month club with bagels produced by the Hewlett-based Bagel Boss.
“You can pick your flavors and you get your dozen,” Hazen said.
Hazen is also on the board of directors of Long Island Angel Network, one of LaunchPad’s sponsors, also seeks to fund promising start-ups.
Hazen said LaunchPad’s sponsors provide different support services. Hofstra University and egc group sponsor a speaker series at LaunchPad headquarters. Ruskin Moscou Faltischek sponsors the first floor “Flight Deck” where the Blastoff Lounge is located, providing a lawyer offering free legal advice to budding entrepreneurs once a week. Touro Law sponsors plasma TVs in the building. Hofstra, KPMG and Stony Brook University sponsor conference rooms.
He said his LaunchPad partner, Foster, is a marketing entrepreneur who owns two construction companies and has investments in six companies.
Along with funding the start-ups and buying in, Hazen said he figures to create efficiencies by using accountants, attorneys, and sales people from the LaunchPad staff or Angel Dough staff – which collectively include 15 employees. Those staffs include a business analyst and an advertising man, he said.
“You can start to leverage key assets across multiple companies,” he said.
Hazen said they expect to do between four and six deals a year and hope that one or two give a good return on their investment.
“The goal ultimately is that 80 percent of the tenants there we have equity in,” he said.
While Hazen and Foster keep things incubating in Mineola, Hazen said they’re contemplating opening a second LaunchPad location in Huntington in the near future.
Aspiring entrepreneurs can take the first step by applying for seed money online at www.launchpadli.com.
