CEDAR FALLS - When five partners founded Far Reach Technologies Inc. they had more than 50 years of software-development experience, but zero legal and accounting experience.

"Basically we had no experience running a business," said Jason Nissen, president and CEO of Far Reach.

The University of Northern Iowa Innovation Incubator gave the fledgling business legal and accounting help, along with an address, utilities and office equipment to get started.

"That took away some of the stress of starting up," Nissen said.

Far Reach was the incubator's first client when it opened in the summer of 2007. The company was also the first to "graduate," moving into its own home on Main Street in Cedar Falls.

"They're our first big success story," said Maureen Collins-Williams, director, UNI Regional Business Center. "You will be seeing a lot of businesses of this caliber coming out of this facility."

The incubator rents space to new businesses and gives them utilities, computer and Internet access, office equipment and an address.

"What we're talking about is reducing your risk and helping you grow," said Dan Beenken, manager of the incubator.

By providing resources and minimizing early risk, the incubator maximizes the chances a business will thrive, Beenken said.

Located in the UNI Business and Community Services Building, the incubator provides space to anyone who presents a sound business plan and can pay the rent. Tenants are given two years to get on their own feet.

Although it is on campus and businesses have the resources of UNI faculty at their fingertips, incubator tenants are not students. Their success after the two-year occupancy limit is their only final exam.

"This is the real world here," Beenken said.

For some business owners, having office space and their own phone lines are the first step in entrepreneurship.

"It also lends us an air of credibility to our clients," said Neal White, of Cohesive Creative & Code Inc. "We're not just a couple of guys working out of a basement, which is probably what we'd be doing if we weren't here."

Arend Miller and White founded Cohesive and began renting space at the incubator in August. They said the resources at the incubator encouraged them to start their own business.

"When we started talking about starting a business, that really got the gears turning," Miller said.

Plugging the 'brain drain'

White and Miller had both left the Cedar Valley after school but returned to start the business.

"Incubators like this can be a solution to our brain-drain problem," Beenken said. "You can make your own opportunities."

To help young entrepreneurs create opportunities here in the Cedar Valley, 10 incubator suites are available for UNI students at the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. Not all the students who launch businesses from the suites are business students, said Laurie Watje, program associate.

"You don't have to be a business major to start a business," she said.

In Waterloo, the small business development center has helped 38 businesses start up using the incubator method.

"This is grass-roots economic development at its best," said Mike Hahn, center director. Hahn said the center looks for businesses that could locate and in downtown Waterloo. About 90 percent of the tenants at the center open businesses in their own locations, he added.

Moving up

The partners at Far Reach Technologies now have 18 months of experience running a business and are putting what little construction skills they have toward opening their new office at 206 Main St. in Cedar Falls.

"It's just good to finally have your own space," Nissen said. "There's something to be said about being on your own."

Nissen and his partners worked to assemble furniture, set up computers and lay carpet in their upstairs office.

"It's fun," said Feldmann, as he sat on the new carpet assembling a new office chair. "I had five years of construction work in college."

Collins-Williams said the company is in a good position to go solo.

"This company has grown rapidly but grown with real health," she said. "If I could pick a poster child for this incubator, I could not pick a better group than these five individuals."

Contact John Molseed at (319) 291-1418 or john.molseed@wcfcourier.com