The IEC has over nine thousand square feet of office space, located in a historic 19^th Century mill building in Newton.  We have more than three dozen, fully-furnished contemporary workstations for use by start-up and emerging growth companies. 

The IEC’s distinctive combination of hands-on, active mentoring and business advisory services; an international network of partners in Latin America, Europe and China; and an educational component---both on-line and live---that is focused on entrepreneurship has attracted several promising companies from the US and Latin America.  Interested parties can learn more by visiting www.iecpartners.com.  The IEC is accepting applications, which are available through the website under the Entrepreneurs tab.

The five founding partners of IEC have considerable experience in managing start-ups and advising companies on growth strategies in many parts of the world.  Our collective experience, expertise and networks are key components that we look forward to bringing to bear on behalf of many companies.  Additionally, we are forging relationships with other hatcheries and accelerators in Brazil, Chile, China and Western Europe.  These partners of the IEC will help to identify promising companies to join us here in Newton; additionally, when one of our companies here wants to expand into other regions or countries they will be able to tap into the networks and expertise of our other partners.”

We typically eschew angel and venture financing as it corrupts our basic tenet of “Customer Centricity.”    We believe that one builds a sustainable business by identifying an unmet customer need, and then, if it is profitable, replicating it.  Small successes build credibility and expand one’s network resulting in growth of the business.  Implicit in this approach is the need to spend more time customers, learning their business models, sensing their pain and finding solutions to monetize. 

Looking for funding when one does not have a clear business model is a significant distraction.  Once a clear model is identified then there always seems to be easier and less expensive sources of financing, especially non-dilutive customer and channel partner funding.