Getting a business off the ground can be tough, particularly if you don’t have much of an address to attach to your marketing bundle. Auburn University helped resolve that issue Oct. 6 with the opening of the Tiger Cage Accelerator and Incubator, a new space at Auburn Research Park with office and meeting space, as well as access to mentors.
The 2, 700-square-foot Tiger Cage A&I, at 570 Devall Drive, is a project of the Harbert College of Business’ Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship and Auburn’s Research and Technology Foundation.
“Instead of us saying, ‘Hey, we’re working out of this garage or apartment, ’ we have a legit business at this great facility, ” says Jackson Speaks, a sophomore finance major in the Harbert College of Business, who co-founded Funnel, a mobile app that consolidates friends’ social media networks.
The incubator provides both an open, collaborative environment for Auburn’s business students and structure to help in the early stages of entrepreneurialism, says LaKami Baker, managing director of the Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship.
The new space will certainly attract new talent, says Chris Maurice, a senior in finance at the Harbert College of Business. “I think over the next few years we’ll see a lot more people coming to Auburn for entrepreneurship rather than the people already here being inspired.”
Text by Dave Helms
