By Milt Capps Last updated 5:02 a.m. Dec. 8, 2008
Published Monday, December 7, 2009 10:25 am
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Three 40-something entrepreneurs in Chattanooga are launching an incubator for mobile-tech start-ups and recruiting capital for investment.
First, though, they have to incubate themselves: Jeff Cole told VNC this morning Three Point Ventures LLC has worked months on its business plan and began three weeks ago seeking outside investment. The company hopes to leverage the apparently still-growing wave of interest in "revolutionary [mobile-tech] ideas that are truly disruptive and address large, unmet market needs."Cole (at right) said the company, bootstrapped thus far by its three founders, has targeted a $1.2 million raise from friends,
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family and Angel investors, and has gotten a surprising amount of "face time," from the outset. Investors, he said, are being asked to invest in Three Point, itself, although investors will in future have the option of investing directly in investment funds created by Three Point.
Cole explained that Three Point is placing priority on business "concepts" the founders have, themselves, been developing, but they hope also to fund several outside projects in 2010. Cole said the incubator is close to retaining a prominent attorney, and is likely to retain accountants and align with a FINRA-licensed broker.Three Point Founder and Senior Partner Bo Ferger, 44, cites among his career highlights the founding of Synctrix Inc., where he designed and developed video-production technology; his partnership in Angeles Ventures, a VC that incubated startups; and, a stint as VP design and technology at Cinebase Inc., a digital media asset management software company. Ferger says the Angeles Ventures partnership led to formation of eMaiMai, an online auction site for Asia, for which Ferger says he served as "chief technical officer." Ferger says he began his career as a founding partner in Light Visions, an Atlanta 3D digital graphics house. He earned his bachelor's in graphic design at the University of Tennessee, in 1988.
According to the company, Co-founder and Partner Doug Johnson, 42, has spent 20 years in information technology, software development and related fields.
Cole, 48, has long worked in advertising, product development, interactive and corporate communications, and was most recently president of an advertising firm, Logic Marketing, which has rebranded since Cole's departure to Area203.
VNC research suggests that a year ago, Cole was still with Logic, providing mobile ad-campaign services to such firms as PayDayMax, the short-term lender. ♦