Some famous ideas may have been launched from a single idea scribbled on a napkin – but for start-up companies looking for funding to take an idea off of the paper and into the world of real products, prototyping is an important step.
The growing number of Louisiana start-up entrepreneurs now have new tools at their disposal — at the ProtoStripes prototyping center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, which had its grand opening on Wednesday. With a $30,000 Stratasys 3-D printer and 3-D scanner, the prototyping center has already been tested by some of the businesses in LSU’s incubator.
Charlie D’Agostino heads the Louisiana Business & Technology Centerwhere the prototyping tools are located. He says that creating actual working products for investors is the key to getting funding.
“If businesses come here, we can literally build that prototype so they have a working model, and these prototypes can have moving parts," D'Agostino says. "Once we couple that with a business plan, and they present that to an investor or a bank, it gives businesses a little more credibility. It shows they’ve put in a lot more due diligence, and it shows that they may have what it takes to make that product successful.”
He adds that creating a working prototype is much better than handing an investor a piece of paper.
ProtoStripes prototyping center is open for business for entrepreneurs across the state of Louisiana.
