Eaton Peabody Launches Innovative Enterprise Program to Assist Local Start-ups

April 18, 2009

For entrepreneurial and start-up companies, the toughest challenges to overcome can be access to funding, and sophisticated legal advice to help the business succeed. But in Bangor, Eaton Peabody attorneys are ready to help.

With the newly launched Eaton Peabody Innovative Enterprise Program, or as it is commonly called “IEP,” legal expenses are reduced and deferred. This will help start-up and emerging companies in the early stages of their business development. According to Eaton Peabody attorney Jeffrey Spaulding, that help will “be good for both the business and our regional economy.” That’s because the businesses targeted by the IEP program are highly technical, scientific and often hard to fund initially.

Legal expenses are a major factor for any business starting up, but for a technology based business, the legal work is essential because of the complicated patents, permits, and contracts necessary for these businesses to succeed.

“Participation in the program is selective,” Spaulding said. “but it’s the perfect way to jump start the type of venture that we’re targeting.”

For the IEP program, Eaton Peabody plans to draw from a diverse cross-section of the Maine economy including information technology, biotechnology, green/clean technology, energy, innovative wood products, composites, precision manufacturing, and aquaculture. But that does not mean that businesses in other sectors will be excluded.

A program over a decade in the making

According to attorney David Austin, “Eaton Peabody has a long history of working with innovative business start-ups and emerging companies. Our experience led us to ask what types of creative programs can we establish that might help these technology businesses succeed and grow our local economy for the long term. Our clients are creative and innovative, so we need to be as well.”

And despite the dire national news about the economy, the attorneys at Eaton Peabody are positive that this is the kind of economic stimulus that the state needs. “The timing is very appropriate,” Attorney Thomas Trenholm said. “We believe it’s important to give [new business owners] the opportunity and then follow through with them and not allow them to stumble for lack of counsel. Business owners have lots of questions and if they can sit down with an attorney it helps a lot.”

Spaulding agreed. “It’s often a Catch 22 - these high-growth businesses need cash to afford legal services, but if they don’t have access to the legal services in the first place, they often can’t put the structures in place to raise that cash,” he said. “What the program really does is help these businesses get around this so they can grow faster. This initiative essentially says our firm will make a long-term commitment to your business and we feel there isn’t a better time given the state of the economy.”

Patents — which can make or break these types of businesses with otherwise viable products or concepts — are a perfect example of where the program could make a huge difference.

“In the patent world, a lot of times all a person will have is an idea, but they don’t have the money,” said registered patent agent, Dennis Haszko. “To gain any traction in the business world, especially in the venture capital world, the big question is: ‘how do you start a cycle without the cash? And that’s a dilemma that we believe the Innovative Enterprise Program can help a business owner conquer.”

Getting through the gate

According to Spaulding, the application process starts with a preliminary conflicts search. This helps assures Eaton Peabody that there are no conflicts of interest. Assuming no conflict exists, the applicant would fill out a Supplemental Program Application, which would begin the screening and selection process. If   the applicant is not selected, Spaulding said, the firm might still provide legal advice, resources, and assistance, just not through IEP.

Successful applicants would then have access to Eaton Peabody’s expertise and experience but the majority of their legal fees would be reduced or deferred interest-free until an agreed upon fee repayment event. Candidates likely to be selected are start-ups that haven’t launched yet, but show significant market potential for the product or proprietary technology, or later-phase “emerging growth” companies with a committed customer base, successful revenue streams, and a promising place in the market. These types of businesses will be given “preferential consideration” according to Eaton Peabody.

“This program [helps address the] aspiration gap in this state,” Spaulding said. “Nobody wakes up one day and says ‘I want to be an entrepreneur and here’s how I’ll be successful.’ We can guide them in the legal aspects of that path to growth and, through this initiative, we can provide them with some of the tools.”

Trenholm agreed. “That’s what it’s going to take to bolster the economy,” he said. “We want these businesses to succeed. And we are going to do all we can to help them.”

For further information about Eaton Peabody and the Innovative Enterprise Program, please contact Jeffrey Spaulding at 1-800-564-0111 or visit eatonpeabody.com.