It only takes one

May. 10, 2010  |  By: Lynn Parman  |  Category: Economic Development, Entrepreneurs, KC Animal Health Corridor
Tags: Animal Health Investment Forum, Entrepreneurs, investors

Walking into our local neighborhood art store with my six year old daughter, Riley and my husband, Jason was supposed to be just ordinary. Our goal: find some new art for our newly remodeled basement.  I wanted abstract, contemporary art; my husband wanted something “different” and my daughter wanted something with a lot of pink.  What we bought was all of that and so much more.

As we were wandering around the store Jason and I got into our art groove.  He’d point out prints and I’d find pictures I liked but I’d find something wrong with the color or frame.  Riley would run to me every thirty seconds with a new picture that had butterflies, princesses or pink and claim to have found the perfect picture for our basement.  The fourth time Riley tugged at my jeans I said “Ok, I’ll follow you, sweetie.”  When we came to a group of three pictures I immediately was taken by the level of detail, the colors and the perfect white matte with black frames.  I couldn’t really tell what the pictures were and that’s what I loved.

I caught the sales associate walking by and asked what he could tell me about the prints.  Alex, who we would later learn was Alexander W. Wilson, a KC Art Institute graduate, said that they were actually his.  I called Jason over and we began to connect.

Alex worked on the three pictures for over three years.  They told the stories of his college years living on nothing but his passion for art in his Gladstone, Missouri apartment, and how somehow it was enough.  Alex also told Riley that he knew he wanted to be an artist when he was six years old, which coincidentally is her age.  My budding artist, Riley, beamed and hung on every one of Alex’s “superhero-like” artist words.

We looked at every picture, canvas and frame in the store but kept coming back to Alex’s work.  Finally, I called Alex over and said “how much?”  He actually blushed but quoted me a fair price.  I could see his hands shaking as he carried his three years – I mean pictures – to the register.  As he rang up the pictures he said, “You are the first to buy my work,” choking back tears.

Our interaction with Alex made me think of the young animal health companies I talk to on a regular basis about the KC Animal Health Corridor. It only takes one person, company or venture capitalist seeing a young company’s work to set them on the path to success.  Just as we believed in Alex; many early stage companies hold their breath before each investor pitch because this could be the day they are discovered.

On August 31, the KC Animal Health Corridor will host the 2nd Annual Animal Health Investment Forum.  Early stage animal health companies from around the world have applied to present their business ventures to an audience of people that could license their technology, acquire or fund their company.

At last year’s Investment Forum, seventeen early stage companies had their twelve minutes to be discovered.  Every single one of these companies made business connections that have advanced their company and they all responded that they would recommend the Forum to other early stage companies.  In fact, more than $15 million has been raised by these companies as a result of the Forum.

Whether it’s the latest test to detect diseases in cattle, the newest website for pet owners to access information about their sick animal, or a non-invasive alternative to spaying your dog; this forum allows these young companies an audience with people that will literally change their life.

That warm April Saturday at our local art store was a game changer for Alexander W. Wilson.  His art store gave him the audience to be discovered.  Whether an art store in KC or a global investment forum; it only takes one person to change a young entrepreneur’s path forever.