Summerville company offering incubator space, expertise for startups

Charleston Regional Business Journal
Andy Owens
July 8, 2009

A Summerville company that provides data for national telecommunications companies is hoping to attract budding entrepreneurs who need advice, services and space to grow.

The management team of KFR Services Inc. thinks the recession has created a market for startups as would-be entrepreneurs feel the urge to step out on their own, said Stephanie Fetchen, co-president of the company.

KFR has enough office space to host two or three companies and has management experience and expertise to offer, something many startups lack, she said. She said it would be ideal for companies to rotate in and out of the space every few years as they become successful.

“More people might want to start a business but might not have the resources to get it off the ground,” Fetchen said. “We do have some empty office space, and we’re looking for new things to get into and new ways to expand the company.”

KFR management sees aligning the company with new, innovative companies as a growth area, Fetchen said. An agreement would be made upfront for KFR to take a percentage after a company gains a measure of success.

Fetchen said KFR is open to businesses in all phases, even those just in the idea phase.

“If they need help developing a business plan, we’re willing to take them that early on,” Fetchen said. “I think ideally it would be tech or information-type services, but we don’t want to exclude other opportunities.”

The application process is available online. The company will select two or three applicants and then get to work.

Services KFR plans to provide include Internet access, accounting, payroll, billing, strategic planning, first-level IT support, furnished office space, building security, phones and free parking.

“We’d like it ultimately to be an ongoing thing, where we have two or three at the time,” Fetchen said. “We don’t want to be in their business, but it is a chance to generate some more revenue for us in three to five years. When they are successful — some time in the future that’s defined in the contract, three to five years — we get paid at that point.”

KFR’s core business is in analyzing and providing data on phone calls, including land lines and some wireless, to determine whether a call is long-distance or local. It’s a specialized niche information technology business, Fetchen said, adding that nondisclosure agreements prevented her from revealing the names of KFR’s customers. She said they were large, well-known telecommunications companies.

KFR moved from New Jersey to Summerville about 12 years ago as a quality of life change for the owners and because the state was offering job-creation incentives when the Navy base closed, Fetchen said.

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