This funky building, at 1854 NDSU Research Circle North, is the North Dakota State University Tech Incubator.

It’s a bit off the beaten path, about a 9 minute drive from downtown and neighbors with John Deere, and an abandoned building that once was Alien Technologies (that’s a whole other story), now owned by Appareo.  The building, a 49,757-square foot facility, opened in 2007 with the purpose of helping technology startups grow.

In that it has seen success, with a list of alumni that includes Fargo 3D Printing, Pedigree Technologies, and Intelligent InSites – now, North Dakota’s fastest growing startup. Each of them started with a small team within the offices of the Incubator.

Today, there are 8 active startups working in the Incubator. Its tenants keep busy mixing chemicals, writing code, building LEGOs, and drinking lots of coffee.

I was curious to see what exactly goes on in the Incubator. So last Friday, new Nikon D60 in hand, I met up with Incubator Manager John Cosgriff, who had generously agreed to give me a tour.

Main Level: The Incubator Gatekeepers

On the main level, we greeted the Incubator staff – loving people the likes of Chuck Hoge, Paul Tefft, Kim Lucier, David Zupi and Jan Sobolik. Most of them took unwilling photos after hastily straightening up their desks. But for the sake of brevity, we’ll let them off the hook. These are the people that help run the Incubator and manage the other duties of the NDSU Research and Tech Park.

Room 21: Elinor Specialty Coatings

Downstairs we ran into Dr. Dante Battocchi and his wife Holly, co-founders of Elinor Specialty Coatings. This power couple is creating protective metal coatings that can keep out rust and other types of wear, while maintaining environmentally-friendly standards.

Here they are in their storage room, where Holly is holding a sword fish statue as an example of something the Elinor coatings could be used on. She appears to be stabbing Dante…!?

Room 33: Dr. “E” & HQC Biosciences

Next up we stopped by Dr. Erin Nyren’s office. Dr. “E” is the Founder and CEO of HQC Biosciences, Inc. and Discovery Express Kids, LLC. Nyren works with nanoscale technologies to make tools for reproducing and identifying biological and chemical compounds.

Thankfully, for all those who didn’t quite understand that last sentence, Dr. E also enjoys putting complicated science into simpler terms through games, LEGOs, and other projects that she takes to the classroom.

She wasn’t actually there when we came by so here’s an older photo of her sporting a trendy tie-dye lab coat:

Room 45: c2renew

Corey Kratcha, co-founder of c2renew, has one of the larger office spaces at the Incubator for his and Chad Ulven’s biocompostie manufacturing company. Yes, these are the guys behind the coffee cup made from coffee.

Corey keeps busy in his office, managing their team and making sure they hit payroll. They get to do a lot of fun projects too: here’s a custom designed coffee-made coffee cup they made for the Fargo- Moorhead Derby Girls!

Nearby office desks are stacked with metal cups to go inside the coffee exterior, and other branded cups for projects that are still confidential, Kratcha said. The office also sports a small garden for testing the c2sensor, which is still in the works – but in the meantime, Kratcha has been named “Master Gardener.”

Intern Corner!

Yeah, interns! This is the space where the interns from the various companies can come together to work. When we stopped in, we met one dedicated intern named Doug Lee with Summers Manufacturing. This is a company housed in the Incubator, that  designs and manufactures equipment for farmers to do seed bed preparation, chemical application, tillage and rock removal.

The next space was symbolically left empty to represent all the tech startups that fail and don’t make it. It’s part of the process, people. Respect.

But actually it’s just an open office that is waiting for new tenants! There’s a few like this, actually. If you’re looking for space, contact John at john@ndsuresearchpark.com.

Room 208: Omnibyte Technology

We then took a large, padded storage elevator to the top floor (there’s 3 floors), where we greeted one of the newer tenants: Omnibyte Technology. Ray Berry and Brian Gietzen, co-founders, are creating software automation solutions. They’re currently in the process of building the team, prepping to launch their first product.

In their office they rock a foosball table, a wall designed with Space Invader art by Ray’s daughter, and, smack dab in the middle… a sensory deprivation room.

The Sensory Deprivation Room of Doom

Yes you read that right. But this isn’t there for Omnibyte Technology. Remember that mysterious company mentioned at the beginning called Alien? Brief history, they were an RFID (radio frequency identification) tech company that had early growth, got excited, got a little too excited, got sued, and then crashed. What’s left of the company now quietly exists in California. But they’ve left behind a few remnants.

And this one is a gem.

The walls of this sense-less prison are completely covered in foamy spikes that kill all sound and smell. It was made to give the best reading on the radio frequency, to ensure that the sensors worked without anything interfering.

The tank, which cost around a half million dollars to install, would be more expensive to remove from the building than to leave it as is, Cosgriff explained. Someday he hopes another tenant to make use of it. RFID testing, anyone?

Room 205: Humach

Next up, is a small company that seems to keep relatively to itself for Fargo, called Humach (formerly Bolder Thinking). The name is pronounced “HYOO-mosh”, the combination of the words “human” and “machine.” They run a cloud-based calling service that was recently acquired, and is already in use by “Fortune 50 companies and other household brands,” said Nicole Hushka, Vice President of Product Development.

Room 215: Renuvix

We said hi and bye to Dr. Bret Chisholm, founder of Renuvix, as he rushed to a meeting. But we did catch his business partner, Andrey Popadyuk. The Ukranian scientist works in a lab at the Incubator, that looks like something out of Dexter’s Laboratory.

There he mixes things like table sugar, biodiesel, and other polymers to create more sustainable lubricants. Their goal is to eventually remove the need for petroleum in these solutions (Read more about them here.)

The “Trust me, I’m Legit” Conference Room

The Incubator also provides high quality facilities like this conference room, which tenants can book and use to meet clients or have Skype calls. Furnished by Xcel Energy, this conference room guarantees you look too legit to quit.

Suite #7: ND Small Business Development Center

In a large-windowed office on the lower floor is Paul Smith, Regional Director of the North Dakota Small Business Development Center. The name says it all here; Smith helps small businesses with development. For free. Questions like “What is your WHY?” are scribbled on the whiteboard.

“In 2015 alone, the ND SBDC Fargo regional center assisted more than 200 clients with a variety of needs including business registration, business plan development, financial projections, capital acquisition, marketing plans, IP protection, buying and selling a business and imports/exports,” Smith said. “Best of all, our services are free to clients.”

Honorable mention

There’s a few other offices in the Incubator not pictured here. One office was left with storage from Ergologistics, the company behind the popular product Lift N’ Buddy, an innovative take on powered lifts. The company was acquired in 2013 and is transitioning out of the Incubator.

Other tenants include Hive, a social networking app started by NDSU students that is currently in BETA testing mode on the campus, and Smart C2, a company in the UAS industry creating a project management software for drones.

There are two anchor tenants, Bobcat and Cargill, that keep small teams of employees in the Incubator. Their presence takes the financial stress off running the space, John Cosgriff said.

Meet-up spaces are tucked away throughout the Incubator as well; tables, couches, a TV lounge. One such corner is where the Founders Group meets, Cosgriff said. It’s a meet-up where company founders gather for coffee and pitching questions at each other.

“They really benefit from helping each other out,” Cosgriff said.

The rent prices vary depending on the space, he said. For a single space it will likely be about $300 per month, and larger spaces are per square foot. The Incubator is an ideal space for companies with 1-12 people, he said.

To see what’s possible post-Incubator, one need only look out the window. Open land surrounds the space, ripe, waiting for new companies to spread their wings.

Learn more about the Incubator here!

Photos by Marisa Jackels.

Except the first one and the one of Dr. E, those are courtesy of NDSU.