U.S. Rep. Jim Himes today visited the Westport Innovation HUB in Saugatuck as part of his 17 towns in 17 days congressional break tour.
Congressman Jim Himes (2nd l.) meets today with entrepreneurs at Westport’s Innovation HUB, including founder Howard Steinberg (3rd r). (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
He toured the facility and met with local entrepreneurs and small businesses based at the center’s shared workspace at 20 Ketchum St.
The HUB is home to more than 25 small business operators and its members assist each other with capital, local resources and expertise. A core group of six members are actively looking at investing and supporting startups in southwest Connecticut.
“The HUB is harnessing the entrepreneurial energy that is vital to creating jobs and keeping southwest Connecticut at the forefront of innovation,” Himes said.
“Our country’s economic future depends on the success of the companies that are starting and growing under this roof. One of the best investments we can make in America’s future is to help these small companies grow and hire more people.”
Himes told the group he would like to see a more favorable tax code for start-up entrepreneurs.
And he called Westport a good town for entrepreneurism, with experience, successful entrepreneurs, and investment capital.
Howard Steinberg, the Westport Innovation HUB’s founder, said some of the businesses at the HUB are r”enegades from the burdens of commuting and working in New York City, and others like myself are long-time local entrepreneurs.
“If you capture the right combination of individuals and business energy under the same roof, good things will happen organically,” he said.
He added, “The bridge needed is talent. The young talent is going to urban areas. How do we get them to Fairfield County?”
Innovation HUB founder Howard Steinberg (c) makes a point to Congressman Jim Himes (l) during his visit to the facility at 20 Ketchum St. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Steinberg said he is now pulling together an ‘idea lab’ that will leverage the experience, network and capital of the group to generate new ideas for businesses based in the region.
Before founding the Westport Innovation HUB in 2013, Steinberg started two other companies in Westport over the past 25 years – Source Marketing and dLife, which have employed more than 175 people in the area.
The businesses based at the Westport Innovation HUB include New Ground Ventures, an investor in early-stage companies; Floto Imports, which imports leather handbags and luggage; and LupRocks, a product placement firm.
Joe Floto left a promising Wall Street career to start the successful leather goods import business and moved his headquarters to the Hub when it opened a year ago
Also among those present was Sarah Stabile, part inventor, entrepreneur and marketer, who started Soxxy to bring fashion to compression socks. She said she is in process of making the HUB more central to her emerging start-up.
The HUB has 5,540 square feet of office space featuring glass offices, curved work stations designed for collaboration, a coffee bar and video conference rooms.
Dave Matlow contributed reporting.
