Need some conversation about your small business? Use your laptop, iPad, smartphone or whatever and connect with the Fox Valley Entrepreneurship Center. Still in the birthing process, the FVEC is a virtual small business support center that is part incubator, part accelerator but mostly its own energetic entity.
The best way to explain the FVEC is to explore some of its projects:
* Position-Tech LLC. Created by four former Northern Illinois University students — two of whom were football players — Position-Tech has developed the very first position-specific replacement cleats for football shoes.
Think about it. Offensive linemen bracing to protect their quarterback from defensive linemen digging to get at him, and receivers racing downfield should benefit from differently positioned shoe cleats.
“Our original idea was to go into footwear,†says Christian Anderson, chief marketing officer of the Chicago-based Position-Tech. “But that was going to take millions of dollars in R&D and marketing.