SHERIDAN — The Wyoming Business Council is no longer funding IMPACT 307.
WBC has partnered with the organization for several years and paid it $575,000 over the last biennium, which is roughly $287,500 per year. The funding will run out June 30.
According to the IMPACT 307 website, the organization partners with communities in all four corners, and the center, of Wyoming. The program has locations listed in Carbon County, Fremont County, Goshen County, Park County, Casper, Cheyenne, Gillette, Laramie, Sheridan and Uinta.
IMPACT 307 was originally founded as the Wyoming Technology Business Center to facilitate entrepreneurship in the state. The organization rebranded to IMPACT 307 in June 2020 and has continued its purpose while also aiming to serve as a network of business incubators to support founders.
The latest contract between WBC and IMPACT 307 was intended to fund the Start-Up Challenge Pitch Night contests around the state, the development of an operations playbook and a mechanism to work closely with the University of Wyoming’s technology transfer office. The WBC board voted during its December meeting to stop funding IMPACT 307.
“That particular scope of work was not being executed and that’s why we have (ended) our funding,” WBC CEO Josh Dorrell said.
IMPACT 307 has hosted 11 Start-Up Challenges across the state, including one in Sheridan since 2017. A panel of judges heard five pitches at this year’s event in Sheridan and ultimately awarded $5,000 to Van Dorsten Custom Firearms, NotFoundBot and IXNAY. The judges are set to reconvene in the coming weeks to assess the progress made by the winners and award the remaining funds, approximately $80,000. IMPACT 307 also offers business counseling.
In the absence of funding from WBC — which accounted for roughly 25% of IMPACT 307’s funding — University of Wyoming Vice President for Research and Economic Development Parag Chitnis said IMPACT 307 will travel around the state to determine which services — such as the Start-Up Challenges, business mentorship and client incubation — are most needed in each community.
“While doing that, we are also looking at how WBC is going to support entrepreneurship in this state so that services IMPACT 307 offers will complement, and not duplicate, what WBC will do,” Chitnis said.
Chitnis said he plans to visit Sheridan by the end of February and expects to visit other Wyoming communities over the course of the next six months, as weather permits. Chitnis also said he expects IMPACT 307’s facility in Sheridan, located at 1981 Double Eagle Drive, to remain open after funding from WBC runs out. IMPACT 307 Sheridan Director Scot Rendall said he was unable to comment.
Dorrell said WBC is working closely with the University of Wyoming to find another entity to address the needs of the state’s entrepreneurs, and he expects to have a vendor selected and onboard within the next two months.
“We see that role as being necessary in the state, regardless of who fulfills that role,” Dorrell said. “That’s an important thing to have.”