Applications due Feb. 17 for 406 Labs spring incubator program

BOZEMAN — Montana State University’s Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship’s 406 Labs is accepting applications for its spring 2023 incubator. The 10-week program aims to help those who have developed business concepts or researched a potential new business to create solid business plans and identify the steps needed clarify their approach to markets, customers, strategy, financials and more.  

All Montana residents and MSU students, faculty, staff and alumni are eligible for the program.  MSU faculty and graduate students with research projects working toward commercialization of a technology are especially encouraged to apply. Details and the application can be found at montana.edu/business/entrepreneurship/406labs.html. The deadline to apply is Friday, Feb. 17. The program is free to all participants. 

Pat LaPointe, managing director of Frontier Angels and the founder of Early Stage MT, is the facilitator for the spring group. 

406 Labs is also looking for established entrepreneurs and subject matter experts to mentor those accepted to the incubator. The mentor application can also be found on the program website. 

Zeynep Malkoc, a graduate student working with Stephanie McCalla, associate professor in MSU's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, participated in the 406 Labs Incubator program last spring with a venture idea on Neurofluidic Diagnostics.   

"406 Labs really helped me with fusing scientific and business language and coming up with a clear pitch narrative,” Malkoc said. “Besides that, 406 Labs connected me with a very helpful, dedicated mentor who gave thoughtful and detailed feedback for my project."  

McCalla recently received an MSU Catalyst gap grant building on Neurofluidic Diagnostics’ ideas in collaboration with the Kunze Lab in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  

“There is a large gap between developing technology and bringing it to customers. Collaborating with 406 Labs allowed us to bridge this gap; they helped us with critical details from customer discovery to logo design,” McCalla said. 

For questions about 406 Labs and the incubator program, call 406-994-4383 or write to info@msulaunchpad.org.  

The Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship offers four undergraduate options of study – accounting, finance, management and marketing – as well as five minors - accounting; business administration; entrepreneurship and small business management; finance; and international business. It also offers a master of professional accountancy degree, master of science in innovation and management, a business certificate and an entrepreneurship certificate. 

MSU’s Blackstone LaunchPad helps MSU students succeed in entrepreneurship and in their careers. Open to all MSU students, faculty and alumni, the campus based LaunchPad provides mentoring, opportunities for participants to grow their networks and resources to help their businesses succeed. For more information, visit montana.edu/launchpad/.