Reduce, Reuse, Rebrand

Also-ran identities live again

In the latest issue of Springwise (Springwise newsletter | 18 September 2008), Texas-based IncSpring was featured. The company creates an online market for corporate brand identities that have already been created, or in other words pre-fabbed brands.

Where do they come from? Any company launching a new branding identity knows that there are always also-ran ideas that didn't make the final cut. The founders of IncSpring realized those brands still had value, even if they weren't selected by the original client, so why not recycle the alternate brand identities?

Clever idea. But we'll have to see if entrepreneurs, who are notoriously cheap, will be willing to pay for even a "discount" brand. .:.

P.S. The non-Texan creators of Websource.it (a nifty little search engine that essentially works like the "Ask the Audience" lifeline on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) have posted a six-page PDF case study of the process they used to develop their brand name. Interesting read.

Austin's Fastest

19 Austin firms named to Inc. 5000

AustinStartup.com, the nicely put together blog/online publication, recently listed the 19 Austin-based outfits named to Inc. Magazine's ranking of the country's 5,000 fastest growing companies. Altogether, AustinStartup.com reports 378 Texas-based companies were named to Inc.'s list this year, representing 7.5% of the whole list.

On a per-capita basis, that is actually a touch low since Texas now has about 7.9% of the United States' 301 million people (find Census Bureau data here). Put another way, Texas' location quotient for fastest-growing businesses was 0.946 (an LQ >1 would mean a higher-than-normal distribution).

Surprisingly, with just 19 companies on the list, the Austin-Roundrock MSA has an even lower LQ than Texas overall--just 0.72. Of course, the Inc. 5000 is just a list created by a magazine publisher, but it's interesting to note the discrepancy none the less. .:.

Growing War Chest

Vaccine developer Bellicum adds to seed round

According to VentureWire Alert, Houston-based Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $1.03 million as part of an ongoing seed round. That brings its total capital raised to almost $5 million. In October 2007, the cancer vaccine developer announced it had received $1.45 million from the State of Texas’ Emerging Technology Fund and an additional $2.3 million seed funding.

The company is located in the Greenway Plaza near downtown Houston. .:.