TECHNOCATION - Cleaning up in the environmental clean-up business

March 20, 2002
By PATTY RIPPIN,
Special to the Daily Record

In a year where most technology companies were reeling from the economic downturn, a Baltimore incubator company is defying expectations. Over the past year, Columbia Technologies (www.columbiadata.com) has doubled in size for the second time, increased gross revenues by 80 percent, and proved that a passion for the environment and business success can coexist.

Columbia Tech's co-founders, President Ned Tillman and CEO John Sohl, are role models for regional entrepreneurs. I sat down with Tillman recently to share some secrets of what it takes to do well in what is always a risky venture — starting your own business.

Lesson One: Don't go it alone.

“John and I had worked together before,” Tillman said. “We had a vision for dramatically changing an industry and knew that we worked well together. It's very hard for one person to start a business. Any given day one of us might have to go jump on a plane and handle something at a job site, and the other must be able to hold down the fort. It's all about creating a realistic vision and building a team of real talent to pursue it.”

Lesson Two: Green is good.

In the little spare time he has, Tillman serves as president of the board of the Howard County Conservatory. When we met he was fresh from a meeting about a new environmental education center they are building at the Mt Pleasant Farm and a discussion of its future use for Maryland Living Classrooms projects.

“I became a geologist because I like nature and I like to be outside,” he said. “My father was a conservationist. I think being a scientist and a conservationist goes hand in hand. Its exciting that one can build a dynamic business in a field that will benefit all of us”

Columbia is poised to make an impact in a rapidly growing market.

“Everyday our society spends $100 million on environmental issues. Most of that work is done with older and less accurate approaches. We get results in 24 hours that used to take weeks and months,” Tillman said.

Lesson Three: Starting a company is not for the squeamish.

“The fear is real. There's a great deal of fear, fear of not making payroll, fear that a project might not turn out well, there are a lot of issues one has to stay on top of to build a successful company — folks who just work for big companies don't have to worry about that too much,” Tillman said with a laugh.

Lesson Four: Loosen up and look at the long-term picture.

“You've got to be focused on the big picture, not just the day-to-day,” said Tillman. “You have to realize that things are going to change. Your vision will evolve, and you have to be pretty flexible. You have to be honest, enjoy working with people, and be able to give it everything you've got.”

Columbia Technologies specializes in what they call “SmartData” for helping property owners, such as large corporations and the Department of Defense, get a clearer picture of polluted soil and water conditions under their sites. All properties need to be tested before they can be bought or sold.

With job sites and offices across the country, Columbia is growing fast, as new contracts and recruits roll in. Tillman's humble nature and the office's too-busy-to-look-chic atmosphere are the only tip offs that this is technically still an incubator company.

Columbia's signature technology, the MIP, or membrane interface probe, provides super-fast images of Superfund sites that save customers time, money and also are safer than traditional industry methods. “It's like an MRI of the Earth's subsurface,” said Tillman.

Although over 50 percent of their business is military, the list of local projects that Columbia Technologies has worked on is surprising. Camden Yards, the old Montgomery Ward building, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Meade, Fort Detrick, the Patuxent River Naval Facility, and Spring Valley in Washington DC (near American University) just to name a few. The firm also has projects coming up for major oil companies and one that will take them underneath the Hudson River at New York Harbor.

They came to UMBC to work closer with contacts in the Chemistry Department and with a notion that the resources of a university related incubator could help. Columbia has taken advantage of the UMBC Center's network of professionals to sharpen their business model with help from capital providers, marketing support, accounting and other services. Columbia has also hired two UMBC graduates and currently supports two graduate students.

So where does a fast-growing firm in a futuristic market go from here?

“We think we will revolutionize the industry,” Tillman said. “I see a bright future for Columbia Technologies in the cleaning up of America.”