Many entrepreneurs would find it challenging enough to start one successful small business. For Bill Adamowski and Steve Adamson, who together in the past five years have launched four technology companies that each have impressive regional or national client lists, starting and building companies has become an enterprise of its own.

Blue Ocean Ventures LLC, a for-profit technology incubator company the partners formed earlier this year, has begun working with entrepreneurs who are seeking an experienced joint-venture partner to provide them with expertise and venture capital, as well as office space and other business resources.

“It’s really about creating companies, but not just necessarily with our ideas,” said Adamowski, “and, how do we get that company off the ground or to the next level?”

Prior to starting his own companies, Adamowski was chief technology officer of a division of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Inc., and earlier worked for Deloitte Consulting to develop technology strategies for clients that included General Motors Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. Adamson, a software consultant who has led development projects for companies such as SunTrust Banks Inc. and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, has 15 years of software development experience. Blue Ocean also brought aboard Miriam Ubben, former president of the statewide industry group Software Information Technology of Iowa, as its president in May.

Four months ago, Blue Ocean moved to a 5,000-square-foot leased space in Urbandale to house three of its four current companies, with room for additional businesses to move in.

Part of the incubator space will be filled by MortgageHub, which plans to create 36 new positions within the next two years as it brings the company back to Iowa from Philadelphia. Founded in 1999 by Adamson and Adamowski, MortgageHub specializes in building Web-based, custom lending software for mortgage brokers and banks.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is raise the profile of the company and put in on a growth path,” said Adamowski, who is MortgageHub’s chairman, “and that’s one of the reasons we wanted it a little closer to us to make some of that stuff happen.”

In August, MortgageHub received a $150,000 Community Economic Betterment Account loan package from the Iowa Department of Economic Development, matched by $25,000 from the city of Urbandale. The company, which is now in the process of moving to Urbandale, also has an application pending for $300,000 in training assistance through the state’s workforce training program.

Blue Ocean is “an exciting company to work with,” said Bob Layton, Urbandale’s city manager. “They’re willing to take some risks. We were excited when they approached us about MortgageHub, because they could have gone anywhere.”

Other companies under Blue Ocean’s umbrella include Praxis Technology Group, a strategic technology consulting group that employs 25 to 35 consultants at any given time; SpeechVantage, a speech-recognition software company with six employees in Philadelphia; and DocuMesh, a document-management business launched earlier this year that focuses on small to mid-sized companies. DocuMesh, which has an application for funding assistance pending with the Iowa Department of Economic Development, expects to grow to 19 employees within three years.

A fifth company may soon be added to Blue Ocean’s portfolio. Ubben said the company recently entered into a preliminary agreement for its first “outside-in” project to assist a start-up company that has approached it about forming a joint venture.

“The way we structured this particular project, they came in asking for a lot of money, but what they really needed was a lot of infrastructure support, Web site design, office space and a receptionist to screen visitors,” said Ubben, who said it was too early to identify the company. “The differentiation between what we’re doing and what other incubators are doing is that we really want to joint venture versus just bringing the companies in and giving them space.”

Blue Ocean’s equity stake in its companies can vary from as little as 5 percent to up to a 50 percent partnership, depending on how much the business brings to the table, Adamowski said. Additionally, the size of the investment varies according to the capital needs of the enterprise.

“The initial seed funding goes anywhere from $50,000 in a ‘how do we get it off the bootstrap’ scenario to somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000 to develop an operational working capital budget for the first year,” he said. “From there, the question becomes, ‘Do we up our investment or look for outside investment on a larger scale to continue on?’ That’s where the angel networks come in, at the $200,000 to $400,000 range. And then from the institutional lenders, we’d be looking for $1 million-plus, and if it’s the right initiative, $5 million to $10 million-plus.

Companies don’t have to be a joint venture partner or tenant to work with Blue Ocean, however. POPStar Networks, a Clive-based applications service provider that specializes in developing and managing networks that deliver targeted big-screen advertising messages, has had a continuing relationship with Blue Ocean, said Randy Califf, POPStar’s president and CEO.

“Blue Ocean provided us with some support services this past spring, and made some introductions to a couple of East Coast capital prospects for us,” Califf said. “We have also discussed some joint development projects and technical advice, and we are still in discussions with them about ways to work together.”

Potential clients of Blue Ocean could also include start-up technology companies at the Iowa State University Research Park seeking assistance in marketing their products, or larger companies that may have intellectual property that could be commercialized to expand the business horizontally, Ubben said.

Mike Upah, assistant director of ISU’s Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, said he’s hopeful Blue Ocean will serve as a “very good resource” for emerging companies.

“There is a gap between what the founders of companies have skills to do and their ability to fill that gap with qualified employees,” Upah said. “A company like Blue Ocean might be able to help fill that gap in a consulting role, and maybe more.”

For instance, Blue Ocean “might provide some funding that allows the company to achieve a milestone and position itself for another round of financing,” he said. “One of the most important things it may do is connect the company with potential clients. The network of people within those incubators can often help those relationships happen more quickly; they may get a look they might not normally get.”

Though its companies have been largely self-funded to this point, Blue Ocean will probably use local investors to provide early-stage seed capital as it adds businesses to its portfolio, Adamowski said. For larger financing rounds, the company will likely work with regional angel investors or institutional investors.

Looking ahead to when its companies become marketable acquisition targets, Blue Ocean has established a relationship with Jefferies Broadview, a New York-based investment banking firm that specializes in brokering the sale or mergers of technology businesses.

“Once you create these different networks and you have people willing to invest in these different initiatives, the key is to have good deals come across their table, so that it does foster more of a community of entrepreneurs,” Adamowski said. “Today, Iowa is probably a little more likely to invest in real estate than in entrepreneurial ventures. Part of our role is to bring very good deals to the table.”

For more information on the company, visit www.blueoceanventures.com.