Columbus : Innovation + Job News

Columbus-based entrepreneur Carol Clark is giving back to Ohio entrepreneurs with X Squared Angels, an angel group that provides capital to startups with a woman typically in a founder/CEO position.
 
Clark’s entrepreneurial roots date back to 1981 when she and Fran Papalios co-founded MindLeaders, an online software training company that was sold in 2007. Now she’s looking to give back by supporting startups with a woman in a leadership position.
 
“My personal experience has always been on mixed management teams,” says Clark, explaining the reasoning behind X Squared Angels’ investment strategy. “I just think we make better decisions!” She adds that she has studied data proving the economic impact is more substantial when a mixture of men and women lead the company.
 
Clark began her angel work by getting involved with the Ohio TechAngels following the sale of MindLeaders. She then attended the Angel Capital Association’s international meeting of angel organizations in Austin, Texas, where she met a group called Golden Seeds. “They shared their investment strategy and I went to a couple of their meetings in New York City,” Clark explains. “They focus on diverse management teams. You have to have at least one woman in a leadership position with equity in the company.” Clark ultimately joined the organization that would go on to inspire her work with X Squared Angels.
 
Still in their infancy, Clark and X Squared Angels have already begun negotiations for a possible investment with a female-led California-based company. Though Clark maintains there are other criteria that need to be discussed to determine if the young company is viable enough to make an investment. “It’s not a non-profit, it’s an investment fitting our investment strategy,” as Clark puts it.
 
Moving forward, Clark and her team of 15 investors are focusing on bringing in an additional 35 accredited investors to the group by the end of the year in order to start a fund. “If we have 50 investors, we can have a fund, and have more of an impact on the business,” she says. “The more investors we get and the more our name gets out there, the more applicants we’ll receive. And that can only help our economy.”
 
 
Source: Carol Clark
Writer: Joe Baur

In addition to a home office and coffee shops, Columbus entrepreneurs now have an option to work at The Salt Mines.
 
That’s the name Andy Soell and his wife, January, gave their new entrepreneur work space in a Clintonville store front just north of OSU. The name comes from an old saying about Siberian prisoners hauling salt up from deep mines. The term “back to the salt mines” refers to getting back to work, he explains.
 
Providing entrepreneurs, telecommuters and freelancers a comfortable place in which to work is what The Salt Mines is all about, Soell says. “It’s for people who would traditionally work in their home office or a coffee shop, but who are looking for something a little more dedicated and professional. The work space is built for simplicity and affordability, where individuals or small teams of people can focus on getting things done. It fills that need and also provides a sense of community,” he notes.
 
The Salt Mines provides high-speed wireless Internet, electricity, desks, fresh coffee and a small kitchen, and can accommodate a dozen people.
 
There’s also a device lab. “We wanted to provide a centralized place where designers and developers can test out their web sites and mobile applications to make sure they look their best on as wide a range of Internet-connected devices as possible,” he explains. The lab currently has an array of Apple devices, several Android phones and an Amazon Kindle tablet.
 
“The simplest way to use The Salt Mines is with a daily visitor pass,” Soell states. “Floating week passes entitle people to five days, spread out over any time frame they wish. For those interested in a more permanent daily option, we have permanent desks available for a monthly fee.”
 
The Salt Mines is self-funded. There are no contracts involved, as the Soells say they want to make the space as simple as possible for entrepreneurs to try out without being locked into a long-term commitment.
 
 
Source:  Andy Soell, The Salt Mines
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Columbus is winning big on two fronts with the recent opening of IBM’s new Client Center for Advanced Analytics in the city.
 
The company is investing $3.2 million in the new center, where it expects to add 500 jobs over the next three years, according to Ron Lovell, vice president of the facility.

In addition, while IBM operates more than 200 other client centers around the globe, the new Columbus facility is the company’s first dedicated advanced analytics center.
 
Lovell explains that IBM selected Columbus because of the strong and positive public-private partnership within the city, the friendly business climate and the large concentration of college graduates within a 200-mile radius. The endeavor is part of a collaboration with The Ohio State University, Jobs Ohio, Columbus 2020 and locally based businesses, such as the Information Control Corp.
 
According to Lovell, "The new anaytics center will tap into local business and academic experts, as well as IBM professionals from across our research, software and services divisions, to create capabilities that will strengthen decision making and help companies react more swiftly to important trends. The principal mission of the new center,” he notes, “is to advance skills through the design, development and support of advanced analytics in new data market areas.”
 
Data comes from everywhere, Lovell points out, noting that sources include everything from sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites and digital pictures and videos to purchase transaction records and cellphone GPS signals. “This data is ‘big data’,” he explains. “Big data is more than simply a matter of size. It’s an opportunity to find insights into new and emerging types of data and content, to make business more agile and to answer questions previously considered beyond our reach.”
 
Lovell calls “big data” a “powerful natural resource that, if used wisely, can drive U.S. economic competitiveness and lead toward careers in the future dedicated to improving society.“
 
He adds that the new Columbus advanced analytics center will have “significant positive implications for both the residents of Columbus and IBM clients.”  
 
 
Source:  Ron Lovell, IBM Client Center for Advanced Analytics
Writer:  Lynne Meyer
 

A frantic search for a unique photo gift for his sister lead Jared Gibbons and two friends to create a company that provides them.

“My friends and I had printed Instagram photos, but it was a difficult,” he recalls. “Plus, square images were hard to come by. With the standard photo print size of four by six inches, two inches had to be cut off. I wanted to send some four-inch-by-four-inch  family photos to my sister as a special gift for her next do-it-yourself project. After much googling, however, I couldn’t find a simple printing option that offered quality square prints that size.”
 
Seizing an opportunity, Gibbons and his friends, who live in Columbus, established Snapstagram. The company specializes in quality square prints. “We currently offer two products – classic prints and our Printbox,” he explains. “Our four-by-four classic prints come in rolls of 12 and are printed on luster-finish, archival-quality photo paper. Our Printbox is a museum-quality eight-by-eight canvas print of a photo placed inside a wooden box frame.”
 
Snapstagram partners with a local Columbus printing lab that has decades of experience, he says. “They still use many of the old-school printing techniques that make our photos stand out from the rest.”

The company only prints photos from Instagram. In the first nine months of its existence, Snapstagram sent more than 60,000 prints all over the world. Gibbons personally packages and ships all orders.

A few months ago, the company launched a funding campaign through Kickstarter to raise $3,000. After 30 days, they had raised well over $14,000 with nearly 1,000 backers. According to Gibbons, they were riding the wave of Instagram’s popularity. “Instagram was approaching its second year in existance, and the popularity of the app was increasing exponentially,” he explains. “We were offering Instagram users a simple way to get quality prints of their photos.”
 
The company consists of Gibbons, his two founding partners and one employee. “We have some competitors, but they mostly focus on fun things like calendars, books and iPhone cases,” he notes. He adds that the company is looking at other platforms from which to print and has some “signficant new things” coming in 2013.
 
 
Source:  Jarod Gibbons, Snapstagram
Writer:    Lynne Meyer
 
 
 
 
 

How do you start a startup for people starting startups?
 
If you’re Christian Deuber, founder of Launch Farm, you pull together a large group of seasoned entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs, entrepreneur wannabees, entrepreneurial college students, local companies that offer services to entrepreneurs, and angel investors and establish a new organization named Columbus Startups.
 
Think of it as a huge spider web cast over Columbus to integrate all things entrepreneurial.
 
Columbus Startups is based at Launch Farm, Deuber’s marketing, public relations and social media marketing agency. “The mission of Columbus Startups is to create and actively aggregate fresh, ever-changing information and insights focused on empowering the local startup scene,” he explains.

The organization is aimed at entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of the Columbus startup scene; startups looking for fresh talent, potential partners and investors; and investors looking for innovative startups to fund.

“Columbus Startups offers a multimedia complement to other sources of entrepreneurial collaboration in town,” Deuber says. “Our purpose is to elevate the local startup scene to a larger national stage. An initial goal is to increase both the speed and quality of connections in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. We want to benefit multiple target audiences.”
 
While Columbus Startups has its own monthly meetings, participants are active in a host of other activities and groups within the local entrepreneurial scene. The organization’s website has become a significant source of information on startup happenings, with real-time reporting and updates from these local events. It also features information about tools to help startups, including apps, blogs and books, as well as a list of local business services, ranging from marketing and web design to legal services and funding sources, geared to the needs of startups.
 
Deuber is also beta testing what he calls Startup Genome on the website. “Startup Genome is a web-based tool that enables local startup communities to collect, aggregate and display their city’s data any way they want,” he explains.
 
There’s currently no fee to be involved in Columbus Startups, and, according to Deuber, more than 100 people are participating in the new organization.

Source:  Christian Deuber, Columbus Startups
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

yet2, an open innovation services provider, has opened a new office in Columbus. The Needham, Massachusetts-founded company specializes in generating strategic technology partnerships with companies worldwide.
 
Bruce Heinrich, Director of Account Management in Columbus, says Ohio’s businesses are prime for open innovation, a process of matching two companies with different needs and capabilities to create a new product efficiently and affordably. He adds that yet2 selected the city of Columbus because of its central location. “I can easily be in my car and travel to Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland in one to two hours.” They’re also next door to their partners at the statehouse, Ohio Third Frontier and Ohio Department of Development.
 
Heinrich says since the Ohio Third Frontier chose yet2 to deliver open innovation services they are assisting with marketing yet2’s offerings to Ohio-based companies. “The state chose a third party company to market and set up six forums around the state to educate mid market companies about the benefits and practice of open innovation,” he explains, noting that yet2 will be invited to attend these forums.
 
Since opening in December, yet2 has several companies that are utilizing their search services and expects to add many more in due course. “One of the companies that we’re working with right now is looking to create a new product category and had a need for a technology they could not develop internally,” Heinrich explains. “This product represents a huge market opportunity that would fuel growth in Ohio operations.”
 
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that has the potential of connecting Ohio companies with international businesses to speed their time to market at a cheaper cost than working internally. Heinrich provides a hypothetical, saying “If it takes nine months or a year for the open innovation process rather than two to four years to do the [research and development], do all the testing themselves and launch the product, then it will save them money and make the product more profitable in the long run.”
 
In the end, it’s all about creating jobs and growth in Ohio as yet2 continues to hit the ground running. “You can expect to see a lot more of us out there as we begin to build relationships across the state, proactively seeking customers,” Heinrich notes. “And hopefully hear some success stories and case stories of what’s happening.”
 
 
Source: Bruce Heinrich
Writer: Joe Baur

Butterfly wings are beautiful and delicate. They’re also very slippery.
 
That characteristic has fascinated researchers at The Ohio State University and inspired them to study the properties of butterfly wing surfaces for insights into developing new high-tech coatings.
 
“Butterflies’ wings must remain clean in their natural habitat in order for them to maintain flight control and structural coloration,” explains Bharat Bhushan, Ohio Eminent Scholar. “They aren’t able to clean their wings like other insects, so they must rely entirely on the self-cleaning properties of their wings. Such properties are a result of superhydrophobility – the ability of a surface to repel water -- and low adhesion, which are desirable for low drag.”
 
According to Howard Winbigler, professor of mechanical engineering at OSU, “Reduced drag is desirable for industry, whether you’re trying to move a few drops of blood through a nano-channel or millions of gallons of crude oil through a pipeline. And self-cleaning surfaces would be useful for medical equipment – such as catheters, or anything that might harbor bacteria.”

The researchers have zeroed in on one butterfly in particular – the South American Blue Morpho Didius – due to its relatively large size, which will enable them to develop larger-scale replica samples.

“Our goal is to create the butterfly wing effect onto flexible adhesive-backed sheets that could be applied to a variety of flat and curved surfaces,” Bhushan explains. “The sheets would require the addition of nanoparticles or a low-surface energy chemical layer.” He anticipates successful development of prototype sheets this spring. 
 
The applications for high-tech coatings developed through this technique include medical, marine and industrial products that could save lives, energy and money, Bhushan notes.
 
The researchers’ work is being funded by the National Science Foundation.

Source:  Bharat Bhushan, The Ohio State University
                Howard D. Winbigler, The Ohio State University
Writer:     Lynne Meyer

After considering several potential renewable energy sources -- including wind, solar and biomass -- to power its main campus, OSU recently decided to go with wind energy from Iberdrola Renewables’ Blue Creek Wind Farm in Ohio’s Paulding and Van Wert counties.

Once it settled on wind as an energy source, the school established three qualifying criteria for a supplier, Scott Potter, senior energy advisor, OSU’s Office of Energy and Environment, explains. “The wind energy had to be in Ohio, there had to be sufficient capacity available to cover a significant portion of our campus load and the energy had to be priced competitively.”
 
The university’s decision was in response to three principle functions – operations, academics and research, he notes.
 
“It was imperative that the energy company selected would serve our academic and research missions. Iberdrola Renewables demonstrated its commitment to higher education with the donation of a number of meteorological research towers and associated equipment. Two of these towers are already installed and collecting data as part of a research project led by one of our leading wind research experts and his students.”

According to Potter, wind energy is one of the most comprehensive areas of energy research at OSU. The school has researchers focused on wind modeling; turbine, gear and blade design; noise abatement; blade coatings; ecological issues and energy policy. Faculty and students engaged in wind research and education are in several colleges, including the College of Engineering; the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences; the John Glenn School of Public Affairs; and Fisher College of Business.
 
Based on current rates, price comparisons and projected energy use, OSU estimates it will save approximately $930,000 over the next 12 months with the new wind energy source.
 
Source:  Scott Potter, The Ohio State University
Writer:    Lynne Meyer

Texting and talking on a cell phone while driving are just two of the behaviors that engineers at the new $1.3 million OSU Driving Simulation Lab will be studying.
 
The state-of-the-art facility, located on the university’s campus, is the result of a partnership between OSU, Honda Research & Development of America (HRA) and the Ohio Supercomputer Center.
 
According to Jan Weisenberger, senior associate vice president for research at OSU, engineers and researchers will use the lab to study a wide range of driver behaviors. “The overriding goal for studies conducted at the lab will be the design of vehicles that will minimize driver distraction, reducing the incidence of accidents and improving auto safety. Other goals include gaining a better understanding of human perception, cognition and attention to help create new vehicle designs that are less stressful and more enjoyable for drivers.”
 
The lab will be available for use by university, industry and government groups to investigate how drivers interact with, and react to, a wide variety of in-vehicle systems, vehicle characteristics and external driving situations. Users can also study special populations, such as teenagers or elderly individuals, or evaluate the effects of fatigue on driving accuracy.
 
Weisenberger points out that the auto industry can use the lab to evaluate new designs for infotainment systems in a vehicle that can minimize driver distraction, and a university researcher could study basic mechanisms of attention and cognitive workload.
 
The facility boasts three simulation setups with a full array of hardware and software, according to John Dirrig, senior manager/chief engineer, Corporate and Technical Communications for HRA, “The hardware includes projection screens, motion simulators and user interfaces and equipment for measuring eye movements and gaze, as well as physiological correlates such as blood pressure and heart rate. The software allows the researcher to simulate different driving scenarios, like urban, freeway, or suburban settings, and to alter the vehicle dynamics of steering, braking and other characteristics to simulate unexpected occurrences in different weather, road and lighting conditions.”
 
The lab is being funded by HRA and the Ohio Board of Regents. “Additional funding from the Honda-OSU partnership is supporting operation costs as we bring the facility on line,” Weisenberger notes. “Ultimately, we hope to support operations from user fees and research grants.”

Sources: Jan Weisenberger, John Dirrig
Writer: Lynne Meyer

A challenge issued at a White House awards ceremony in 2011 led Will Zell of Columbus to create Huddlewoo. The fledgling company will connect what he calls “extraordinary people” --- authors, leaders, entrepreneurs, speakers, personal heroes, athletes, coaches, celebrities and YouTube sensations -- to have real face-to-face video conversations with people who admire and follow them.

The ceremony was the 2011 Empact Summit, and Zell was recognized for his company, Providence Holdings, which specializes in helping foster entrepreneurial startups, partnerships and acquisitions. Empact works with colleges and universities, workforce development organizations, chambers of commerce and small business development centers to promote entrepreneurship among young, aspiring entrepreneurs.  

Summit keynote speaker Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Priceline.com, challenged award recipients to come up with innovative ways for people to connect, Zell explains. “I’m constantly reading articles, stories and books about and written by fascinating people, including entrepreneurs, and I’ve often thought it would be awesome to connect and have a conversation with them.”
 
Zell came up with the concept of Huddlewoo to make those connections possible. Users request a “huddle” with someone they consider extraordinary and pay to have an hour of that individual’s time via a video meeting, he says. The so-called “extraordinary people” who participate in video meet ups with users through Huddlewoo establish their own rates. “Huddlewoo presents an opportunity for them to engage their followers in a unique way, potentially changing people’s lives through inspiring conversations,” Zell notes.

“Extraordinary people” are busy people who aren’t easy to access, however. Aware of the marketing challenge, Zell says he’s working diligently to spread the word and build brand recognition. “We’re sharing the value of Huddlewoo’s platform with these individuals as a way for them to engage their fans, make money and change people’s lives. It’s definitely a value-for-value proposition. The extraordinary people who participate provide the value of their time, knowledge and experience, and users who request a huddle with them bring the value of their money to the table.”
 
According to Zell, while there are online skill-sharing and mentoring platforms and companies that work to connect people with those they admire, Huddlewoo is unique. “No one has our comprehensive technology platform, which includes the request, payment, scheduling the conversation and providing the video components for it.”
 
Now about that funny name. The first part – “huddle” – refers to people huddling together, according to Zell. “The ‘woo’ part reflects an individual’s response to meeting someone extraordinary they admire,” he says. “It’s the scream of joy, jumping up and down and running around the room all excited about having made that connection.”
 
Source:  Will Zell
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

The buy-local movement has transitioned from being merely a trend to a mainstream business model, benefitting local companies and communities.

Many local businesses use daily-deal websites to generate or enhance sales. Yet when Joshua Kibbey of Columbus talked to local merchants in his area, he kept hearing that such sites weren’t bringing long-term value to their businesses. 
 
“These types of sites are simply marketing for small businesses, like mailing coupons or putting them in the newspaper,” he explains. “It’s one way to market, but the business model only works if you have high volume, low-margin deals. Those types of deals aren’t conducive to growing a quality customer base.”
 
Believing there was a better way, Kibbey created BidSwan in 2011. The online marketplace allows companies to cost-effectively market their offerings to local consumers without having to offer drastic discounts or deal with the one-time crush of customers that often occurs with daily-deal site offerings.

BidSwan originally started with a name-your-price format. “We came to the conclusion, however, that it was too restrictive and consumers didn’t embrace it as we had hoped,” Kibbey recalls. To re-tool, he and his partners created an alliance with Small Business Beanstalk (SBB), a shop-local organization with 500 merchant members, and then re-launched BidSwan in September 2012.

“We now offer a large variety of deals at any given time,” he explains.  “We count on good selection and variety – not deep discounts -- to keep customers coming back. We also don’t have a set schedule of deals. Businesses are free to choose the volume, price point and timing of their deal to maximize the benefit to them.”
 
Users can go to Bidswan’s website, obtain a free SBB Community Card, purchase  vouchers for about 20 to 30 percent off the face value of items and then use the vouchers at participating local businesses. There’s no cost for merchants to join SBB. “Businesses pay us a fee to cover credit card costs, and we get a percentage of each sale,” he explains.
 
BidSwan has more than 60 businesses signed up, and Kibbey anticipates working with other community outreach organizations to expand

 
Source:   Joshua Kibbey
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Hospitals are normally places for treating illnesses. For the past nine years, however, Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) in Columbus has also been actively researching and developing high-tech advances in the areas of digital pathology, biospecimen analysis and biorepository management. These complex, behind-the-scenes functions are important for effectively diagnosing and treating diseases. Funding was provided, in part, by the National Institutes of Health.
 
The result of NCH’s work is three new web-based biomedical tools that can have a significant impact on future diagnostic and research capabilities in hospitals, academic research centers and the pharmaceutical industry.
 
To market its innovations, NCH is partnering with Transformatix Technologies, Inc., of California to create BioLinQ, a new biomedical informatics company designed to supply advanced software solutions for disease diagnosis and medical research.

According to Dave Billiter, director, Informatics, The Research Institute at NCH, “These new tools provide best practices in biospecimen management through implementation, promoting collaboration in a team science platform via the web/cloud and providing advanced methods to validate the quality of data for research.”

Ken Murray, CEO of Transformatix, will serve as Chairman and CEO of BioLinQ. He states that, with the growth of molecular technology and the advent of personalized medicine, the three new software tools are very timely.
 
"BioLinQ's primary purpose will be to provide this new software suite, via the cloud, to commercial customers, including other hospitals, academic research centers, government agencies, contract research organizations and the pharmaceutical industry," he explains. Offering the software through the cloud will enhance accessibility, Murray notes. "In addition, we will use NCH’s laboratory facilities, as well as their expertise, to prepare and analyze tissue specimens customers send us."

BioLinQ will be located at the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center. The goal is to have the new company fully operational during the first quarter of 2013. Plans call for starting with eight key personnel and expanding to 20 employees and about 100 consultants.

Sources: Dave Billiter, Ken Murray
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Teenage diabetics often believe they are invulnerable to future health problems from their disease. That’s what Jennifer Shine Dyer, a pediatric endocrinologist and Founder and CEO of the Columbus-based startup EndoGoddess, LLC, discovered in her practice and through texting with her teenage patients.

“They block out that they have this disease,” Dyer explains. “Warning them they could be on dialysis when they’re 30 if they don’t monitor their glucose levels and take their medication simply doesn’t register. They can’t relate to potential dire future consequences.”
 
To address this problem, Dr. Dyer developed the EndoGoal app for iPhone and Android. EndoGoal makes tracking glucose levels easy and rewarding for teens.

“EndoGoal is a mobile software engagement program with rewards and a virtual pet named Cooper, the diabetes dog,” she says. “You check your blood sugar and record four glucose tests a day to earn points you can spend on Amazon. Every time you record your level, you get to feed Cooper, too.”

Dr. Dyer recently expanded the EndoGoal app to include adults as well. She’s contacting employers to subscribe to what she calls the EndoGoal Wellness Program, promoting the concept of rewarding health savings account contributions to diabetic employees who participate.
 
EndoGoal doesn’t cost users anything. “It’s all about positives, with nothing negative, like price, to interfere with use,” the physician notes. “It’s meant to increases people’s engagement with their health. We’re not telling you what to do or giving medical advice of any kind. Our goal is to encourage you to take care of yourself.”

The diabetes software program is being funded by investors, the ONE Fund of Ohio Third Frontier and Dr. Dyer. EndoGoal earns revenue through selling subscriptions to corporations who offer the program to their employees.
 

Source:   Jennifer Shine Dyer
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Tom Mullin talks to marketing professionals.  A lot. “I constantly hear nightmarish stories about creative vendors they’re using and previously used,” he says.

The former Columbus ad agency business-development exec decided to do something about this creative conundrum. He established Connected in May to help locate the right creative people needed for marketing and advertising projects.

Negative experiences with creative vendors typically come from not having the right person for the job, he states. “Unfortunately, the creative and design profession is highly unregulated. You have a lot of people claiming to offer services that just aren’t in their professional skill set.”

Using what he calls a “robust” interview process that evaluates and clarifies the skill set, customer service record and pricing of creative vendors, Mullin acts as a professional match maker between marketers and creatives.
 
“This due diligence enables us to take the guess work and time spent mulling over options out of the equation,” he explains. In addition to streamlining what is typically an arduous process, Mullin says he creates an environment built around honesty and transparency. “Simply put, we know who does what, who does what well, and who can be problematic to work with. Marketers who come to me with a project receive an unbiased professional opinion as to not only who’s qualified for the job but who’s going to provide the biggest return on their investment.”

His goal with Connected, he says, is to make marketing professionals’ lives easier and more productive.

Philanthropy is an important aspect of Connected’s business model. Mullin donates a portion of his net profit from each project to the marketer’s charity of choice. “I grew up in a very philanthropic environment and was taught to give back whenever possible,” Mullin explains. “It’s my way of thanking the marketer for allowing me to help them build brand loyalty.”
 
Source:  Tom Mullin, Connected
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Getting away from it all doesn’t have to mean expensive, time-consuming travel. It can be as simple as exploring, discovering and learning new things on a day trip right in your own backyard.
 
That’s what Robert Denhard discovered while he was driving around Central Ohio, taking back roads and savoring the sights and sounds of local small towns.

Taking notes and photos on one of his sojourns, Denhard realized that others might find what he was doing relaxing and interesting as well. So he launched LoopBackroads in July for those, like himself, looking for escape and adventure  nearby yet off the beaten path.

LoopBackroads offers 10 Central Ohio “loops” that can be downloaded onto a cell phone, tablet or computer for $2.99 each. Each loop includes turn-by-turn directions, historical information, fun tidbits, photos and insights from locals.

With the goal of covering as much of Central Ohio as possible in the 10 loops, Denhard began by drawing 10 circles on a map starting from different points in Columbus and then back again. “I studied maps, plotted out routes and drove an insane amount, documenting everything,” he recalls. “I also did a ton of reading and talked with more local people than I can count.”
 
Loops contain photos of and information about historic homes, architecturally interesting buildings and monuments, rustic barns and bridges, castles, caverns and even some ghost towns Denhard discovered. They’re also illustrated with graphics and original hand sketches by Drew Miller, area artist and Denhard’s business partner.
 
Denhard was impressed by the warm welcome he received from folks at the local mom-and-pop businesses he visited while creating the loops. He encourages LoopBackroad travelers to patronize them, recommending bringing cash because not all establishments take credit cards.
 
In addition to income from downloads of the loops, Denhard anticipates ads from those local businesses to generate future revenue for LoopBackroads.
 
Source:  Robert Denhard, LoopBackroads
Writer:  Lynne Meyer