Columbus : Innovation + Job News

Melody Management is helping music artists to get seen, get heard and get paid. Sound like a pitch from a giant record label? Not so fast.

The Columbus-based company is part of a drastically changing landscape for the music industry � and it hopes to be at the forefront of that movement when the company officially launches Feb. 1.

Melody is filling a niche with the widespread mobility of technology and music. The company distributes, markets and offers copyright protection in the way a traditional record label would � but it offers those services online in a way it claims is cheaper and more profitable for the artist.

The company offers something else that labels do not: A buy button. "You never know when someone is ready to buy," says CEO Glen Johnson.

Johnson says artists using Melody earn 90 percent of the profits � instant profit. "We take what labels and net-labels do and try to simplify them through technology," he says.

The company has an internal central management system that allows the artists more time to focus on other things � like music.
The music industry has been turned on its head in the last decade. CD sales are down as file-sharing becomes more popular � even as record labels flex their muscles with lawsuits.

"The college kids are smarter than us," Johnson says. "They'll just write the next music sharing program. (The labels) said 'Geez, we'd better start figuring out the next business model.' I think Melody Management is on the cusp of that next business model."

There are 28 artists currently working with Melody, but Johnson says the company's success is limitless.

"We're just getting started," he says. "We're hoping to rock the world."

Source: Glen Johnson, Melody Management
Writer: Colin McEwen

Ninety-five percent of American businesses have nine or fewer employees. But until recently it was almost impossible to find a single source of information about them.

Today, that's changing, thanks in large part to Manta, which bills itself as the "largest free source of information on small companies."

The Columbus-based website, which launched in September 2005 as the offspring of ECNext, has sometimes been described as "the fastest-growing business site you've never heard of." But these days, plenty of people are hearing about Manta.

Launched with a data base encompassing 24 million companies, the online resource now covers 64 million -- 20 million of which are U.S. companies -- and was cited in September as the fifth-largest business/finance/news site according to ComScore, recognized within the industry as the Nielsens of the digital world.

Manta's Internet audience penetration of 5.8 million outranked even Forbes Property, CNBC.COM, Reuters, CNN Money and BusinessWeek.com. And its October visitor count topped 14 million, up 34 percent from the year before.

Pamela Springer, president and CEO, says Manta's appeal is simple: give information away for free and let listed companies update and add to the information that's there. Revenue comes from advertising, she says.

"We have democratized this information and leveled the playing field," she says. "It's not just the big guys anymore."

She says Manta's primary target audiences are small-business owners, account executives and business development professionals, senior executives, researchers and analysts who are looking not just for information, but to connect.

Boosted by a $1.2-million Ohio Third Frontier Innovation Loan in 2006, Manta continues to report breakneck growth, both in audience and employment. When ECNext launched in 2003, the company employed 12; Manta now employs 45, with plans for an additional 10 this year.

Source: Pamela Springer, Manta
Writer: Gene Monteith

Columbus start-up JoeMetric, is poised to track the world's consumers, one smart phone at a time, with its new iPhone application set to launch in January.

Pending approval by Apple this month, JoeMetric will begin offering its smart phone app, JoeSurvey, free to iPhone users next year. The users can then take targeted surveys through the app and get paid for their responses.

JoeMetric makes money when marketers sign up to use their application to question consumers about their shopping habits or to get feedback instantly about events or advertising, says Stephanie Rucinski, head Joe (aka president) of JoeMetric.

"Right now market research is so expensive it's out of reach of most small businesses," says Rucinski. "(With JoeMetric) it's a self service model that opens the door to get the information they want."

Rucinski says that JoeMetric is also the only application she knows of that is making use of global positioning technology to allow marketers to track consumers through their phones, with their consent, of course, so they can instantly determine how much time a customer spends in a particular store or venue and even what they browse the most while they are there.

"We couldn't roll out fast enough for some folks," says Rucinski of the potential demand for JoeSurvey. "This type of information has been unable to be gathered before now. They've been trying to do this for years, and now they can."

After their launch in January, Rucinski says that JoeMetric will add between three and six employees to its current two. Most of the jobs will be in sales, with one position planned for tech development.

Source: Stephanie Rucinski, JoeMetric
Writer: Val Prevish

If you're like many Web users, you have a zillion bookmarks set up in your browser's favorites list. You may also have come across must-see content that you want to share with your friends: that cool llama farm, the dancing baby video, a list of favorite books or movies.

The problem is, when it comes time to share those things, you find yourself wading through an unorganized morass of bookmarks.

That's why Toobla was born. Founded in 2008 and launched this fall, the Columbus-based tech company is banking on your need for order -- and your desire to share web content with friends and acquaintances.

"Toobla was created because there are a lot of bookmarking services out there, but no one is doing it in a very visual way," says Brian Link, CEO of the fledgling company.

Toobla solves the problem by organizing everything in folders within a free Toobla account. Have a list of favorite publications? Stick them in a folder. Favorite bands? Another folder. A Toobla user can either keep the folder private for personal reference or make it public -- allowing it to be shared with friends, business associates or a wider audience via one click from within a social networking site.

"People really haven't innovated the shared space (of the Web)," Link says. "People are sending links one at a time."

The Columbus-based company, which employs four but plans to grow to around 35 over the next three years as revenues grow, has raised more than $1 million in capital through TechColumbus, the Third Frontier's Entrepreneurial Signature Program and other sources. Link says the company anticipates $335,000 in revenues in 2010 -- and as much as $31 million within five years.

Source: Brian Link, Toobla
Writer: Gene Monteith

As a urological surgeon for OhioHealth, Wayne Poll knew there must be a way to keep his laparoscopic lenses clear without constantly having to stop and clean them. While it took him 10 years to bring that vision to fruition, Poll's FloShield is now in the marketplace.

"I tried going to companies with my ideas, and I did that for ten years," says Poll, whose Columbus-based Minimally Invasive Devices gained FDA clearance for the product last year. "But I was constantly frustrated. I got to know some people and entered the Ohio State University (Fisher College of Business) 2006 business plan competition, and we won it. That got us some momentum and we started to raise money."

With the help of TechColumbus, a technology business incubator serving a 15-county area in Central Ohio, MID raised an initial $200,000 in start-up capital and a total of $2.4 million in angel funds, a portion of which came from funds supported by the Ohio Third Frontier. In October, following FDA approval of FloShield, the company raised $2 million in Series B funding.

FloShield works by keeping air flowing around the end of the scope, blowing away debris that can obscure a clear image at the surgical site. Poll says the company, so far, has sold about 600 of the devices and has introduced a new product, FloShield Plus, that uses a saline solution to clear the lens.

MID was founded in 2006 and grew from one employee to five this year. Poll serves as MID's founder and chief executive officer and as director of innovation for the OhioHealth system.

Source: Wayne Poll, Minimally Invasive Devices
Writer: Gene Monteith

Nathan Poeppelman loved amusement parks. But he could never seem to find real-time, organized information about the places he wanted to visit.

So, he took matters into his own hands: He formed Boz Adventures.

Poeppelman founded Boz Adventures in 2004, the same year he graduated from Miami University with a management information systems degree and entrepreneurial minor. He began offering travel information and park data through his Boz Adventures website. But the website alone, he says, really wasn't meeting the vision he had for real-time, at-your-fingertips information.

Earlier this year, Poeppelman incorporated the Columbus company and launched a new software application that allows users to tap trip logistics and inside-the-park specs through their iPhones -- wherever they are.

Want to know the wait-time for The Beast at King's Island? An interface allows park operators -- or Adventure Map users -- to upload both average wait times and real time information into a usable format. Want to know when Dollywood opens and how far it is from your Gatlinburg rental cabin? Ask your iPhone.

Poeppelman says Adventure Map currently lists more than 8,500 points of interest around the world and has signed on 31 parks on a trial basis, allowing them to upload real-time information free -- for now. While his customer base is still small, those who have downloaded the app are diverse, Poeppelman says, hailing from as far away as Great Britain, Denmark, and Australia.

Closer to home, he reports that his company is working on a partnership with Columbus-based KidsLinked, an online guide for family-friendly activities which in January won Tech Columbus's Outstanding Service Award.

Source: Nathan Poeppelman, Boz Adventures
Writer: Gene Monteith

If you've got a suspicious bump, you'll want a doctor to look at it. The question is, if it comes time for a biopsy, would you rather make two stops -- first, to your family doc, then to the dermatologist -- or one? And would you rather go home with stitches or a quick closure that creates less blood?

The folks at CleveX believe that patients will prefer the latter. And doctors seem to agree.

The Columbus-based company recently signed an exclusive national distribution agreement and its first stocking order for $180,000 worth of its ExiClip, making it one of a small, but growing, group of Ohio biomedical startups that are off the drawing board and into the marketplace.

Sam Finkelstein, CleveX's chief executive officer, says the device reduces the time a physician needs to do a biopsy from the traditional 20 to 30 minutes to less than five. It does so with a small, hand-held tool that removes the skin and closes it up in one single motion.

"You can clip, cut and close in ten seconds," Finkelstein says, adding that docs still must take time to anesthetize the area.

According to Finkelstein, the company first tested ExiClip with dermatologists, who said they would prefer to do fewer biopsies so they could concentrate on other parts of their practice. They steered CleveX toward primary care docs and OBGYNs, who often send patients to specialists because of the time it traditionally takes to remove a skin lesion and stitch it up.

Last year, CleveX raised more than $1.9 million from angel and venture investors. The company employees 10, but Finkelstein says "we expect to increase personnel, and, depending on sales, it would not be unrealistic to expect us to double."

Source: Sam Finkelstein, CleveX
Writer: Gene Monteith

Home brewers know that fermentation stops when the yeast produce so much alcohol they can no longer survive. If you want a higher alcohol content, you'd better find a different yeast strain that can survive in a more toxic soup.

That, in essence, is what Ohio State University researchers have done in developing a new strain of bacterium (clostridium beijerinckii) that produces twice the amount of alcohol -- in this case butanol -- before kicking the bucket. The potential payoff is a motor fuel that has many advantages over ethanol -- America's current biofuel of choice.

Shang-Tian Yang, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, says butanol, which is used widely as a solvent, now sells for $3.50 to $5 a gallon. Because much of the cost is in production, getting twice the amount of butanol from the same amount of bacteria could reduce the cost by half.

"Ethanol has severe limits," Yang says. "It is corrosive and can't be shipped through a pipeline, you have to ship using trucks. And it must be mixed with gasoline to be used as a fuel in current automobiles."

He says ethanol alone has around a third less energy content than gasoline and gets only 65 percent of the mileage. It is highly volatile and explosive. Yang says butanol is superior to ethanol in every way but one: its price.

Boosted by a $1-million grant from the Ohio Third Frontier, Yang is leading work to develop the technology needed for commercial production. In the meantime, his team has applied for a patent on the new bacterium and production process.

Source: Shang-Tian Yang, Ohio State University
Writer: Gene Monteith

What are the next steps for Ohio biosciences companies?

Find out Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 when a diverse audience descends on Columbus to discuss the topic "Where in the world are bioscience opportunities?"

Sponsored by  BioOhio, the organization's annual conference is expected to draw a diverse statewide audience of researchers, entrepreneurs, suppliers, service providers, bioscience executives -- you name it, they're likely to be there, says Matt Schutte, BioOhio's director of corporate communications.

"It's a unique conference in a way," says Schutte. "There are a lot of biomedical, biosciences events around Ohio, but very few have a statewide mission."

With more than 1,100 bioscience-related organizations in Ohio, more than $2.5 billion were invested here to accelerate Ohio's bioscience growth in 2007 alone. BioOhio's annual conference -- its 20^th since the organization began -- aims at bringing the best minds together to keep that ball rolling, Schutte says.

"The best thing people will get out of it is the networking," Schutte says, which can lead to new partnerships, collaborations and job growth.

The conference itself will feature numerous topics related to globalization of bioscience business and research, including the benefits and challenges of conducting clinical trials abroad, Schutte says. Panelists were drawn from a who's who within the industry; Battelle President and CEO Jeffrey Wadsworth will give the keynote address.

Want to attend? Information is available at http://www.bioohio.com/news/Annual-Conference.aspx.

BioOhio, founded in 1987, is a non-profit organization designed to build and accelerate bioscience industry, research, and education in Ohio.

Source: Matt Schutte, BioOhio
Writer: Gene Monteith