Entrepreneur Programs : Innovation + Job News

Vincent Chou is a rabid video gamer, and it irks him that there's no easy way to find used video games at a reasonable cost. Or to sell a used game for a fair price after the fun has worn off.

So Chou and fellow grad student Pratap Shergill have formed turboBOTZ -- an Internet marketplace that will bring buyers and sellers together to set their own prices.

The company was formed in Chicago but will move to Cincinnati this spring after a recent $250,000 investment by CincyTech, a public-private venture development organization serving southwest Ohio.

Both Chou and Shergill participated in a program offered last fall by The Brandery, a seed-stage consumer marketing startup accelerator in Cincinnati. Chou says the business partners were referred to The Brandery after getting high marks in the business plan competition at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, but failing to meet the criteria for a similar accelerator program in Chicago.

The Brandery, formed last year, helped the pair think about retail strategy and strategic partnerships, according to a CincyTech news release. CincyTech provided $20,000 to support The Brandery's first class of startups and now has made turboBOTZ its 20th portfolio company.

Chou says the $250,000 investment will allow it to operate in its first year. A formal launch of the service is planned within three to four months and the company is currently hiring staff, which Chou expects to total four to five initially.

"We already have one hire from the Cincinnati area," Chou says. "Once we raise a little bit more money, ideally I can see us being a 20- to 30-person shop."

Chou doesn't graduate from Booth until around New Years, he says, meaning some long commutes between now and then. Shergill, however, graduates this summer.

"So he'll be able to spend a little more time in Cincinnati," Chou says.

Source: Vincent Chou, turboBOTZ
Writer: Gene Monteith

Following last year's successful launch of the renowned Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture Program in Southwest Ohio, two Cincinnati area incubators are bringing back the high-tech business development program.

FastTrac is an intensive, hands-on program geared toward scientists, inventors, engineers and IT developers. Through this program, Southwest Ohio innovators who want to commercialize a new technology, or grow an existing tech business, can get the specialized help they need.

"We frequently receive requests from entrepreneurs for help in developing a business plan. In TechVentures, the participants learn from the facilitators, entrepreneurial guest speakers and each other. Feedback from our business plan competition judges, who are investors and professional advisors, indicated all the companies had developed a viable business plan. We decided to offer the program again because it works," says BIOSTART President Carol Frankenstein.

The program is sponsored by the Hamilton County Business Center (HCBC) and BIOSTART, a life sciences incubator.

Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture is designed to take businesses from idea through development to commercialization. Among topics that will be covered are: Defining the Target Market, Testing Your Business Concept, Planning for Financial Success and Protecting the Business and Your Intellectual Property.

At the program's end entrepreneurs will have a chance to win one of three early-stage funding prizes of $5,000, $3,000 or $1,000 through a business plan competition.

The upcoming 10-week session starts March 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Wednesday at the Hamilton County Business Center in Cincinnati. The program's cost has been slashed from the usual $895 to $399 per person though a State of Ohio Edison Technology Supplemental Grant awarded to HCBC and BIOSTART. There is a further discount for BIOSTART and HCBC clients.

You can submit an application until Friday, March 11, here. 

Source: Carol Frankenstein, BIOSTART
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

What began several years ago as a monthly brown bag lunch for entrepreneurs and others to hear about business trends and opportunities has grown into the Dayton-based Entrepreneurial Development Network.

"The idea was that we didn't want anybody to slip through the cracks," explains Ray Hagerman, VP-investments for the Dayton Development Coalition, one of the lead partners. "Somebody might come to one of the group members and have a particular need, and they couldn't necessarily help them but perhaps someone else could."

That informal approach has evolved into a network of 10 to 15 groups that provide entrepreneurs with key resources, including education and strategic planning assistance, organizational development services, funding opportunities, mentoring, professional services, incubation space and trade association benefits.

The luncheons continue, but much of the action is network-based and takes place outside those gatherings.

"We don't have our own website, we're not part of a formalized entity that's separately branded in and of itself," Hagerman says." Whenever people come through he door, if they come to the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce or come to whomever it might be, they usually just start there and those folks will shuttle them over to an SBDC (Small Business Development Center) or they'll shuttle them to us, or if we get a lead where we can't help we'll shuttle them to someone else."

While that makes it difficult to track the number of people who have been helped, the process is working, Hagerman says.

"The EDN concept is a really good way of getting in the know in the area of entrepreneurial services that are out there, funding mechanisms that are out there and just the general knowledge base," he says. "And it's also become a good way for entrepreneurs to connect with potential technology generators. Not everybody that's a researcher or an inventor or a technologist wants to be an entrepreneur, but they sure would like to see their something be done with their gadget."

Source: Ray Hagerman, the Dayton Development Coalition
Writer: Gene Monteith

"This is so yummy you ought to sell it" has warmed many a home cook's heart. And for more than 10 years, Ohioans with recipes and dreams have been using the Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen in Bowling Green to launch their businesses.

NOCK was established by the Agricultural Incubator Foundation as a place where regional residents can access a professional-grade facility. A catering kitchen opened first, followed by a cannery in 2005 and blanching/freezing space in 2010. Many jars of barbecue sauce, boxes of chocolates and so on have rolled out of NOCK's doors over the years.

Early "graduates" have been so successful their products were sold at major retailers and at numerous regional markets. Today, 27 entrepreneurs are renting the NOCK resources for production, says manager Paula Ray.

Requirements include a deposit fee, insurance, a business plan and approval of the Agricultural Incubator Foundation board of trustees. Once approved, tenants must sign a lease, participate in an orientation and training program and agree to schedule their time.

The non-profit Foundation was formed by a group of Ohio farmers, people involved in agribusiness, educators and researchers to nurture "the development, advancement and appreciation of agricultural systems in Northwest Ohio that are economically, ecologically and socially sustainable," it states on its website.

Besides NOCK, the Foundation makes available meeting space, organic farmland, greenhouses, and a fish farm. Bowling Green State University, the Ohio State University Extension, and the Toledo-based Center for Innovative Food Technology are among Foundation supporters.

Source: Paula Ray, Agricultural Incubator Foundation/NOCK
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Lorain County Community College is on a roll.

Earlier this month, the Elyria institution was picked as one of 10 community colleges to participate in a national business incubation model. And this week, the White House endorsed Innovation Fund America, which LCCC will develop as part of its involvement in the incubation initiative.

The virtual incubator, a pilot funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, was announced as part of President Obama's Startup America Partnership. Startup America is designed to increase the success of entrepreneurs through collaborative initiatives among businesses, institutions of higher learning, private foundations and others.

According to an LCCC news release, the virtual incubator initiative "will be implemented in collaboration with the American Association of Community Colleges and the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship. Eventually it will include other partnerships through a national network of small business incubation centers, like the Great lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE) on the LCCC campus."

GLIDE is a business incubation organization serving a 21-county area of northeast Ohio.

According to the news release, "the virtual incubator network will work to increase the capacity of community colleges to service their startup business community." They will do that by studying and implementing best practice and will "demonstrate ways for established business leaders and emerging small business entrepreneurs to work together to help grow local businesses."

On Tuesday, the White House gave its thumbs up to the launch of Innovation Fund America, which LCCC says is modeled after its own innovation fund. The national innovation fund will be part of the incubator pilot and will help high-tech entrepreneurs across the country access "funding and talent when they need it most," LCCC says.

The Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund is supported by both private and public sources, including the Ohio Third Frontier.

Attempts to reach LCCC officials for additional information were unsuccessful.

Source: Lorain County Community College

Winners of a new entrepreneurial contest will have the opportunity to develop a novel idea or product that embodies the innovative spirit described in President Obama's State of the Union address. Cleveland's recently launched Manufacturing Mart has announced a competition called "The Export Experiment," a new-product competition designed to grow business for American component manufacturers.

To be eligible, a product must be manufacturable in the United States and designed for a niche market in a foreign country. In addition, it must solve a scalable problem and be patent-pending or patented.

The cost to enter the competition is $25, and the deadline is April 30, 2011. See additional details here.

A commercialization grant worth $5,000 will be awarded to the top three winners. The grant can be used for a number of development services outlined by the Manufacturing Mart. One free year of exhibition space at the Manufacturing Mart, a landing page on the mart's website and two press releases are also part of the awards package.

The Manufacturing Mart opened its doors at The Galleria on December 1 of last year. Currently, the mart occupies 3,500 square feet of exhibiting space for manufacturing resources; another 6,000 square feet are scheduled to open later this year. The mart caters to engineers, inventors and business professionals who want to locate innovative manufacturing options in Greater Cleveland.


Source: The Manufacturing Mart
Writer: Diane DiPiero

--

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland

A newly-launched initiative to create a more robust entrepreneurial American economy has tapped the expertise -- and name -- of Cleveland-based JumpStart.

JumpStart America, a new nonprofit organization also based in Cleveland, is one of 21 national partners announced last week with the launch of Startup America, a private sector answer to President Barak Obama's National Innovation Strategy.

JumpStart America is the only Ohio-based national partner and will draw on entrepreneurial approaches developed by JumpStart, a venture development organization that provides counsel and funding resources to promising new businesses in northeastern Ohio, says Cathy Belk, JumpStart's chief relationship officer. While the two organizations are separate entities, JumpStart America is expected to do nationally what JumpStart has done on a smaller scale, Belk says.

As northeast Ohio's coordinating body for the Ohio Third Frontier's Entrepreneurial Signature Program, JumpStart has invested $20 million in 52 companies, which in turn have raised more than $140 million in follow-on capital and created more than 800 jobs, JumpStart says. As part of that, JumpStart has brought together at least a dozen philanthropic and private industry funding partners, says Belk.

More recently, JumpStart has been sharing some its expertise and experience with organizations throughout the Midwest as part of its JumpStart Community Advisors initiative.

"That is kind of the model of what the JumpStart America work will be," says Belk.

Belk says JumpStart CEO Ray Leach is leading the team that will develop a governance structure for JumpStart America. The process is expected to take three to four months.

Formation of the group will not only benefit the nation but Ohio, Belk says, noting that "it puts (Ohio and northeast Ohio) on the national stage. One of the other great benefits is that national philanthropy will be aggregated in Ohio, and by virtue of Ohio being recognized as offering best practices in this particular area, I think this can be great for the sustainability of the Ohio (entrepreneurial) ecosystem we've been building."

Cincinnati-based accelerator The Brandery was named last week as a new partner in the TechStars Network -- another national partner in the Startup America initiative that operates accelerator programs in New York City, Boston, Seattle and Boulder, Colo.

Source: Cathy Belk, JumpStart
Writer: Gene Monteith

One-stop shopping.

That's what JumpStart is offering technology entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio with its revved up Entrepreneurial Network, launched three months ago.

"We want entrepreneurs to have to go through only one door for us to help them be successful," explains Dennis Cocco, operating manager of JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network and director of the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE).

Funded by The Ohio Third Frontier, the Network is intended to be a single entry point for a continuum of resources for entrepreneurs in 21 counties in Northeast Ohio. It encompasses five incubators, four pre-seed and seed funds, a number of experienced business advisors and an online community of mentors and investors.

The Entrepreneurial Network replaces JumpStart's TechLift Advisors program, which ran for three years. That program consisted of a group of experienced entrepreneurs who mentored and supported entrepreneurial companies in very specific technologies.
 
"We still have many entrepreneurs working with technology based companies, but, with the Network, we're building on that initiative with many more points of collaboration throughout the region," he notes.

According to Cocco, the Network is a much broader program in two important areas -- collaboration and funding.

"We're now working more collaboratively with the Edison Center; the Edison incubators in Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron, Mansfield and Lorain; and other economic development entities."

These include local economic development directors and port authorities, Team NEO and the Small Business Development Corporation, begun by the federal government and supported by the Ohio Department of Development.

In terms of funding for entrepreneurs, the TechLift program was very focused on funds available only from JumpStart, Cocco says.

"With the new Entrepreneurial Network, we make entrepreneurs aware of other financial resources throughout the region and beyond, like federal grants, Small Business Administration loans and private and angel investors," he explains. "We want to help them land the venture capital they need."

The ultimate goal for the JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network is simple, according to Cocco. "No entrepreneur left behind."

Source: Dennis Cocco, JumpStart and GLIDE
Writer: Lynne Meyer

In 2004, the newly created JumpStart -- which had begun accepting applications from entrepreneurs seeking assistance in getting their ideas to market -- found itself deluged with requests. The organization saw an urgent need to develop a kind of database of services critical to a startup's success, and a need to connect the various principals.

Enter Cleveland-based IdeaCrossing.

IdeaCrossing describes itself as "an online resource available to all individuals and organizations with an interest in supporting and promoting entrepreneurial activity." The site identifies the kinds of assistance (mentoring, investment capital, and various service providers) entrepreneurs need in order to succeed.

The service also serves the angel and venture capital communities by vetting new investment opportunities. Angel investors typically invest between $5,000 and $50,000, individually, according to Tiffan Clark, vice president of IdeaCrossing.

"There are no sites like ours�that try to be more of an online ecosystem for entrepreneurs nationwide," says Clark. "The whole idea behind IdeaCrossing is that the resources you need to help to develop your business idea may not necessarily exist in your backyard."

The resource offers increased exposure to disparate assets throughout the region such as universities, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, foundations, and various professional services. Users can tap into local, regional, and national resources.

Users create a "funding profile" that helps to identify the seed and venture capital they need. IdeaCrossing tracks the profile's performance and notifies the user (entrepreneur) when an investor has indicated an interest in their profile. Other profiles fill other needs. "If an entrepreneur is looking for a mentor they can go online and create a profile to find a mentor," says Clark. A kind of one-stop-shop for budding tycoons.

Best of all, the service is free.

Source: Tiffan Clark; Vice President, IdeaCrossing
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Some kids in Over-the-Rhine dream of being a lawyer, barber or construction worker, but a new nonprofit focused on this Cincinnati neighborhood's youth want them to find a bigger dream: one where they own a barbershop, law office or construction firm.

LAUNCHCincinnati is being developed by friends and former colleagues Galen Gordon and Kimberly Smith, who've spent years as youth volunteers. Gordon, who works in the hospitality industry, and Smith, a commercial banker, met when they were selling real estate and found they had a mutual passion for helping young people. LaunchCincinnati is the culmination of their joint passion.

The program, which is set for an official launch in the Spring, has three components. The Young Entrepreneur Program is a classroom curriculum where youth aged 12-18 can learn the ins and outs of operating a small business. The curriculum comes from the Warren Miller Freedom Foundation entrepreneur program in Seattle.

"We have a 10-week curriculum for our kids, who have an entrepreneurial mindset, where they'll learn everything from making a marketing flyer to writing a business plan to owning and operating a business," said Gordon, who lives in OTR. "Our goal is to match the graduates up with a mentor in a like field in Cincinnati, preferably somewhere downtown, where they can do an internship or an apprenticeship."

Supporting that program is LAUNCHCIncinnati's planned Leadership Series and Youth and Finance program designed to educate future leaders who will be confident and competent in handling their money.

The nonprofit is an effort to help youth and families who call OTR home benefit from the ongoing and planned redevelopment in and around this historically struggling neighborhood.

"I live in OTR, and I feel like the youth need positive examples (of entrepreneurship). There is a lot of revitalization going on in Cincinnati, and I want youth who live in the urban core to be part of that," Gordon said. "There is a big concern about people being pushed out of the neighborhood (as part of the revitalization), and we want to give youth the resources to become innovators and entrepreneurs. We can change the dynamics of the urban core."

LAUNCHCincinnati is still seeking volunteers and mentors. The organization is also searching for a permanent place to hold classes. If you are interested in volunteering or offering a space you can reach Gordon by email at [email protected].

Source: Galen Gordon, co-founder LAUNCHCincinnati
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites

This story originally appeared in Soapbox.

Cincinnati entrepreneur Anisha Bradley is coupling business acumen and the convenience of the web to launch a virtual business incubator that will help busy, far-flung professionals.

Bradley, who runs her own financial services firm, just launched Engaged 360, an online company offering easy access to courses designed to help new and established businesses thrive. The company, which went online in November, offers classes in everything from business plan writing to marketing and strategic planning.

Engaged 360 is designed to reach people across Ohio and beyond.

"This saves people a lot of time and money. By being online we can service people worldwide without them having to travel. This is also eco-friendly and helps clients to be eco-friendly as well," says Bradley, who previously worked as a tax consultant for Deloitte and Touche and Ethicon Endo-Surgery. She founded Capital Logic, a financial management company, in 2008.

Engaged 360 charges users an annual fee based on company size and the level of services they require. Membership is open to students, individuals and any sized company. Services offered include live-web based classes, online member forums, complementary marketing, accounting and legal services (at an extra, but discounted rate) and more.

The top membership level features a facilitated in-person networking group that matches members with potential business partners and resources.

"What I find is a lot of businesses don't have a solid foundation on which to build their businesses, whether that's marketing or customer service. So we decided to put this together. It's not just the classes that are beneficial, but it's also getting a chance to network with other members," says Bradley.

Source: Anisha Bradley, Engaged 360
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

A community partnership has provided a one-stop portal for central Ohio startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses since 2007.

But CentralOhioEntrepreneurs.org thinks it could reach more central Ohio business leaders if they knew more about the site, says April McCollum.

McCollum, the website's business librarian and primary interface with site users, says more than 1,600 distinct visitors have used the website since May, when the website began keeping stats. But she says the resources available on the site to plan, start and grow a business have the potential to reach many more.

The website is a collaboration among TechColumbus, the Small Business Development Centers, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, the Columbus Metropolitan Library and OCLC.

"The SBDC is our newest partner, and we are collaborating with the SBDC to reach out to entrepreneurs," McCollum says.

Financed and led through TechColumbus -- a Columbus-based technology business incubator -- the site is geared primarily to central Ohio businesses in the TechColumbus and Small Business Development Centers regional service areas, McCollum says. But, she says, much of the information on the site is helpful to any new or emerging small business in Ohio.

While the partners serve as information points, the site lists a host of other resources, including federal and state contacts for everything from obtaining licenses and grants to tax resources, regulations, and government contracting.

"I've seen other Ohio websites that are directories, but have never seen one that is as robust as this," McCollum says, noting that CentralOhioEntrepreneurs.org provides both a human component (McCollum) and extensive information directories.

Source: April McCollum, CentralOhioEntrepreneurs.org
Writer: Gene Monteith

Six new digital companies are pitching to investors in Cincinnati, New York City and San Francisco after finishing an inaugural 12-week program aimed at developing promising consumer-based businesses.

These companies were housed at The Brandery, Cincinnati's first consumer marketing startup accelerator. The Brandery's founders are Cincinnati digital marketing executive David Knox and serial entrepreneur J.B. Kropp, vice president of channel development at social media branding firm Vitrue.

The companies -- ranging from an innovative online gift-giving service to a wedding vendor website -- were chosen in a competitive process. They were unveiled to about 150 potential investors, mentors, area media and fellow entrepreneurs in a Demo Day in mid-November. Each received $20,000 in financing from The Brandery in return for a 6 percent equity stake in the company.

The founders of two companies actually moved to Cincinnati from other states because of the opportunity The Brandery provided. The founders of Giftiki, which offers an online version of a greeting card with money enclosed, came from Texas. Founders of TurboBOTZ, a video game management service for consumers, also moved to the Queen City from the Chicago area.

"Both of these companies will be staying in Cincinnati now that The Brandery is over," Knox said.

The accelerator sought company founders who could prove their success potential, with big ideas, who devote a full-time effort to their company, Knox said.

"We didn't want "lifestyle" companies that would employ a few people, but instead businesses with the potential to one day employee hundreds," Knox said.

For a full roundup of The Brandery's first class, or to apply for next year's class, go the The Brandery's website.

Source: Dave Knox, The Brandery
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Cincinnati Innovates awarded $25,000 to Jocelyn Cates for Venue Agent, an event-venue booking website application.

Venue Agent was chosen from among 301 online entries. More than 16,000 votes were cast for the HYPE! Community Choice Award. The competition was open to anyone with an idea or an invention who has a connection to the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky MSA. Prizes totaled $80,000.

Venue Agent helps brides and event planners find and book venues for weddings. The same tool helps venues to promote off-peak and off-season discounts.

"Many brides don't know that booking on a Thursday or Friday could save them 50 percent on their venue - and many venues have a tough time selling off-season dates. VenueAgent is like the Hotels.com of event venues," Cates says.

"The purpose of Cincinnati Innovates is to identify high potential entrepreneurs and technologies and connect them with more than 50 local resources for entrepreneurs," says Elizabeth Edwards, founder of Metro Innovation, a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The competition was produced by Metro Innovation, with the Taft Stettinius & Hollister  law firm, CincyTech, the Northern Kentucky eZone, and 22 area sponsors.

"This year we really saw more winners than we had awards to give out," says attorney James Zimmerman, a partner at Taft. "From biotechnology and the Internet to consumer products, medical devices and green technology, the range of innovation has been amazing."

Bob Coy, president of CincyTech, says the competition helps to spur local entrepreneurial activity, which then spurs economic growth.

"We've been very pleased with the kinds of participants Cincinnati Innovates is attracting," says Coy. "We are looking for strong startups in which to invest, and we've seen many good ideas coming out of this competition."

Source: Jocelyn Cates, Venue Agent, and Bob Coy, CincyTech
Writer: Patrick Mahoney

The Southern Ohio Agricultural & Community Development Foundation in Hillsboro is considering a venture to help entrepreneurs.

Dubbed "Next Step," the tentative program would give four awards of $25,000 each to applicants with innovative, value-added, technological or agriculture/bioresource projects. Applicants would be people who have operated a farm less than five years and who are based within the Foundation's 22-county area. They will be asked to prove their project would replace tobacco income and that there is a market for their products/services.

The Foundation's board of directors will vote on the Next Step idea in October, said Don Branson, executive director. "It's still in the review process," he said. "No final decision has been made yet."

The Foundation was created with money from Ohio's share of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Fund, established after a 1998 agreement between numerous states and the tobacco industry. Its purpose is to support replacement of tobacco crops with others, and to assist former tobacco growers.

The Foundation's service area is Adams, Athens, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Gallia, Greene, Highland, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Noble, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton, Warren and Washington counties.

Source: Don Branson
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs