Entrepreneurship : Innovation + Job News

An annual JumpStart survey indicates that tech startup companies that receive assistance from mentors, advisors and investors make a significant contribution to the region’s economy, even in the early stages. The Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs surveyed 121 JumpStart and North Coast Angel Fund companies to measure their economic impact on the region.
 
The report showed these companies had a $220.5 million economic impact in 2011 in Northeast Ohio, creating 776 direct jobs within the companies and 864 indirect jobs, for a total of 1,640 regional jobs.
 
“This is great for an economic region -- showing small growing startups are contributing,” says Cathy Belk, chief relationship officer for JumpStart. Belk emphasizes that the surveyed companies are not even a comprehensive list of all small tech companies in the region. However, many of the companies receive support from multiple organizations in addition to JumpStart and the North Coast Angel Fund.
 
Sixty-three companies included in this 2011 impact analysis also were surveyed in 2010. In one year, those companies increased their aggregated Northeast Ohio employment by 111, payroll by $8.7 million and expenditures by $20.6 million.
 
“All of this shows that Cleveland is one of the best places in the country to start and grow your business,” says Belk.

 
Source: Cathy Belk
Writer: Karin Connelly
 

Cincinnati-based startup ViableSynergy, a health IT commercialization firm, recently joined a new federal initiative aimed at liberating massive amounts of government-stored healthcare data to create new products and services designed to improve healthcare delivery.

The newly-formed Health Data Consortium, spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is an effort to get data housed in various government programs like Medicaid or the Department of Veteran's Affairs into the hands of health innovators. The data, scrubbed of personally identifying information, could be used to create more effective healthcare services and help providers make better care decisions.

"In Medicaid services, you can look at claims data like the distribution of race and the types of claims," explains Sunnie Southern, founder and CEO of ViableSynergy. "You could look at that information across a map and visualize it.

"You could see if more African-Americans have heart attacks in a certain area, or more Caucasians have back surgeries, and make a decision based on that. If there is a high concentration of Asians who have heart attacks in an area, maybe you could put a clinic in that place. You could help reduce health disparities."

As an affiliate of the Health Data Consortium, ViableSynergy will work to communicate the needs of the region to the consortium.

"What does the community need, in the broad sense? What tools and resources do we in the real-world need -- NKU, business incubators or UC -- to liberate these massive data sets that are released? We'll be working as a conduit to answer those questions," Southern says.

Other members of the Consortium include California Health Care Foundation, Consumer Reports, Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Gallup/Healthways.

"(Health and Human Service CTO) Todd Parks, whose brainchild was the open government initiative, really wants to use health data to spur innovation and entrepreneurship," Southern says.

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Sometimes the most simple, direct way is the best way to use technology to connect with customers.

Text and the City, a startup that recently moved from Cleveland to Northern Kentucky, relies on the the simple text message to create an ongoing connection in small, urban neighborhoods. Text and the City offers to-the-point, local community information, news, weather alerts and coupons through humble SMS.

“I got the idea when I wanted to go to a concert series in Medina, and it was going to rain," says Text and the City founder Shawn Blain, whose background is in advertising and sales. "I thought, 'Wouldn't be great if I could just get a text telling me if it was on, or cancelled?' Or, 'Wouldn't be great if I I could just get reminders in case I forgot about an event I wanted to go to?”

Through Text and the City, users can opt-in to one or two text messages a week that include event reminders, news stories or local emergencies such as severe weather notices. The text feature works in concert with a mobile community website that features an event calendar, mobile coupons, a dining directory, a things to do page and lowest nearby gas prices.

The mobile website is accessible regardless of whether users opt into the text service. The free site launched in June 2011.

Text and the City is currently available in Fairlawn, Strongsville and Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Blain moved the company to Northern Kentucky as part of the ongoing UpTech tech-business accelerator.

The company is preparing to target Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati neighborhoods as it revamps based on feedback from pilot communities and the help of NKU's College of Informatics, she says. The company's long-term goal is to be in 8,000 hyperlocal markets.

Text and the City offers small and medium-sized business owners an affordable way to keep in touch with those who want to stay connected.

“When someone opts into a text service, it means they are giving you access, but a lot of businesses don't know how to properly use that access," Blain says. We think we have the right mix and frequency of texts to keep people interested and connected.”

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Tremont Electric has released its nPower PEG Energy Charger after releasing a prototype in 2010 and making improvements to the current model. The nPower charger is the first passive kinetic energy charger that can be used to power handheld devices. The device can be placed in a backpack or bag and harvests the user’s energy during walking, running and biking. That energy can then be used to charge smart phones, MP3 players, GPS systems or any other handheld device.
 
“There’s a loop at the top to hang it from a backpacks, it has a much larger battery pack with more available capacity,” says Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux. “It can power a 3G device 100 percent, and a 4G device 80 percent.”
 
The nPower is manufactured almost completely in Ohio and distributed through a company in Streetsboro. “Anything we can get locally, we use,” says LeMieux.
 
Tremont Electric now has seven employees. LeMieux most recently hired two engineering technicians. He expects the company to continue to gain momentum. “We’re awfully busy these days,” he says. “We expect the next year to be pretty robust.”

 
Source: Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Karin Connelly

Business is bound to boom for Central and Southeast Ohio. Digital media entrepreneurs from Columbus, Middleport and Athens will have access to $20,000 in seed funding as part of Ohio University’s inaugural Innovation Engine at the Innovation Center.
 
“The Innovation Engine is part of a series of new initiatives, including the development of a digital media incubator at the Innovation Center, designed to address the surge of digital media entrepreneurs emerging from Ohio University and throughout the region,” explains Jennifer Simon, director of the Innovation Center.
 
The boot camp is the result of a variety of partnerships with other innovative programs, such as the College of Communication’s Game Research & Immersive Design laboratory (GRIDLab) and TechGROWTH Ohio. Simon also credits successful models across the country, such as Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator and Ohio State’s 10xelerator as inspiration.
 
Innovation Engine’s inaugural class was selected “based on the potential for follow-on investment within six months following the program,” says Simon. Participants will gain access to seminars, networking opportunities and dozens of hours of mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and industry experts.
 
Innovation Engine 2012

• Flashcrop, a mobile application designed to make digital flash cards for students by taking pictures of notes, glossaries and study guides and turning those images into note cards.
• Initio Creative aims to be a pioneer in media production by providing solutions for customers based on current markets.
• Lightborne Lore is a digital games and animation company focusing iOS and Android content.
• Brandbeau is a mobile app that allows for real-time analytics for brand ambassador campaigns.
• Affine Technologies offers network consulting and support services, custom software and programming, and computer engineering.
• Parabox is a small game development company selected as an alternate for the program. If any of the other teams are unable to participate, they will replace that team and receive investment funds.

Participating companies agree to stay in the state of Ohio for three years or pay back the $20,000. “We want these companies to succeed. But, we have additional goals – growing jobs and wealth in Ohio.”


Source: Jennifer Simon
Writer: Joe Baur

 
The partnership is the result of a two-year journey.
 
“In 2010, I began to spend time at the Youngstown Business Incubator, exploring options to start a company of my own or join an early stage company,” explains Luketic, who claims he was bitten by the “entrepreneurship bug” during his senior year at Mount Union in Business Administration. YBI provided the networking Luketic needed to get started in a career of entrepreneurship. “I was introduced to Philip Kilpatrick II, an independent insurance agent from Canfield, Ohio who had been working on a prototype for a web application for insurance agents.”

The result was Coverage Review List, proving YBI’s invaluable role to the company’s success.
 
“YBI is an excellent place to launch a company,” proclaims Luketic, adding, “The ability to lean on other tech entrepreneurs in the building is incredibly beneficial.”


Source: Daniel Luketic
Writer: Joe Baur

Thanks to crowdfunding, entrepreneurs have a new tool in their arsenal for raising startup capital. Columbus-based Fundable.com is a crowdfunding platform that focuses exclusively on startup companies.

“We’re the first crowdfunding platform to support rewards and equity-based funding [specifically for startups],” explains founder and CEO Wil Schroter. “We help startups raise capital by connecting them to a large network of potential backers who pledge money toward their project.”

Startups must complete rigorous requirements to be selected for the site. “They have to create a profile, including a pitch video, explain their goals and state the target amount they’re seeking. Fundraisers run from 30-60 days, and they must meet or exceed the stated goal or no funds are collected from the backers."

Schroter explains that, “As of right now, you can’t actually publicly offer equity to non-accredited investors.” The reason is because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to provide guidelines for the new JOBS act.

Instead, backers receive gifts. “We’re focused on value for value.  If you’re asking people for money, you have to provide something in return that’s of value, which could be a product. Many backers appreciate the rewards but are also motivated by their connection to the start-up concept or to the entrepreneurs themselves."

Shroter points to a recent success story. “Training Mask, LLC, had a small, fast goal of $10,000 that it needed to ramp up production for its second-generation of a training mask that simulates working out at high altitudes. The money was raised in 72 hours, and backers will get a discounted new mask and a special t-shirt. The company now has the money it needs to move forward."

"There’s really no way to raise that kind of money in 30 days,” says Shroter. “We have a huge, interested audience.”

Fundable.com began operations on May 22, has 22 employees and 20 startups posted.


Source:  Wil Shroter, Fundable.com
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

NEOSA recently completed its quarterly survey of Northeast Ohio’s tech sector, which measures how tech businesses are succeeding and their hiring trends and expectations, and the results are strong.
 
“What we’re seeing right now is not overly aggressive growth, but steady growth,” says NEOSA director Brad Nellis. “What I see are generally positive trends. When we compare results from previous surveys, we’re moving in the right direction. We’re really going on measured expansion going on two years.”
 
The survey showed that 67 percent of respondents said first quarter business was either good or very good; 87 percent expect their overall business to improve within the next year; and 73 percent plan to increase their staff.
 
Eighty-two percent of the companies surveyed reported they are currently hiring, which Nellis says is an all-time high in the seven years NEOSA has conducted the survey. The downside is companies are still struggling to find the right talent.
 
“I’m worried about the lack of talent," says Nellis. "The problem is we don’t have a pipeline in the colleges – they’re not graduating enough IT students.”
 
While the lack of IT talent graduating from college is a national problem, Nellis said Cleveland's reputation is improving. “The challenge is it can be difficult to get people to move here from outside the region,” says Nellis. “But Business Week listed Cleveland as one of the hottest tech jobs markets in the country.”
 
And area organizations are working diligently to attract the talent to Cleveland. For instance, Global Cleveland is planning an online career fair for tech jobs.
 
Source: Brad Nellis
Writer: Karin Connelly
 
 

While working in marketing and product development for various area start-ups, John Atkinson found himself most often on the road. He found it hard to keep up with the day's news as a result.

"I traveled all the time, and never could keep up with news," says Atkinson, also a partner in QI Healthcare. "I didn't want to drag newspapers around.

"Trying to read four-point font (on a phone) while driving was insane. My business partner Roy Georgia had been in tech for years, and we said, 'There has to be a way to solve this problem.' "

That was the beginning of BuzzVoice, a mobile application that pulls from 1,700 news sources, converting text-based news you choose into audio.

"We've created a real-time news engine that scours these sources based on your preferences," Atkinson says, calling it the Pandora Internet Radio of news.

"It automatically collects stories from the web's top news sites and blogs, and transforms them into audio. You can listen to them while you get things done," says Atkinson, of Mason. "It's a safe way to get news; and it's just a fun product."

Through BuzzVoice, you can chose the publications you're most interested in; they're organized into 59 categories, ranging from technology to gossip.

Launched nearly four years ago, the BuzzVoice app costs $3.99. It's available for most smart phones including Android and iPhone, Ipod Touch, and MP3 players. There's also a desktop application.

Living up to its name, BuzzVoice has generated plenty of buzz. It's been featured in top technology and innovation publications including Mashable, MacWorld, Forbes and Fast Company. It's also been a featured app in the Apple, Amazon and Verizon app stores.

The growing prevalence of smart phones (they make up 50 percent of all new phones sold), and emergence of voice activated apps like the iPhones ubiquitous Siri makes apps like BuzzVoice a more natural choice, Atkinson says.

"We're definitely at a tipping point," he says. "There is a lot going on in the mobile space; voice is the killer app for mobile."

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Fueled by a US EPA grant, University of Cincinnati faculty and students are leading an effort to transform cooking grease into biodiesel on a regional scale.

This project is a collaboration among UC, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) and Bluegrass Biodiesel of Falmouth, Ky. The partners will test three methods to extract oil from the grease, including one the University is planning to patent.

Longer term plans are that this oil could be used in a biodiesel mixture to power diesel equipment and vehicles.

Grease hauling is an industry vital to restaurants, which pay haulers to dispose of used cooking grease. But the grease has to disposed of, usually in landfills.

"MSD receives grease from haulers," says project leader Mingming Lu, UC associate professor of Environmental Engineering. "The grease -- a mix of solid and liquid -- are from restaurant grease traps. MSD also has grease from the waste water it receives. The two kinds of grease are mixed, skimmed and condensed. This is called trap grease. It's stored in a pond and then sent to a landfill."

The EPA awarded the biodiesel effort an $87,000 grant during the the 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in May. The project was chosen from among 300 presented by college and university innovators across the country.

Up to seven UC students will be involved in the effort, Lu says. It's set to start in September and should last two years. It will include pilot demonstrations and a 100-gallon pilot treatment facility in collaboration with MSD.

"This is technology verification. We will try several technologies and see which one is the most effective for MSD," Lu says.

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Birdhouse Studios’ Nesl won the William McShane Fund Kickstarter project competition, taking home $25,000 and the opportunity to have the Nesl sold in Brookstone stores across the country. Nesl, which is a flexible rubber nine-fingered desk organizer with suction cups to hold it where ever you stick it, beat out two other projects in the finals.
 
“It’s been very exciting,” says Josh Dryden, who created the Nesl with partners and fellow recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduates Sam Li and Pete Whitworth. “The biggest part is being in nationwide stores at Brookstone.”
 
The contest was sponsored by Brookstone and Buckyballs. Voters could vote once a day on the contest site.
 
Birdhouse Studios recently raised $30,000 in pledges through a Kickstarter campaign before going on to win the McShane contest. The team met with their manufacturer last week and presented updated CAD files for the Nesl. “We want to start manufacturing as soon as possible,” says Dryden.
 
While the Nesl’s popularity in the voting varied over the voting period -- at one time it was in third place on the last day -- Dryden credits everyone at CIA with helping to secure the win. “We talked to everyone we could at CIA,” he says.
 
The team heads to New York this week to meet with Brookstone.

 
Source: Josh Dryden
Writer: Karin Connelly

When Alison Musser and her husband traveled to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the vacation turned stressful when they couldn’t find a crib for their one-year-old daughter. “We called every hotel to see if they had a crib available,” recalls Musser.
 
While the Mussers were able to eventually rent a crib, the difficulty in finding one helped to birth Babies Travel Too.  The company rents cribs and other baby equipment to parents traveling to Cleveland who don’t or can’t lug all the necessities with them.
 
“It seemed like a no-brainer,” Musser says of the business idea. “It’s impossible to bring everything you really need for a child when you’re traveling. If you’re flying into town, we’ll meet you at the airport.” Musser will also deliver to area hotels, Cedar Point or someone’s house.
 
Musser researched the idea and found she could provide a resource for traveling families. “What we found out was that even large hotels – with 300 rooms – only have three to four cribs.”
 
Babies Travel Too rents everything from cribs and car seats to baby monitors and bouncer seats. “We do a lot of high chair rentals,” Musser says. “We even do boxes of toys. That’s been really popular.”
 
Babies Travel Too recently won $25,000 in Bad Girl Ventures’ business plan competition, which Musser plans to use for marketing. “People don’t even know they can look for this type of service,” she says.
 
The long term goal is to expand Babies Travel Too to a national level. In the meantime, Musser is hiring a couple of delivery drivers to help her out with the summer peak season.
 

Source: Alison Musser
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) is on a mission to enhance Ohio’s agricultural future and has been for nearly two decades.
 
CIFT planted roots in Toledo in 1995, acknowledging Northwest Ohio’s “rich history of food manufacturing and agricultural production, which provides a framework for many of the initiatives,” explains Vice President and Director of Agricultural Programs, Rebecca Singer. Since then, CIFT has continually expanded its services as a member of the Ohio Edison Centers.
 
“The Center for Innovative Food Technology has provided technical innovations and solutions to the food processing, agribusiness and agricultural sectors,” says Singer. “These services are designed to enhance the economic performance of the food processing and agricultural sectors and create new jobs within the industry.”

Examples of CIFT’s success in the industry include Sandridge foods in Medina and Jones-Hamilton in Walbridge. CIFT went to Sandridge and provided technical assistance, which led to their decision to purchase a High-Pressure Processing system, enhancing their products, increasing shelf life and adding new flavor components. Elsewhere, CIFT transformed Jones-Hamilton to the dairy, meat and poultry, and beverage industries. This has led to relationships with industry leaders, including Gatorade, Hershey’s and Ohio’s own grocery giant, Kroger.
 
In order to continue creating jobs within the industry, networking and strategic partnerships with industry organizations is a must. “For example, the Center for Innovative Food Technology has an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service,” Singer details. “The agreement provides Ohio’s agricultural sector with direct access to the expertise, capabilities, and intellectual property of the agency and its 2,100 agricultural scientists throughout the nation, which in turn can greatly enhance economic development and global competitiveness for the agricultural economy.”
 
But CIFT’s future isn’t without obstacles. Like any non-profit, the organization continually faces the challenge of maintaining operational stability. Singer insists the answer to maintaining said stability lies in their strategy to enhance economic development – identify and solicit strategic partnerships.
 
“Continued diversification in services, identification of new opportunities for engagement and continued awareness of industry needs facilitates valuable programs and support,” says Singer.

After 22 years as a surgeon at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Wayne Poll, M.D., turned in his surgical scrubs to become an inventor and entrepreneur. 

The former urologist, who did mostly laparoscopic surgeries, wanted to tackle an equipment problem that he – and his fellow surgeons – repeatedly encountered with laparoscopes.

“Hospitals pay millions of dollars for high-definition video systems, but surgeons don’t get the clear image they need,” he explains. “Fat, blood and water particles settle on the lens. Surgeons have to pull the laparoscope out of the patient and manually clean the lens about ten times every hour.”

Poll knew there had to be a better way, and he set out to create it. He established Minimally Invasive Devices, Inc. in 2007 with two employees. “For ten years, I tried going to companies with my ideas,” he recalls. He was constantly frustrated. Things started to happen when he won a business plan competition sponsored by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

He subsequently received help from TechColumbus, a technology business incubator serving a 15-county area in Central Ohio. Dr. Poll raised $200,000 in start-up capital and also received $2.4 million in angel funds, a portion of which came from funds supported by the Ohio Third Frontier program.

His invention – FloShield – received FDA approval, and about 600 of the devices were sold. The FloShield has air flowing around the end of the scope to blow away debris and provide a clear image of the surgical site. Surgeries can be performed more safely and in less time, he notes, which benefits patients, surgeons and hospitals.

Dr. Poll subsequently created FloShield PLUS.  “It uses the same invisible air curtain to protect the lens from floating debris, but it also has a saline solution that flushes fat off the lens.”

Approximately 30 facilities are using FloShield PLUS, which is manufactured and assembled in Franklin, Ohio. The company has 14 employees.


Source:  Wayne Poll
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Online contests allow businesses and brands to find new customers, increase awareness and engage with followers through social media.

"This is a really a fast-growing space used to create media exposure to engagement," says Cincinnati entrepreneur Elizabeth Edwards, founder of the Cincinnati Innovates business competition.

But paying someone to create a custom contest can get pricey, and there's not much guarantee you'll get the results you want. So Edwards launched a new web product, CrowdSpark, designed to make contest creation more effective and accessible for businesses on tight budgets.

"A custom-designed platform and a management platform could cost $15,000 to create," she says. "Instead of paying a web developer to create a contest, for as little as $250 you could create your own."

Developers can also use CrowdSpark so that they can spend less time on code, and more time on creating a great contest, Edwards adds.

"We make it easy and economical to create and run those contests," she says.

Edwards is using CrowdSpark, now in Beta, to run the ongoing Cincinnati Innovates Contest, which wraps up July 15.

"I've learned a lot in the last four years of running Cincinnati Innovates, which has become of the most successful regional online contests in the world," she says. "But one of the things I learned not to do is spend a lot of money to get the results you want."

CrowdSpark offers social media plug-ins, analytics, contest entry forms, custom legal rules, tech support and options to create a custom domain and accept paid entries. There will also be a best practices guide focusing on creating and managing contests.

It costs between $250 and $2,000 to start using CrowdSpark, depending on the options it includes. Hosting fees range from $100 to $200 each month the contest runs.

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter