Entrepreneur Programs : Innovation + Job News

JumpStart, the Cleveland-based non-profit that provides resources to young companies throughout northeast Ohio, has been recognized for its economic development work by the State Science and Technology Institute.

JumpStart was selected by an independent panel of judges as the winner of the "Building Entrepreneurial Capacity" category of SSTI's 2010 Excellence in Technology-Based Economic Development Awards. The award was announced Sept. 15 at SSTI's annual conference in Pittsburgh.

It's the fourth year of the awards program and the second year JumpStart has received an award. JumpStart won last year for its work in increasing access to capital. Other categories include "expanding the research capacity" and "improving competitiveness of existing industries."

Ray Leach, JumpStart's chief executive officer, notes that "the work we do and the results we've achieved in building a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem is a direct result of the partnerships we've made with private organizations and public entities, especially the Ohio Department of Development and Ohio Third Frontier."

SSTI President and CEO Dan Berglund calls JumpStart "a remarkably effective program by and for entrepreneurs. Their efforts have bolstered the entire region through partnerships and collaborations with other organizations, and through programs that target underrepresented groups such as women and minority entrepreneurs."

JumpStart provides intensive entrepreneurial assistance, including selective investment in high-potential companies. Since its launch in 2004, JumpStart has assisted more than 36,000 entrepreneurs, leading to $17 million invested in 49 companies and a four-year economic impact of $267 million on northeast Ohio.

SSTI is a national nonprofit organization that works to strengthen state and regional economies through science, technology and innovation.

Sources: SSTI and JumpStart staff
Writer: Gene Monteith

Cincinnati's first-ever consumer marketing startup accelerator wants to make a deal with you entrepreneurs out there: $20,000 in startup funding in exchange for a 6 percent equity stake in your brand new company.

The Brandery is offering funding, mentoring and partnerships to local consumer marketing businesses. 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 Brandery is now accepting applications for its 12-week program that will include that 20K grant upon completion. The founders also will set up meetings between entrepreneurs, potential partners and customers.

Once the program ends, the real works starts with a demo day that gives companies the chance to pitch to the press, angel investors, brand marketers and leading venture capitalists.

"The power of The Brandery is the collaboration between people and companies in our community," says Knox, brand manager of global branded entertainment at Procter & Gamble. "Entrepreneurs will benefit from a wide range of talented people in consumer marketing here as well as globally."

The Brandery is looking for tech-based, consumer businesses including Internet, media and entertainment companies. Companies can begin applying for the accelerator program immediately at Brandery.org. Deadline for submissions for this first session is Aug. 11, 2010. Five companies will be selected for the first session which will begin in late August.

CincyTech, a public-private venture development group, is funding those $20,000 grants through its Imagining Grant funds aimed at growing companies through the investment stage.

"Our hope is to create a whole new pipeline of startup companies that focus on consumer marketing, to complement our portfolio of companies in information technology, bioscience and advanced manufacturing," says CincyTech President Bob Coy. "Our mission is to grow jobs in thriving industries."

Source: CincyTech
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel funders and economic development officials will descend on Columbus Sept. 27 and 28 to network and to hear the latest developments within Ohio's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Sponsored by the Ohio Capital Fund and the Ohio Third Frontier, the Ohio Early Stage Summit will focus on the vitality of Ohio's early stage companies and investors, says Paul Cohn, the Capital Fund's vice president and regional director.

While past events have provided an opportunity for a handful of early stage companies to pitch their services and products to potential funders, popular demand has led to an expansion of that portion of the summit on the event's first day.

"For the past two years, we had half a dozen companies make pitches during the conference," Cohn says. "That's resulted in companies actually getting funded. We've expanded that to a separate event -- a half a day leading up to the summit."

Other presentations and panel discussions this year will include the state of the Ohio Third Frontier and what capital needs continue to exist across Ohio.

"Now that the Third Frontier has been investing for a number of years in early stage companies, is there a need for some later stage money as these companies are starting to mature?," Cohn explains.

Another discussion will focus on minority early stage businesses and both the opportunities and challenges they face. And participants will hear about the state of venture capital in Ohio.

Cohn notes that about 350 people from throughout Ohio attended last year's event.

The summit is free of charge, but attendees should register by Sept. 22. That can be done by going here. 

Source: Paul Cohn, the Ohio Capital Fund
Writer: Gene Monteith

"The only reason we're here is to create jobs, create new enterprises, and hopefully become a center of excellence in the area of sensors," says Dennis Cocco, co-director of Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE).

Thanks in no small part to a $75,000 Ohio Department of Development Edison Technology grant, the incubator on the campus of Lorain County Community College will be one step closer to becoming that "center of excellence" in the high-tech world of sensors. The money is being used to transform unused building space into labs suitable for sensor start-ups to perform prototype development work.

GLIDE already serves as an incubator for 20 on- and 40 off-site companies, offering a wide range of consulting and mentoring assistance such as preparing business plans and securing human and financial resources.

Long term plans to build more ambitious lab space that can handle harsh environmental testing will help GLIDE and Lorain County attract more sensor-based start-ups. Lorain County Community College also intends to build an educational program around the field to prepare students for work in that industry.

"We see a lot of need for companies in the sensor field," says Cocco. "The instrument, controls and sensor area is a technology that cuts across a lot of platforms, including biomedical, manufacturing, and transportation."

Source: Dennis Cocco, GLIDE
Writer: Douglas Trattner

JumpStart Inc., a non-profit organization that provides critical resources to promising young companies in northeastern Ohio, helped create and retain 664 jobs in the past four years, says a newly released economic impact report by Cleveland State University.

That's 162 more jobs than had been created through 2008 and a 32 percent increase within the 21-county area JumpStart serves.

Not only did JumpStart's activities lead to more jobs, they helped boost household income for those workers to $39.8 million in 2009 -- up $19.2 million from 2008.

In releasing the report, Ziona Austrian, Director of Cleveland State's Maxine Levin College of Urban Affairs, said "JumpStart's impact . . . increased during a recessionary year because the companies it supports continue to grow and create jobs."

The report was released just days before Tuesday's vote to extend funding for Ohio's Third Frontier initiative. JumpStart, which currently receives nearly half its funding from the Third Frontier, noted the importance of the initiative in its announcement.

The report summarized the impact of JumpStart's activities in three areas: investment in start-up companies through JumpStart Ventures; investments in start-up companies by North Coast Angel Fund, whose creation JumpStart led northeast Ohio's first managed angel fund; and JumpStart services to support other entrepreneurs through JumpStart TechLift Advisors.

The report also took a look at JumpStart's impact on local output -- the value of goods and services produced in the economy -- as well as its effect on tax revenues. Cleveland State measured JumpStart-related output at $90 million in 2009, a 20 percent increase. Local tax revenues in 2009 rose by $5.1 million and federal tax revenues rose by $7 million as a result of JumpStart activities, the report says.

Source: JumpStart
Writer: Gene Monteith

JumpStart will lead the way on a new Ohio program to give minority-owned, women-owned and inner city businesses the technical and financial assistance they need to create jobs.

The Cleveland-based not-for-profit venture development organization today will formally unveil Launch100, a five-year program in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Development and 15 state-funded business assistance organizations. Scheduled attendees at the kickoff include Gov.Ted Strickland and State Rep. Sandra Williams.

Darrin Redus, chief economic inclusion officer for JumpStart and president of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors, says his organization will lead a 12- to 18-month pilot aimed at proving the effectiveness of such a program in advance of a statewide roll-out. He says the program will extend JumpStart's reach beyond its traditional technology-based portfolio.

"We were coming across high-potential opportunities led by women and minorities that may or may not be in some of those core emerging technologies but still represented very high growth potential businesses," Redus says. "So . . . we began to have conversation with the state around wouldn't it be great to try to position Ohio as a leader in growing minority firms?"

Participating companies must meet a number of initial criteria, including potential for sales growth, job-creation and market potential. They must be minority-owned, women-owned or operate in the inner city. Assisting promising inner-city business, regardless of ownership, is key, JumpStart says, noting a report by The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City that found growing inner city firms hire inner city residents at almost twice the rate of other inner city firms -- and six times the rate regionally.

JumpStart, which serves a 21-county area, hopes to engage 12 to 15 companies over the course of the pilot; the eventual goal statewide is 100.

Sources: Darrin Redus and Cathy Belk, JumpStart
Writer: Gene Monteith

Aileron in Tipp City is to private businesses what a pair of ailerons are to the wings of an airplane: help for a steady, successful flight.

This non-profit organization, created in 1996 by former IAMS owner Clay Mathile (originally called the Center for Entrepreneurial Education), offers valuable resources in the form of both knowledge and facilities. Its mission: "to create an environment for owners of private enterprise to implement professional management."

For example, in April, June and August (February's session is sold out) Aileron will conduct "The Course for Presidents." Topics include leadership, strategy, culture, people development, structure, and business controls. Other upcoming programs: "Becoming an Effective Board Member" and "Keeping Your Company Sellable."

And because many fledgling firms focus on their work and not their environment, Aileron lets them rent meeting space in the organization's 70,000-square-foot building on 114 acres near Dayton.

Mathile knows a thing or two about what makes commerce tick. Besides IAMS, he's worked for General Motors and Campbell's Soup.

"I believe that entrepreneurs perform the most noble acts of anyone in a free society. By putting their capital at risk and creating jobs for others, they keep the Great American Dream alive," Mathile says on the Aileron web site. "We believe that those who engage themselves in all that we endeavor to share will grow in knowledge and passion to take their business and their dreams to the next level.

About 1,500 companies have accessed Aileron's offerings. They come from a range of industries � excavating, information management, dining and elder care, to name a few.

Aileron employs 20, plus uses guest facilitators. The Client Advisory Council facilitates dialogue between users and Aileron personnel to ensure quality and spark fresh concepts.

Source: Kelly McCracken, Aileron
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Need a prefab bridge that you can drop over a small stream? Dayton-based Composite Advantage just might be able to fix you up.

Founded in 2005 as a spinoff of the National Composite Center, the company is making its way in the world using composite materials to replace old standbys like steel, wood and concrete.

Bridge decks. Drop-in-place portable bridges. Structural panels. Concrete forms. Pads to give cranes and other heavy equipment a stable surface. The list goes on.

In most cases, says company President, Scott Reeve, "they are fiberglass reinforcement with a polyester or vinylester resin. They're durable and corrosion resistant and can stand up to any environment."

Reeve says the company has benefited from market development projects through the Dayton Development Coalition as part of the Ohio Third Frontier's Entrepreneurial Signature Program. Starting with two employees in 2005, "we have grown to where we generally run with a basic workforce of 16 people. We have peak times where we will add another 10 people on a temporary basis."

The company's big focus at the moment is a composite mat now being used by Canadian Mat Systems to provide "big flat panels that become temporary roadways, work surfaces. When they go in and are going to drill for oil, they need a big work space around big oil rigs. The main advantages are corrosion resistance, lighter weight, they're stronger and don't take as long to install."

Reeve says the company grew in 2007 and 2008 and held steady in 2009. But he looks for more growth in the future as it introduces new products.

Source: Scott Reeve, Composite Advantage
Writer: Gene Monteith

Ohio's first university-business incubator is going strong, 26 years after becoming one of only 20 in the country.

While Ohio University's Innovation Center has evolved, its basic mission remains the same: To make an impact on local jobs and economic growth. So far, so good.

At a time when unemployment remains at troubling levels, three start-ups at the Innovation Center created 378 jobs and 16.9 million in income in 2008. Workers contributed $1.5 million in local tax revenue.

Among those start ups is Got Game Media, a tech firm that markets athletic recruiting software for coaches and sports teams.

"In this economy, people are becoming more innovative and entrepreneurial. They're creating jobs rather than seeking them. The university and the community are working hard to offer them support," says Jennifer Simon, Innovation Center director.

Launched in 1983, the Innovation Center was the state's first university-based small business incubator, and the nation's 20th. It currently has an 11-company portfolio, and operates out of a modern, 36,000 sq. ft. office and lab facility that opened in 2003.

Start-ups also have the support of the university's bioscience and alternative energy research, and the University's Technology Transfer Office that moves inventions from the research lab into the market.

The center hired its first Executive in Residence this year to give clients one-on-one attention, thanks to a recent Ohio Department of Development grant. And a city, county, university partnership, The Athens County Economic Council, launched Business Remixed to attract entrepreneurs.

Source: Ohio University Director of Research Communications Andrea Gibson
Writer: Feoshia Henderson