Entrepreneurship : Innovation + Job News

Cincinnati attorney Candace Klein is a good girl gone bad, and she wants to take other women with her.

That's exactly why she launched Bad Girl Ventures early this year. But really, it's not as bad as you might think. Bad Girl wants to help fill the gap between small women-owned startups looking for loans and funders who want to help create jobs.

"It's really difficult for women-owned startups right now," says Klein. "Personally, I've given to so many charities, political causes and organizations. I thought, 'If there was a way I could give just a portion of that to a startup company that would create jobs, I would.' I think we're really missing the boat on supporting women-owned startups."

Bad Girl Ventures is based on the micro-financing model of international organizations like Kiva, where small loans from individuals are bundled. It's also a nonprofit, so contributions are tax deductible.

Klein believes BGV is the first of its kind in the nation because it pairs the micro-lending model with a curriculum and a focus on women. Five chosen startups will undergo a six-week entrepreneur curriculum, where they will learn the building blocks to starting a business and be responsible for submitting a business plan, WBE application, etc. While one of the five entrepreneurs will receive a $25,000 low interest loan from Bad Girl Ventures, other partner banks will be approached to finance the other participants.

Eligible businesses must be at least 51 percent women-owned and in the sectors of retail, restaurant or professional services. The first Bad Girl class has recently applied for loans in a competitive application process that will allow them to get their businesses off the ground. The chosen businesses will be announced later this month.

So how does Klein define a bad girl? Bad Girl (Bad gurl) n. -- A female with an inner voice urging her to start something. Typically adverse to authority, she creates energy with her ideas and is a natural born leader. Peers admire her grace and intellect and the community is stronger as a result of her presence.

Source: Candace Klein, founder Bad Girl Ventures
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Motorcycle enthusiast/aspiring entrepreneur Gary Green � who has worked in manufacturing for 35 years � combined his love of bikes and ambitions for business when Access-O-Ride Technology, opened in Tallmadge recently.

Green had developed a way to manufacture durable fiberglass parts, but needed help to launch his business. He found it last fall when, after hearing a talk at a library, he learned about JumpStart, a Cleveland-based non-profit organization that provides resources to promising early-stage companies.

Darrin Redus, president of JumpStart Inclusion Advisors, which focuses on minority and women-owned businesses, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence Johnny Hutton, helped Green get involved with The JumpStart Launch100 Initiative, a collaboration of their group and the Ohio Department of Development Minority Business Enterprise Division. Launch100 is a statewide program to create a pipeline of 100 high potential minority and inner-city based businesses in Ohio over the next five years.

Redus found that AORT "has a patented, scalable product and a team with the right background and know-how to lead it through the growth process." He and Hutton helped Green develop an investor plan and funding strategy that enabled him to enter the market he'd identified.

Green said his JumpStart mentors helped him "round the rough edges" of plans and presentations to get better results. He said AORT and JumpStart learned "to trust each other's judgment."

AORT has begun making saddlebags and fenders already with six employees. Green hopes to hire up to 50 and eventually move into the automotive and marine segments.

Source: JumpStart
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

"Be prepared."

That's what Seavival tells its customers. And, in a tough economy, it's a lesson the Toledo-based emergency equipment company has learned for itself.

The company has developed a patented first-response kit that has attracted quite the attention. If a contract with the U.S. military is approved, it could mean an additional 100 jobs for Northwest Ohio.

It's been slow road to success, says Seavival CEO Brian Friedman. He has dedicated more than 40 years to emergency medical kits, starting while in high school as a hospital volunteer in Miami, Fla.

Today, the company is on the brink of massive growth. "(The military contract) could be a potentially big thing for us," he says.

There's good reason for Friedman's enthusiasm. The company's staple product, The Professional, can hold up to 1,800 cubic inches � and can be mounted on a vehicle (including a motorcycle) or used as a backpack. He says there's a big demand for such a product. The other portion of Seavival's business is selling the systems, or the contents of the emergency medical kits.

The five-year-old company currently employs only a few, but more positions may be added. Soon.

Seavival is now working with the Toledo Fire Department for testing and validation, Friedman says, adding that in addition to the military, customers might include marine and industrial organizations, as well as fire and rescue operations.

The company received some marketing and strategic assistance from the Regional Growth Partnership. Seavival has also recently partnered with the University of Toledo technology innovation group. The company also works with the international division of the Ohio Department of Development, seeking a customer base abroad.

"But we could use a lot more help," Friedman says. "Small companies like our ours are totally incapable of maintaining the cost of marketing for an international effort without help from the state."

Source: Brian Friedman
Writer: Colin McEwen

The idea for Embrace Pet Insurance began as the result of Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik's project for the Wharton Business Plan Competition in 2003.

The two MBA students won, beating out a passel of bio-technology and technology ideas along the way. When both Bennett's husband and Krooglik moved to Cleveland to work for Progressive Insurance, so did Embrace Pet Insurance.

The Mayfield Village-based company started small, but proved it could compete with the big dogs right away. One advantage Embrace has over its competitors is that hereditary conditions are covered � expensive conditions such as hip dysplasia and cherry eye.

"A good claims experience is key to pet insurance," says Bennett, who also sits on the board of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. "People get what they expect out of the product."

Business doubled in the last year. So did the staff � from 10 to 20 employees. Bennett says the company is growing at rapid pace. And the staff may double again.

Bennett who is originally from the U.K., says pet insurance is much more common across the pond than in the U.S. "Less than half of cats and dogs are insured here. The market as a whole is growing at 20 percent per year � that's in the down years of the economy."

That has attracted the interest of a host private investments and venture capital groups. JumpStart alone has invested $800,000 in Embrace.

"We are employing people with good and interesting jobs and we hope to continue to be a part of this exciting success story," she said, adding that the company is staying put. "I love Cleveland. I believe in this area."

Source: Laura Bennett, Embrace Pet Insurance
Writer: Colin McEwen

Getting noticed by a Hollywood producer is tough -- especially if you live in Ohio.

GotCast answered the problem with an interactive website designed to make it easier for aspiring actors, models and others across the country to connect with producers on the coasts.

Founded in Columbus in 2007, "there was a serious problem with casting directors and producers in Hollywood connecting with your average entertainment person across the country," says Justin Moodley, director of operations.

A shift from scripted television programming to reality shows and those looking for "normal people off the street" strengthened the need for links between aspiring talent and production teams looking for fresh faces.

GotCast today boasts more than 250,000 members and has tracked more than 5,000 castings, Moodley says -- including a member chosen for next season's "Project Runway."

Most features of the site are free, though members can join at a "pro" level for $19 a month, Moodley says. GotCast's revenues come largely from sponsors and website management for entertainment partners (see http://stortellers.vh1.com)

While answering a listing on the site is easy, getting noticed takes thought," Moodley says.

"The profile's really the most important thing," he says. "You have to think about it the same way you would on Monster.com."

GotCast also includes "open" online castings, in which contestants ask others to vote for them, but Moodley says the vast majority of members get hired through manual submissions.

While GotCast management moved to Los Angeles two and a half years ago, half of GotCast's eight employees remain in central Ohio, with plans to add additional support personnel.

Source: Justin Moodley, GotCast
Writer: Gene Monteith

The users of Sunflower Solutions' device don't need to be experts in solar energy. They don't need superhuman strength. They don't even need to know English.

"As long as they're not colorblind," says Sunflower's founder Christopher Clark of his device's simple instruction manual.

Clark's vision is this: to bring low-tech solar power to the developing world. The 23-year-old, recent graduate of Miami University, says the idea sprouted from a project involving engineering students who were charged with developing a business plan for a human-powered well pump.

"I thought there has to be a better way to do these sorts of projects," Clark says. "If these areas had electricity, people could do a number of things, like have clean drinking water."

The result is EmPower, Sunflower Solutions' staple: a low-tech, lightweight solar device that follows the sun's rays to obtain optimal energy. The system is simple � there are no motors or microprocessors. To operate, there are a series of simple color-coded instructions. A truly DIY-approach to solar energy.

The system has already been shipped to places like Rwanda and Kenya. This summer, Sunflower will power a hospital in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Other than a $30,000 grant from Cleveland's Civic Innovation Lab, Sunflower Solutions has been completely self-sufficient. There are about 35 people who work for the company.  Clark calls the workforce a "community," a group of "solar evangelists" who believe in the good work of the company. There are plans to grow, with a larger sales force and a manufacturing facility.

Source: Christopher Clark, Sunflower Solutions
Writer: Colin McEwen

Formed on the heels of a Facebook group that grew to almost 20,000 members in less than two weeks, the Secret Cincinnati web portal is nearing official launch, chock full of submissions by "secret agents" about the best aspects of the city.

"The way this came about was kind of a . . . challenge that my business had constantly undergone," says Chris Ostoich, founder of Blackbook, a Cincinnati-based company that connects employees who are relocating to Cincinnati with the resources to make them feel at home. "As an example . . . we had a female Procter & Gamble brand manager that had made a very specific request through our platform, which was she was seeking an African-American OBGYN. That's just tough information to find."

Enter Joe Pantruso, a serial entrepreneur involved in Internet security businesses who gave Ostoich an article describing the explosive growth of a London-based Facebook page focused on the best-kept secrets of that city.

"That morning, probably 15 minutes after Joe gave me that article, I started the Facebook page Secret Cincinnati," Ostoich says.

That was in late February. In the coming days, when membership ballooned, it became evident that the Facebook group would be inadequate as an interactive medium. Ostoich, Pantruso and web developer Sean Biehle put out a call for those who were interested in "building a business over a weekend." More than 100 people applied; 25 were selected. The Secret Cincinnati web site was born.

Currently in beta testing with a tentative launch date of late May or early June, the site already has attracted interest from other cities "and we're trying to work out a licensing strategy right now for that," Biehle says.

Sources: Chris Ostoich, Joe Pantuso and Sean Biehle, Secret Cincinnati
Writer: Gene Monteith

When life gives you lemons, make shampoo. That seems to be the motto of Gay and Buz Fifer, a Wooster couple working to take their pet care company to the next level by focusing on a line of all-natural products.

Parsley Hollow, which began selling its products in 2005, grew from an all-too-common circumstance in today's economy: Both she and her husband had been laid off from their jobs.

"I'm 63, Buz is 65, we had good careers, we had good jobs, we have good resumes, but nobody wants to hire people who are our age," Gay says. "And so we started a business."

Gay says that before Parsley Hollow sold its first product, she already had been "making these organic, all natural products for my own animals, which had skin problems." One day, she asked her vet if he thought she could make something that might be as effective as the expensive stuff sold commercially. "And he said 'yeah, I think you could.'"

In fact, that vet carried the Parsley Hollow line until his recent retirement, the Fifers say.

Today, the company sells six products, all of which the Fifers say differ from most mainstream pet products because they are "completely all natural and organic." Additionally, each product includes a natural antibacterial agent, Gay says.

The company has some celebrity endorsements, including legendary Miami Dolphins running back Larry Csonka and country artist Kasey Lansdale. Three veterinarians, 10 specialty pet stores and 12 groceries are actively selling the products, Buz says.

While an economic downturn has affected sales, the Fifers say they are negotiating a national deal that could put their products on shelves nationally -- though under a different name -- late this year.

Sources: Gay and Buz Fifer, Parsley Hollow
Writer: Gene Monteith

The neon signs and posters at the bar? Those kitschy grocery store displays that highlight your favorite brew? They're often paid for by the beverage distributors.

Though all part of the cost of doing business, they can be pricey. So, it was only a matter of time before an entrepreneur found a way for businesses to recoup some of their expenses.

SignTrak, a Cincinnati software development company funded in part by CincyTech and Ohio Third Frontier money, has put the web to work to that end. The point-of-sale promotional items are often ordered by the same sales people who meet with bar owners, restaurateurs and grocery store buyers to take their beverage orders; they then relay sign orders to largely in-house print shops.

Before SignTrak, that sometimes left a long and error-prone paper trail.

"Without our software, it's a very manual process. Everything's on paper, which the salesperson has to take back and stuff into a slot, the print shop prints it and sends it out. 'Oops, there's an error.' And back it goes to the print shop," says SignTrak Executive Vice President Denis Clark.

Using SignTrak's web-based service, the customer can proof the point-of-sale promotional items online, cutting down on errors, and print shops can manage their workload better, boosting production by up to 20 percent, Clark adds.

The company's founder, Mark Fullerton, designed the first system in 2004 for Walton, Ky.-based Chas. Seligman Distributing Co. The distributorship's president, Jennifer Doering, was so impressed with the results, Clark says, she took it to an industry conference to show it to others.

SignTrak launched in 2007 and now counts seven of the 25-largest beer distributorships in the nation among its clients. It employs ten.

Source: Denis Clark, SignTrak
Writer: Dave Malaska

Got a crusty customer who doesn't think he should have to pay a late fee? PAKRA, using game technology, will help you train your call center people how to deal with Mr. Congeniality.

Trouble closing phone-based sales? PAKRA says it can simulate the situations your new hires � or current employees � might encounter, through virtual interactions with virtual customers.

The Columbus-based start-up can then provide reports describing the game player's tendencies in reacting to various situations � data that an employer can use to improve training.

Begun in 2008 by Rini Das � she serves as chief executive officer and chief information officer -- and Anne-Claire France and Pamela Schmidt-Cavaliero, both of whom are on PAKRA's board of directors � the company's inspiration was not in IT, but aerospace.

"If you think about flight simulators that pilots use, by immersing themselves and learning by doing -- it was kind of like of an ah-ha moment, like 'why aren't we doing this in the business space, why aren't we improving hiring and training by immersing people in simulations that really let them learn by doing?'" says Michelle Stewart, PAKRA's chief production and marketing officer.

"And not only do that, but let's turn out some data on the back end to give hiring managers, recruiters and trainers information about who they've got coming in, who they've just hired who they've got in their classroom and who they have sitting on the floor taking their phone calls to really give them some information about these simulations."

Stewart says company has benefited from networking and mentoring services from TechColumbus and has six employees, plus a number of Columbus-based contractors. Major clients include Huntington National Bank.

Source: Michelle Stewart, PAKRA
Writer: Gene Monteith

You've seen it in countless movies -- the soldier carrying his injured comrade off the battle field over his shoulder.

Turns out that is exactly the wrong thing to do, and a Miamisburg company has patented an invention that will make rescuing injured military or emergency personnel much safer.

Dan Hassall, president and founder of Daytac -- a military and police tactical equipment research and development company -- says the company has invented new body armor that converts into a stretcher when necessary to safely transport injured military, police or firefighting personnel out of danger.

The stretcher is lightweight (only 10 ounces),  flexible and is folded into the bullet-proof vest worn by the soldier or police officer until it is needed in an emergency.

"It's made to stabilize the spine and neck to prevent more injuries," says Hassall, who founded his company in 2004 after 15 years with the Dayton Police Department.

Hassall says he has heard of many emergency and military personnel who were further injured when they were moved hastily after being struck in the field, or who were left in harm's way because it was not safe to move them.

"They said if they had had something like (our stretcher) they could have saved lives."

Hassall says he is working with the U.S. Army and Navy to get the flexible stretcher added as standard equipment. He is also hoping many police and firefighting units will adopt it and he also plans to find international buyers for it.

"We could be looking at millions of vests in production eventually," says Hassall, who has contracted with manufacturers in Ohio to make the stretcher, and says he expects to add two to four employees in the near future as production expands. The company now has  six.

The vest would add about $50 to the cost of a regulation $2,000 bullet proof best, he says.

Source: Dan Hassell, Daytac
Writer: Val Prevish

Markel Snyder, founder of GotGameRecruiting.com, says he remembers the challenge of getting noticed by college coaches when he was a young athlete.

A former basketball player for Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., Snyder says that he was especially inspired to help smaller colleges find athletes because they generally don't have the resources to travel the country looking at top recruits the way large universities do.

That's why Snyder started GotGameRecruiting, based in Pickerington, in 2007, one of the first virtual recruiting companies in the country. Athletes use GotGame to create digital trading cards that can be viewed by coaches anywhere. The cards include the player's stats, video images, and a profile.

Coaches pay an annual $62.95 membership fee and athletes pay $99.95 to have their information sent digitally to 100 coaches. One of the most appealing offerings for coaches, says Snyder, is that GotGame verifies the information the athletes provide so that coaches don't waste time verifying it themselves, or contacting athletes who don't qualify for their programs due to false information.

Recruiting tools such as GotGame are growing in popularity because they are very cost effective and allow coaches and athletes to increase the scope of their searches, says Snyder.

Snyder says GotGame has 20 member coaches and about 5,200 athletes at present. He hopes to increase that to 1,000 coaches representing 18 sports and at least 50,000 athletes by the end of 2010. He expects to add at least two employees to his current four as demand steps up.

Source: Markel Snyder, GotGameRecruiting.com
Writer: Val Prevish

While nobody knows exactly why autism is on the rise, the skyrocketing incidence of the condition is putting increased financial and programming pressure on school districts and parents alike. Hence, Monarch Teaching Technologies' VizZle.

Just a year into the commercial sale of VizZle (it stands for visual learning), sales are strong and the product has gardnered a passel of awards, says Terry Murphy, CEO of the Shaker Heights-based company. According to Murphy, between 400 and 500 individuals are now using VizZle outside the Monarch School (also in Shaker Heights), where the program was developed and piloted. Murphy says half the public schools in Loraine County are using VizZle, as is the Pasadena, Calif., school district. Schools in Durbinville, Capetown, South Africa, recently signed on as trial users.

"Research has shown that children with autism are tremendously gifted visual learners; they do not learn in the traditional way where a teacher can stand up at a blackboard and lecture on a topic and kids will take notes," says Murphy. "But if you can show them what you want them to do, or they can show you if they don't have language . . . then they can make their needs known to you and you can make your needs know to them."

According to Murphy, "teachers need to be able to personalize the material, so we created an online toolbox with all the tools in there to build your own visual supports. You can build your own lessons, build your own materials. So it's an authoring system. But once people build them, they can save them to a (shared) public library, and we have 1,800 activities now."

The company, founded in 2005, has grown to 14 employees and "couple of contractors."

Source: Terry Murphy, Monarch Teaching Technologies
Writer: Gene Monteith

No doctor wants a cure that's worse than the problem it treats. In the case of traditional radiation therapy for cancer patients, internal organs affected by cancer can shift, causing radiation to be directed accidentally to healthy tissue.

"The problem is," says Greg Ayers, president and CEO of Oakwood Village-based ViewRay, "if you scan continuously, you will kill the patient by imaging him."

ViewRay, which moved to northeastern Ohio two years ago from Florida, believes it has found a better way. The company, with assistance from the Ohio Third Frontier, is in the final development stages of a new process that combines magnetic resonance imaging and radiotherapy that Ayers says allows clinicians to see where the radiation is being delivered throughout the treatment. The technology is designed to reduce side affects and improve the treatment of patients with all sorts of cancer.

"What the MR imaging allows is for continuously watching that tumor and shutting off the radiation or adapting the radiation depending on the tumor's location," Ayers says.

Ayres is hoping to see a product in the marketplace within the next year to year and a half. But already, the work being done at ViewRay is drawing attention. Last month, NorTech -- the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition -- and Crain's Cleveland Business, recognized ViewRay's advancements with a NorTech Innovation Award. The honor is given to businesses and other organizations that "transform technical and scientific knowledge into novel products, services and processes that result in a positive economic impact."

Ayers says his company moved to Ohio from Gainesville because of the Cleveland area's long-time expertise in MR technology and workforce knowledge. Since arriving, the company has increased its employee base from two to 49.

Source: Greg Ayers, ViewRay
Writer: Gene Monteith

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