Innovation + Job News

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

When former ESPN anchor Betsy Ross and partner Jackie Reau co-founded PR firm Game Day Communications in 2002, social media sites like Facebook and YouTube weren't even invented.

Now these networking sites have become a must-have communications tool for businesses. It's also a growing part of Game Day Communications multi-media arsenal in promoting sports and entertainment events for clients across Greater Cincinnati.

That's why Game Day has just launched its latest offering, a Mobile Media Center that provides full-service, on-site traditional and social media management for large sporting and entertainment events. Game Day has done similar work for events like the Flying Pig Marathon in downtown Cincinnati and the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament in Mason.

"Sports fans want to know everything they can about an event, and social media allows us to give them to give them that," said Reau, Game Day co-founder and CEO.

For last year's tennis tournament Game Day dispatched two teams of three that offered real-time media relations services from 9 a.m. to midnight for two weeks. They did everything from responding to Tweets to posting news articles and YouTube videos online. The efforts gave the event social media reach across the world, Reau said.

"We shared 2,000 tweets that were retweeted 29,000 times. A Facebook post was translated into 19 different languages, and videos that we shared over those two weeks had 100,000 views," Reau said.

Game Day Communications has four full-time employees, but works with more than 100 talented communications experts the company taps to work on a wide range of PR projects. Reau previously worked in PR at the Cincinnati Art Museum and Cincinnati's Christ Hospital. Ross worked at ESPN where she anchored ESPN News and Sports Center, and has more than 20 years of experience as a sports and news anchor.

Source: Jackie Reau, Game Day Communications
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites.

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

TOA Technologies ended the year as the fastest growing company in northeast Ohio.

Tonight, it celebrates the opening of a larger headquarters building in Beachwood.

The company has developed a system it says can schedule mobile service personnel -- think of the cable guy or refrigerator repair technician -- in a one-hour slot with nearly 100 percent accuracy.

Growth in both employment -- 220 today, compared with two in 2004 -- and revenues have spurred outside recognition and the need for larger quarters.

In December, TOA was recognized by the Weatherhead 100 as the fastest-growing company in northeast Ohio. The annual listing, named after the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and compiled and managed by the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), measures sales revenues over a five-year period.

TOA's growth was cited at 1,144.12 percent in the most recent rankings.

Tonight, TOA is celebrating the grand opening of its new headquarters, an 11,000-sq.-foot building with four times the former space. The larger headquarters will allow the company to double its Cleveland-area staff to 50 this year, according to company officials.

President and CEO Yuval Brisker said in October that the company expected revenues to grow 75 percent to 80 percent in 2010 from 2009 figures. TOA now reports it did even better, with contracted annual revenue growing by more than 120 percent in 2010.

Sources: Jennifer Friedman, VP of Marketing, TOA; and Megan E. Kim, director, education & programs, COSE
Writer: Gene Monteith

When Holly Harlan first started talking to people about Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S) ten years ago, "people looked at me like I had three eyes. But I said, 'I think they're going to get this and they're going to love it.'"

Today, Harlan notes that the E4S network has been growing by more than 20 percent every year since it was founded. "We've attracted nearly 10,000 people from all sectors," Harlan says. "We've helped over 50 companies create a strategic plan for sustainability."

The organization has also created a foundation on which Greater Cleveland can build a successful approach to sustainability.

"We've gotten much better known since Mayor Frank Jackson has stepped in and held sustainability summits the last two years," Harlan says.

E4S is a networking organization that unites professionals interested in sustainability for their businesses and their community, but its scope goes beyond that. "We're an economic development group that sees sustainability as way to create value in the world," Harlan says.

Harlan steps down from the post of president and founder of E4S this month to take on new projects. Mike Dungan, president and CEO of Bee Dance, a Cleveland business that repurposes materials classified as waste, will take over as interim president of E4S.

Harlan looks forward to visiting other cities and gauging their take on Cleveland's sustainability efforts. "We were one of the first business networks in the country focused on sustainability," she says. "The buzz is that Cleveland is known for innovative sustainability ideas, particularly in the area of local foods."

Source: Holly Harlan
Writer: Diane DiPiero

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

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.

Two years ago, Michael Frankhauser was a burned out college student studying biology at the University of Toledo.

Today, he's having fun while standing the northwest Ohio tree industry on its head with sustainability practices he hopes will help his young company grow into a successful business.

Frankhauser says that when trees are trimmed or cut down, some of that wood is sold, but often it's given away just to get it off a tree-trimmers hands -- or, simply thrown away.

"The same thing with wood chips," Frankhauser says. "A lot of guys in Toledo dump them illegally. You go down a country road and there will be a big chip pile that goes completely wasted."

Now, some of those companies are giving Frankhauser their high-grade logs. He has friends cut the logs into lumber and then dries it in a solar kiln. At first, he was simply trying to re-sell the lumber, but notes that "there's already a lot of lumber out there."

More recently, he's been giving the wood away to craftsmen who turn it into fine furniture. They bring the furniture back to Frankhauser and he sells it, splitting the profits with the craftsmen 50-50.

But Frankhauser takes it one step further -- he requires those who make the furniture to bring him the scraps. Not only does that solve a disposal issue, but it's allowing Frankhauser to amass a volume of sawdust and scrap that he eventually hopes to sell to biomass plants as feedstock.

Frankauser says he's finally doing something he loves. He says he's helping the environment. And, with 35,000 board feet of kiln-dried lumber already in storage, he says he's poised for growth. He has one employee, but says he anticipates adding more next year.

"Every step I've taken, I've made money on. I absolutely see it growing."

Source: Michael Frankhauser, Woods to Woods
Writer: Gene Monteith

Biobent Polymers, a new division of Marysville-based Univenture, has launched a new line of bioplastics that it says replaces up to 40 percent of the petroleum normally used in plastics manufacturing.

The key ingredient: soybean meal.

With funding from the Ohio Soybean Council, Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus developed new technology and collaborated with Univenture on the revolutionary new family of bioplastics.

"We named our new division 'Biobent' because we are definitely bending biology, taking a standardized way of producing a polymer and bending science to incorporate a biological component," explains Keith Masavage, chief of strategy and operations for both Univenture and Biobent Polymers.

The name of the new bioplastics line is Panacea. It's the industry's first bioplastic resin to maintain the characteristics of the base plastic while replacing up to 40 percent of the petroleum normally used in plastics manufacturing with soy meal, an unrefined agricultural co-product. According to Masavage, bioplastics -- plastics that incorporate renewable agricultural sources, such as vegetable oil, corn starch, algae, or pea starch to make them more environmentally friendly -- have been around for decades. Until now, however, desirable characteristics of the base plastic material, such as strength or flexibility, were compromised when agricultural co-products were added to the mix, and that adversely affected performance.

Masavage says the new material "is the only bioplastic that offers enhanced sustainability, high performance and a competitive price."

Univenture has the exclusive license to manufacture Panaca bioplastics.

Univenture, which has about 110 employees, has started purchasing equipment and hiring new people for its Biobent Polymers division.

"We plan to get up to 25-30 people in the areas of engineering, sales, marketing and general and administrative staff in the next 12-18 months," Masavage says. Biobent will occupy Univenture's available space, so there are currently no plans for a new or expanded facility.

Source: Keith Masavage, Univenture, Inc. and Biobent Polymers
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Engineered Mobile Solutions Inc., a custom trailer and shelter manufacturer, is the first company to move into the old Ford Transmission Plant in Batavia that shuttered in the summer of 2008.

This growing Southwestern Ohio startup was founded in the fall of 2007, just a few short months before the shutdown. Engineers An Nguyen, Bryce Johnson and Lee Ton started the company, which designs and builds trailers, shelters and mobile facilities for the military, broadcast and commercial markets.

"As engineers we started the company as a way to continue working directly with our customers in the industry that we enjoy. We are passionate about designing and manufacturing the best product for our customers," the founders explain on their web site.

The company represents what leaders in Batavia believe will be the future of manufacturing across Greater Cincinnati and Ohio. Engineered Mobile Solutions has 25 employees but expects to grow organically along with the company itself.

The company has leased 58,000 square feet with an option for 27,000 more. Employees are currently making the move into the new space, located just down the street from its current location.

County officials didn't let the building sit empty long. Shortly after Ford left, the county looked for redevelopment opportunities. With incentives offered by The Ohio Department of Development, California-based Industrial Realty Group purchased and redeveloped the large 1.8-million-sq.-ft. space, preparing it for multiple uses. Last year the University of Cincinnati leased 81,000 square feet for its new UC east campus.

"We looked at numerous buildings in the area. None were the complete package that we needed. IRG, the building owner, offered us the flexibility and reasonable lease rate we needed to move forward with our growth plans in Clermont County," says Johnson, company CEO.

Source: Clermont County Economic Development
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites

Developed by Dublin-based WD Partners in 1999 to give architects and engineers a better way to share project drawings and documents with clients and team members, Expesite has become one of the fastest growing companies in America.

Spun off in In 2003, Expesite has rapidly expanded its business solutions through acquisitions and partnerships with industry leaders in technology and within its markets.

Led by CEO Jeffrey Sopp, the company provides project management solutions primarily to the retail, restaurant, financial services and commercial real-estate industries, with nearly 350,000 users in more than 80 counties. With headquarters in Columbus, it also has offices in Los Angeles and Toronto.

According to Sopp, Expesite, has increased its workforce 10 percent this year to 45 and expects to grow further, projecting revenue growth of 52 percent 2011. The company has made the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America list four consecutive years in a row.

That growth was bolstered in 2009 with the acquisition of Hilliard-based Report Hawk, which Sopp says positioned the company to gain market share in the construction and/ real estate industry.

"By vertically integrating the two SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings, Expesite's solutions portfolio now spans from the largest retail owners to the smallest vendors/contractors," he says.

Last year's acquisition of VisionFM of Toronto "was an essential element of Expesite's strategic evolution into an end-to-end platform solution for real estate development and facilities management," adds Sopp. "This acquisition increased Expesite's market share, and provided clients with a unified view for project management and facilities management."

Expesite doesn't appear to be slowing down. Sopp says Expesite is considering three companies for potential acquisition in 2011 to expand its markets and better serve clients.

Source: Jeffrey Sopp, Expesite
Writer: Gene Monteith

In less than a year, Scott Bailey has seen the germ of an idea explode into an online advertising powerhouse. And it all came from the thought that he wasn't seeing many small business advertisements anymore.

"Newspaper and television advertising was out of the reach of a lot of small to mid-sized companies," says Bailey, the CEO and founder of LocalGreatDeals.com, which began operating last year.  "We started to think about how we could not only grow our business, but how we could help other small businesses do the same."

The website, which began operating in Cincinnati before branching out to other major Ohio cities, offers smaller businesses the chance to get their names in front of local consumers by offering what it calls "a unique and unparalleled local deals/coupons advertising experience." Now spread throughout the east coast and midwest and partnering with local television affiliates websites, Bailey estimates the site has brought more than 500,000 new contacts to its roughly 5,000 clients.

"Consumers go to our website because they can find great deals, and businesses come to us because that's where consumers are," says Bailey.

The website now operates in 25 cities, and expects to expand to 100 by the end of the year.

In October, LocalGreatDeals.com launched sister site DealsThatGiveBack.com. The new site also offers many of the same consumers deals from local businesses, with the added twist that 10 percent of all purchases go to charitable organizations, local schools and churches selected by the consumer. Plans are to launch DealsThatGiveBack in other cities in the near future, following the same footprint of LocalGreatDeals.

Bailey's company continues to grow exponentially, after adding 25 new employees to its Loveland call center in 2010. As both websites expand, so too, will new jobs.

Source: Scott Bailey, DealsThatGiveBack, LocalGreatDeals
Writer: Dave Malaska

With a roster of patents ranging from medical diagnostics, stem-cell research and applied microbiology, NanoLogix has kept a low profile for much of its existence. Its new work, with ramifications for fields as far-reaching as homeland security to food safety, is about to change that for the Hubbard-based tech firm.

Begun more than 20 years ago as Infectech, the company for years focused on research and other endeavors, including alternative energy. But when CEO Bret Barhnizer came on board in 2007, he quickly saw the commercial potential for the company's work in diagnostic technology.

"We had years of work behind the scenes, developing pieces of the puzzle, but hadn't put all the pieces together," he says. "We recognized early on that the company wasn't monetizing its patents, not taking advantage of its expertise."

Re-christened NanoLogix in 2005, the company quickly refocused on rapid detection testing. Using membranes treated through new filtering and staining processes, its Ultra-Fast testing kits are designed to detect the presence of harmful microorganisms, looking for antibody-antigen reactions, in a fraction of the time as traditional petri dish tests.

In the case of anthrax, Nanologix's test delivered results in 2-6 hours, as opposed to the old standard of 24 hours. Its Y. pestis test � for bubonic plague � delivered in 24 hours, rather than 48 hours, the previous gold standard.

"We would go to exhibitions, and the scientists were enthralled by our technology," Barnhizer says.

While the kits continue third-party testing as a prelude to gaining FDA approval for use in other than scientific experiments, NanoLogix has already started reaping the rewards. Last year, it signed a multi-year contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop rapid testing for bacterial threats to drinking water.

The company has also built a 2,800-square foot manufacturing facility in Hubbard to will localize work being done elsewhere, from Cincinnati to Houston.

Source: Bret T. Barnhizer, NanoLogix
Writer: Dave Malaska

Kevin Gadd believes there should be a way to give entrepreneurs and business schools resources that can work together for the benefit of new and emerging companies.

That's the thinking behind Venture Highway, a web-based service Gadd launched Dec. 31.

Venture Highway combines educational courses with tools gathered from Gadd's years of experience as a serial entrepreneur and former director of information technology commercialization at TechColumbus. The new company is backed by NCT Ventures, founded by fellow Digital Storage alum Rich Langdale, Gadd says.

Venture Highway's educational component hinges on curriculum developed by Sharon Alvarez at Ohio State University's Center for Entrepreneurship. Students will soon be able to access Business 290 online.

"Students will be able to sign into our website and see a weekly syllabus of what they're going to go through, and then they'll have readings -- content from Sharon Alvarez that she wants them to understand. The idea is that at the end of Business 290 the students will prepare an executive summary" of how they would establish a new business.

Gadd adds that he hopes "professors who are teaching entrepreneurism will see this as a novel, creative, fun way to teach entrepreneurism."

Students who have completed the course -- or non-students who are interested only in the other tools on the site -- can then tap site resources related to innovation, viability, planning, operations and exit.

"The final product from each of the modules is geared specifically toward sending it out to investment, or coaching, or somebody to get on your team," Gadd says.

Users currently can use the venture innovation tool and viability module; the others will be built out later, Gadd says. The innovation tool is free, while Venture Highway will charge between $100 and $200 for the other modules, as well as a fee for taking Business 290.

Source: Kevin Gadd, Venture Highway
Writer: Gene Monteith

Ohio's new economy needs workers skilled in science, technology, engineering and math -- STEM -- as well as those who can think critically and make good decisions.

The Cuyahoga Valley Career Center in Brecksville is hoping to pave the way for northeast Ohio businesses by offering a STEM Career Expo on Feb. 5.

A partnership with the Cleveland Engineering Society, the Great Lakes Science Center and STEMout, an organization promoting STEM in the region, the expo is expected to attract about 400 students and parents and 40 businesses and other organizations, says Marie Elias, the career center's community liaison.

The STEM expo is an outgrowth of a similar engineering expo held for the last two years, she says.

"That was very successful, and we thought we would expand it this year to STEM because we know that all of STEM is important," Elias says.

The expo is free and is targeted to students in 9th through 12th grades and their parents. Held at the CCVC facilities, participants will be able to talk to various STEM-related companies staffing booths as well as watch hands-on demonstrations and listen to panel presentations.

"Parents and students can visit as many or as few booths as they want and talk to STEM professionals one on one," Elias says.

The idea is to help students and parents understand some of the career opportunities available in STEM disciplines -- a goal that ultimately ends with students remaining in the region and taking jobs with local companies.

"I don't think a lot of students understand how we use STEM in our everyday lives," Elias says. "We know is that certainly STEM is crticial and that is where the jobs will be."

The event runs from 9:30 a.m. to noon. You can register here.

Source: Maria Elias, Cuyahoga Valley Career Center
Writer: Gene Monteith