entrepreneurship : Innovation + Job News

Expedient and Fast Switch are bringing their Tech Strategy event to Northeast Ohio. Started in 2007 in Columbus by Fast Switch, the Tech Strategy events are relaxed invitation-only networking events between senior level IT executives and promising technology startup companies.

Expedient got on board as a co-sponsor soon after the group’s inception, and now the two companies brought the concept to 70 attendees at  Lockkeepers in Independence on Tuesday, Feb. 26 for its inaugural Tech Strategy NEO. “I think it’s a great, unique concept for this area,” says Michael DeAloia, Expedient’s regional vice president. “It’s invitation-only to senior IT executives so they can meet with their peers while at the same time meeting with a select group of startups.”
 
The goal is to help the startups generate local customers, find advisory board candidates, access capital, gather employee referrals and receive business plan and strategy critiques. While the structure is casual, startup founders are given a short time to give their elevator pitches to the executives.

Eight startups pitched their companies, including Widdle, DragonID and J-Lynn Entertainment. Additionally, Fast Switch New Ventures and North Coast Angel Fund pitched to the group. “When was the last time a venture group pitched a room full of entrepreneurs,” asked DeAloia.
 
“It was a fascinating mix of people, creeds and generations in the room and I am always jazzed to be in the company of entrepreneurs and the energy and enthusiasm they possess,” says DeAloia. “I dig hanging out with the experienced executive and enjoy the opportunity to explore their experiences.”

No selling is a firm rule at these meetings, which will occur every two months, although DeAloia admits that occasionally the meetings have led to client relationships. The objective is to provide a casual yet controlled forum for executives to learn about technology start-ups in the region and explore ways to help them succeed. 
 
For information about future Tech Strategy events, contact DeAloia.
 
Source: Michael DeAloia
Writer: Karin Connelly


 
 

The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, which supports entrepreneurship education and programming in Northeast Ohio, awarded a $1 million grant to JumpStart last week for an entrepreneurial mentoring program over the next three years.

“Our goal is to reach aspiring entrepreneurs by using the talent and time of the mentors to help these businesses move along with their plans,” explains Deborah D. Hoover, Burton D. Morgan Foundation CEO and president.
 
The mentoring program has been operating as a pilot program for about a year at JumpStart, with 24 mentor teams participating. The goal is to provide mentoring and support services to 1,500 early stage businesses in the region through 2015.
 
“This is an amazing investment the Burton D. Morgan Foundation made in JumpStart and the work we’re doing in the region,” says JumpStart COO Cathy Belk. “This is an incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs to access the wisdom and insight of people who have been through the same things they’re going through, people who know how to grow a business in tough positions.”
 
The grant will allow for the creation of a mentorship council, which will help form the most effective mentoring program. “The council will learn about best practices, understand other programs in the region and the differences between them,” says Belk.
 
Mentoring was one of Morgan’s core values as an entrepreneur himself. This program fits exactly with the foundation’s mission. “Mr. Morgan helped mentor hundreds of businesses,” says Hoover. “He loved to talk to people and had an open door policy.” Belk adds that JumpStart CEO Ray Leach once received mentoring from Morgan.
 
Source: Deborah Hoover and Cathy Belk
Writer: Karin Connelly

More and more, Cincinnati is recognized as an ideal city for startups, filled with resources for those interested in establishing their new ideas in the professional world. But what about independent artists intent on making and distributing their wares? For them, there’s CNCY MADE.

“The core idea is that we want to be able to start making connections in the local community to assist people who might be making their own physical products, but need help in figuring out what is needed to step up in scale,” says Matt Anthony, who is spearheading CNCY MADE. Anthony is one of the founders of Losantiville, an Over-the-Rhine based design collective filled with UC DAAP graduates.

Right now, CNCY MADE is only collecting information. Interested to see what the turnout will be, CNCY MADE is gauging the community’s interest and compiling intelligence on what supplies are widely available within the I-275 loop.

Whether you’re a creative designer with an idea for a product line, a manufacturer or have access to bulk raw materials, CNCY MADE wants to hear from you—if the project picks up momentum, it could be an invaluable resource for the city.

“We have great support for people who understand branding and consumer packaged goods,” Anthony says. He adds there is “a steady stream of creatives and students coming up with solid product line ideas and even prototypes who just can’t figure out the next step to scaling production to make a functioning business.”

CNCY MADE will not only connect makers with necessary contacts, it will provide a heads-up on what expenses to expect.
“The website could be a tool for actually connecting or just getting the details necessary to attain capital,” Anthony says.

“What we find in these early stages will determine some of the outputs for CNCY MADE.”
 
To get involved with CNCY MADE, visit their website and fill in the details.

By Sean Peters

Personalized stem cell therapy is in the forefront of medical advances. Using cultured clones of a patient’s own cells, medical scientists can develop personalized stem cell treatments, produce antibodies for vaccines and grow skin replacement patches and other types of human tissue for medical implants.
 
Two leading Central Ohio bioscience companies – Nanofiber Solutions and Celartia – have teamed up to develop a new cell culturing system – PetakaG3 NanoMatrix.  The system accelerates personalized stem cell therapies by enhancing stem cell expansion rates.
 
A petaka is a cell culture device with all the air space inside the chamber eliminated, which enables cells to grow on all internal surfaces. Nanofiber Solutions and Celartia added nanofibers to this closed, sterile environment to create PetakaG3 NanoMatrix.
 
“With regenerative medicine, the big issues are cell expansion rates and cell extraction rates – how quickly you can grow them and how many you can harvest,” explains Ross Kayuha, ceo of Nanofiber Solutions. “The PetakaG3 NanoMatrix is a significant first step in making personalized stem cell treatments possible in days versus weeks, as is the case now.”
 
He notes that there’s a growing trend in medicine and life science research to use three-dimensional cell culturing products to grow and study cells. “The body provides a 3-D environment for cells, but so much basic research in labs is performed on flat 2-D surfaces, which is a very unrealistic environment,” Kayuha says. “The PetakaG3 NanoMatrix is a tool at the intersection of personalized medicine and regenerative medicine that clinicians can use to perform cell-based analyses and develop stem-cell treatments.”
 
According to Emilio Barbera-Guillem, M.D., Ph.D., ceo of Celartia, “This PetakaG3-plus- nanofibers technology is important for direct applications for regenerative medicine and also new pharmaceutical discoveries and production.” Research centers, regenerative medicine centers and pharmaceutical companies will be primary purchasers of the new product, he notes.
 
PetakaG3 NanoMatrix was publicly introduced in December 2012 at the American Society for Cell Biology and will soon be available for worldwide distribution.
 
 
Sources:  Ross Kayuha, Nanofiber Solutions
               Dr. Emilio Barbera-Guillem, Celartia
Writer:     Lynne Meyer

Humtown Products, a solution provider in the metal casting industry, has been invited to meet with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) thanks to the Columbiana-based company’s strong performance following the economic collapse of 2008. The invitation from the prestigious research university comes with interest in CEO Mark Lamoncha’s innovative tactics that ultimately saved the company.
 
Lamoncha’s father founded the company in 1960 when the steel industry was booming across the United States. Needless to say, economic needs have drastically shifted, causing the company to downsize from 220 employees to 17 in 2008. “The whole industry in 2008 was off 70-percent in sales,” explains Lamoncha. “Most companies don’t survive it.”
 
To Lamoncha, the answer has been to provide his small staff with incentives to increase their efficiency. Following the layoffs, Humtown instituted an efficiency-based pay rate system that calculates productivity as often as 20-seconds. The incentives ultimately saved the company. “In 2012, 26 people put out the same production sales as what 151 did in 2008,” Lamoncha notes, adding that the system isn’t being done anywhere else in the country.
 
While the system has proven beneficial to Humtown as a company, employees themselves are now able to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in order to improve their performance, thus generate more income. “[Employees] study their own work habits and improve on them,” Lamoncha explains. “Their body mechanics, their method of movements, and motivation affect their pay rate based on each cycle of operation.” It’s the proverbial “win-win” scenario.
 
Big picture, Lamoncha hopes his system will help alleviate suffering not just within the Ohio economy, but nationally as well. He sees his pay rate system as an answer to what he describes as America’s low efficiency levels.
 
“Our biggest focus is on extreme efficiency improvements to reduce cost and sell product, being able to compete and leverage against the market price,” says Lamoncha. “That’s where America needs to be if they want to sell products here and abroad.”
 
 
Source: Mark Lamoncha
Writer: Joe Baur

For the second year in a row, Amplified Wind Solutions competed in the Ohio Clean Energy Challenge. This year the company won $10,000 and a trip to Chicago for a chance to win $100,000 in the Midwest competition.

Amplified Wind Solutions has designed a wind amplification system that can produce up to six times more electricity than a typical wind turbine. The company is targeting the telecommunications industry.
 
AWS CEO and co-founder Niki Zmij had eight minutes to present the company to the competition judges. They were the second company to present, but Zmij felt prepared and that she answered the judges’ questions well. Apparently, she was right.
 
“The winner was not to be announced until the awards reception at the very end of the day, but during our judges’ feedback session they decided to tell us early that we had won,” says Zmij. “They said our presentation really set the bar for the entire day, and wanted to ask us to present again at the awards ceremony so the other teams could hear our pitch. It was such a huge compliment.”
 
AWS is a Cleveland State University company co-founded in February 2012 based on technology invented by Majid Rashidi, chair of CSU’s engineering technology department. Other company members include Terry Thiele, director of sustainable product strategies at Lubrizol Corporation and Jon Stehura, financial manager at Laird Technologies and former CFO of Park Ohio.
 
The company has prototypes at CSU and Progressive Field. They have now completed designs for a third prototype, and Zmij is in discussions with several telecom companies about installing the pilot model on their towers. They are also looking for a manufacturing partner. Zmij predicts AWS will be ready for commercial sale in 2014.
 
If AWS wins the Midwest challenge in Chicago, the company will proceed to the national competition, for a chance to win an additional $100,000.
 
Zmij will earn her MBA in August and will stay with AWS full-time. “I'm fairly certain the entrepreneurial bug has given me the entrepreneurial virus,” she says. “I don't anticipate it going away any time soon.”

The company anticipates hiring additional staff in the third quarter of this year.

 
Source: Niki Zmij
Writer: Karin Connelly

Shaker LaunchHouse raised $15,000 at its second annual gala, held last week at Crawford Galleries of Western Reserve Historical Society. The money will help support Cleveland’s budding entrepreneurs. More than 260 attended the event, which was sponsored by the Shaker Heights Development Corporation.
 
“It was huge,” says LaunchHouse co-founder Todd Goldstein. “There were entrepreneurs, business leaders, successful CEOs of companies and people from the city of Shaker Heights. We even had people who flew in from out of state. It was a broad range of people supporting the entrepreneur community.”
 
The money will be used to support LaunchHouse startups and for programming. Specifically, Freebie Fridays, when people can come into the offices to work and pitch their ideas, will continue. LaunchHouse will also continue its support of the LightHouse Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (LEAP), a program targeted at high school students.
 
Goldstein points out that LaunchHouse staff will assist anyone with an idea. “We never turn an entrepreneur away,” he says. “If an entrepreneur shows up at our door, we’ll work with them. And we’ve helped hundreds of small business owners who come in on Thursdays for open office hours and one-on-one business advice from our team members.”
 
Since its founding in 2009, LaunchHouse has invested in more than 40 companies, with more than 100 working directly out of LaunchHouse.
 
“Our advanced goal is to be an idea hub in the region,” says Goldstein. “Seeing that many people come out really is a testament to all the entrepreneurial activity happening in Shaker Heights.”
 
Stephanie Colangelo, director of public relations and marketing, adds that LaunchHouse has a solid relationship with other entrepreneurial support organizations. “If something is not necessarily for LaunchHouse, we direct them to JumpStart or Bizdom,” she explains. “And they do the same for us.”

 
Source: Todd Goldstein, Stephanie Colangelo
Writer: Karin Connelly

Xavier University grad and entrepreneur Matt Dooley is giving back to the university. This time, he's not a student but an instructor.

Dooley, who in 2011 launched a social media agency called dooley media, now teaches a social media marketing course he developed for Xavier's MBA program. This fall will mark his third year teaching the course, which was recently accepted into the lineup of Xavier's MBA electives after an experimental period.

The course centers on the changing and emerging social media marketing space. It's a real-time, real-world course that teaches students to create, analyze and and adapt social media campaigns across platforms. Dooley approached the university about the class, hoping to contribute to an existing course. Instead, he was asked to develop one himself.

"I think the underlying motive was simply that so many people were talking about social media and trying to figure it out," Dooley says. "That prompted me to send that email, to see if there was an opportunity to build dialogue around social media's best (and worst) practices." He graduated from Xavier with a BSBA in finance and an MBA in marketing.

Throughout his course, Dooley shares his own experiences in the working world, managing and developing social media campaigns for small- and medium-size businesses. Dooley also writes about social media marketing for the online publication Cincinnati Profile.

The course has featured numerous experienced speakers, including social media marketing experts from companies and organizations like Caterpillar, Waste Management, Yelp!, Microsoft and Obama for America.

The course emphasises on meeting real-life challenges, and in one project, help solve a marketing challenge 3M presented to the class. The challenge related to helping the company better sell a new suite of computer privacy and protection products.

"It's a real-world course," Dooley says. "I think it's going against the nature of social media to be any other way. It's as interactive and fun and lively as possible."

By Feoshia H. Davis
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

TOA, a developer and provider of field service and mobile management applications, was named to the Forbes Most Promising Companies in America list, ranking 81 out of 100 and the only Ohio company on the list of privately-held, high-growth companies. TOA went through a rigorous application process to be chosen from thousands of applicants.

“It’s a big honor for us,” says John Opdycke, TOA’s vice president of worldwide marketing. Opdycke and others involved kept the application process a secret until they found out they made the list last week. “Co-founder Yuval Brisker was just over the moon.”

Criteria for the honor included sales and hiring growth, quality of the management team and investors, market size and key partnerships. “It says TOA is a great place to work, our technology solves a problem that reaches a lot of people and we’re recognized as a technology innovator,” says Opdycke.

TOA’s ETAdirect Mobility App provides accurate, up-to-the-minute workforce management on any browser for in-home services – making sure the service people arrive on time.

The Forbes recognition is not only good for TOA’s business, but it helps put Cleveland on the map for technology business as a whole. “We absolutely enjoy and embrace the role of visionary of technology in Northeast Ohio,” says Opdycke. “You think the only companies on the list are in the Silicon Valley, New York or Boston. But you can be doing technology in Cleveland and doing business all over the world.”

Opdycke says the title helps attract top talent and customers from around the country, as well as locally. “It’s a great acknowledgement that we’re a company on the move and were growing,” he says. “It helps us attract people -- the best and the brightest -- retain our customers and attract new customers."

TOA employs 425 people worldwide, with more than 50 in its Beachwood headquarters. Opdycke predicts significant growth in the upcoming year, while continuing to foster creativity among TOA’s current employees and providing top customer service.

 
Source: John Opdycke
Writer: Karin Connelly

Ignite Cincinnati, which celebrated its eighth edition Jan. 30, is a fun, enlightening way to interact with creative locals.

Composed of presenters who share their ideas, accompanied only by slides and audio, Ignite Cincinnati takes its format from the larger event that is mirrored in cities across the nation. There’s simply not enough time in a creative informational seminar for everyone to have 15 minutes of fame these days, so Ignite Cincinnati trimmed it down to five. From business pitches to comedic farce, presenters’ subjects are not restricted to any specific themes.

“There have been so many memorable moments,” says Ignite Cincinnati’s organizer and producer, Joe Pantuso. “The most daring 'talk' of the evening was probably Daniel J. Lewis who stood on stage for five minutes and didn't talk.”

The title of Lewis’ presentation? "Five Minutes of Awkward Silence."
 
Of course, there are many (more enlightening) topics to enjoy. Pantuso says that, after eight events, Ignite Cincinnati has featured more than 100 talks.
 
“I first discovered the concept when I was doing research into what makes startup ecosystems effective in other towns,” says Pantuso, who heard about the Ignite series from a friend who’d experienced it in another town. “This was in 2009, before the new activity we have around startups in Cincinnati was catalyzed by Cintrifuse and the Brandery.”
 
Encouraged enough to scout for locations, he found success at the Know Theatre, in Over-the-Rhine.
 
“I never really know what is going to happen,” Pantuso says. “I have the presentation titles in hand…but I never know exactly what the speakers are going to say, or how the crowd is going to respond. This is probably my favorite aspect of the event, the thing that makes it magic for me.”

Anyone interested in participating in the next Ignite Cincinnati, visit the website at ignitecincinnati.com, where you’ll find all the information you’ll need to give your own presentation. Volunteers are also always welcome to help manage future events.

By Sean Peters

Venture for America, a non-profit group that places new college grads in startup companies, is coming to Cleveland. The New York-based organization focuses on placing new college grads in jobs at startups in cities with a low cost of living and in the process of revitalization.

“The goal is to create young entrepreneurs,” explains VFA vice president of corporate development Mike Tarullo. “Too many of our best and brightest are going into big firms and too few are going into growth businesses and startups.” Ultimately, the hope is that the fellows will become successful entrepreneurs themselves in the cities where they are assigned.
 
The VFA team scours college campuses for recruits. The grads then spend two years in startup or growing companies, getting hands-on experience in developing a company. The employers pay the fellows $36,000 a year.
 
VFA launched 18 months ago with 40 fellows in five cities: Cincinnati, Detroit, New Orleans, Providence and Las Vegas. This year the organization expanded to Cleveland and Baltimore. The concept is modeled after the Teach for America program, which places new teachers in underserved schools.
 
“We identify cities that are kind of reinventing themselves through entrepreneurship industries,” says Tarullo. “A lot of it is about preventing brain drain.” The VFA wants to create 100,000 new jobs by 2025 by helping young companies expand and train new college graduates to become business builders and job creators.
 
The organization has identified 25 possible Cleveland companies, and Tarullo has already talked to more than 10 companies that are interested in hiring a fellow. “They are all different sizes in all industries,” he says. “The common thread is great leadership and exciting growth opportunities. The fellows can cut their teeth and spend a couple of years learning and growing.”
 
VFA plans to send eight to 10 fellows to Cleveland each year. Tarullo has relied on area support organizations to identify companies. “JumpStart and Bizdom have played a huge role,” he says. “They have welcomed us to the community and introduced us to the right people.”

 
Source: Mike Tarullo
Writer: Karin Connelly

In addition to a home office and coffee shops, Columbus entrepreneurs now have an option to work at The Salt Mines.
 
That’s the name Andy Soell and his wife, January, gave their new entrepreneur work space in a Clintonville store front just north of OSU. The name comes from an old saying about Siberian prisoners hauling salt up from deep mines. The term “back to the salt mines” refers to getting back to work, he explains.
 
Providing entrepreneurs, telecommuters and freelancers a comfortable place in which to work is what The Salt Mines is all about, Soell says. “It’s for people who would traditionally work in their home office or a coffee shop, but who are looking for something a little more dedicated and professional. The work space is built for simplicity and affordability, where individuals or small teams of people can focus on getting things done. It fills that need and also provides a sense of community,” he notes.
 
The Salt Mines provides high-speed wireless Internet, electricity, desks, fresh coffee and a small kitchen, and can accommodate a dozen people.
 
There’s also a device lab. “We wanted to provide a centralized place where designers and developers can test out their web sites and mobile applications to make sure they look their best on as wide a range of Internet-connected devices as possible,” he explains. The lab currently has an array of Apple devices, several Android phones and an Amazon Kindle tablet.
 
“The simplest way to use The Salt Mines is with a daily visitor pass,” Soell states. “Floating week passes entitle people to five days, spread out over any time frame they wish. For those interested in a more permanent daily option, we have permanent desks available for a monthly fee.”
 
The Salt Mines is self-funded. There are no contracts involved, as the Soells say they want to make the space as simple as possible for entrepreneurs to try out without being locked into a long-term commitment.
 
 
Source:  Andy Soell, The Salt Mines
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Columbus is winning big on two fronts with the recent opening of IBM’s new Client Center for Advanced Analytics in the city.
 
The company is investing $3.2 million in the new center, where it expects to add 500 jobs over the next three years, according to Ron Lovell, vice president of the facility.

In addition, while IBM operates more than 200 other client centers around the globe, the new Columbus facility is the company’s first dedicated advanced analytics center.
 
Lovell explains that IBM selected Columbus because of the strong and positive public-private partnership within the city, the friendly business climate and the large concentration of college graduates within a 200-mile radius. The endeavor is part of a collaboration with The Ohio State University, Jobs Ohio, Columbus 2020 and locally based businesses, such as the Information Control Corp.
 
According to Lovell, "The new anaytics center will tap into local business and academic experts, as well as IBM professionals from across our research, software and services divisions, to create capabilities that will strengthen decision making and help companies react more swiftly to important trends. The principal mission of the new center,” he notes, “is to advance skills through the design, development and support of advanced analytics in new data market areas.”
 
Data comes from everywhere, Lovell points out, noting that sources include everything from sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites and digital pictures and videos to purchase transaction records and cellphone GPS signals. “This data is ‘big data’,” he explains. “Big data is more than simply a matter of size. It’s an opportunity to find insights into new and emerging types of data and content, to make business more agile and to answer questions previously considered beyond our reach.”
 
Lovell calls “big data” a “powerful natural resource that, if used wisely, can drive U.S. economic competitiveness and lead toward careers in the future dedicated to improving society.“
 
He adds that the new Columbus advanced analytics center will have “significant positive implications for both the residents of Columbus and IBM clients.”  
 
 
Source:  Ron Lovell, IBM Client Center for Advanced Analytics
Writer:  Lynne Meyer
 

4 Walls, a Cleveland designer and manufacturer of digital wall coverings for residential and commercial markets, has partnered with Sherwin-Williams in a new program, SurroundDecor.

The program caters primarily to the health care, hospitality, retail and corporate markets, and features new original digital designs printed on premium recycled PVC-free material. Customers choose their designs, colors and sizes and SurroundDesign creates custom murals for their spaces.
 
4 Walls and Sherwin-Williams are long term partners, and SurroundDecor is a natural fit, says4 Walls founder Patrick Walker.

“We have a good and close relationship with the decor group at Sherwin Williams, and have for many years,” he says. “They are familiar with our commitment to quality in both product design and manufacturing. When we presented the program, they felt we'd be a great partner.”
 
Sherwin-Williams announced the program at its annual show last week. Their sales network will handle initial requests and quotes, then 4 Walls will take over. “They not only handle 100-percent of the sales process with their rep network, but they also field the incoming requests for quotes and information,” says Walker “As soon as the questions get more complex and technical -- things we like to handle and take off their plate -- they pass the calls to us. They are great to work with, and provide solid guidance regarding their needs, and those of their customers.”
 
Because one order can typically take between three and 12 months to complete, Walker anticipates sales in the SurroundDecor program to ramp up by second quarter of this year. “We are planning for 15 to 20 percent sales growth, and to hire one to two additional people,” Walker predicts. “This is our forecast, and is certainly achievable. Getting there will of course depend on both the overall economy and the trends in our industry. As always, we are cautiously optimistic.”

 
Source: Patrick Walker
Writer: Karin Connelly

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies (GLNT), which creates biomedical technologies for the treatment of movement disorders, announced last week that they will be leading a study to improve algorithms for deep brain stimulation in treating Parkinson’s disease.

The study will use GLNT’s Kinesia technology and is funded by a $283,828 phase I Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. It will take place at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this spring.
 
Deep brain stimulation involves implanting an electrode in a certain area of the brain to treat the side effects of Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. But the technology has varied results. GLNT hopes to improve the outcomes.
 
“Implanting the electrode is more art than science right now,” says Dustin Heldman, biomedical researcher and principal investigator for GLNT, explaining that outcomes depend on amplitude and frequency -- leaving a lot of variables on the individual programmer.
 
“With the existing Kinesia system we’re trying to level the playing field for everyone by making an objective standard way of programming,” explains Heldman. “We’re taking the guesswork out of it.”
 
While phase I will just collect preliminary data, deep brain stimulation could be another application for GLNT’s Kinesia. “It’s great for us,” Heldman says. “We have this sensor technology now, it’s released and it’s FDA cleared. This is just another application. Assuming we get good results, we'll apply for a much larger study.”
 
GLNT grew from 15 to 23 employees last year, and is hiring three additional people now.

 
Source: Dustin Heldman
Writer: Karin Connelly