Technology : Innovation + Job News

If you had 10 minutes to pitch your business to a dream audience of potential investors, where would you begin?       

The 10 startups featured in this month’s 10-xelerator Winter 2012 Showcase recently pondered this exact question. Their paths to the dream pitch began 12 weeks ago when they entered the intensive 10-xelerator program of the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University.

Recently, they took the stage for the 10x Winter 2012 Showcase, sponsored by OSU's Center for Entrepreneurship. Mike Lisavich, Program Manager for the 10-xelerator, describes the event as "the culmination of all of their efforts."

Startup teams enter the 10-xelerator at different stages of development. Some have little more than an idea, while others have already built a functioning beta website or found their first investors. The selected companies spend the early weeks sharpening their real-world applications, followed by months spent with potential clients and collaborators to learn their target markets.

Teams are mentored by and attend workshops with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors throughout their time in the program.  A wider circle of potential investors were in attendance at the final 10x Showcase.

“The ability to have that group of people in attendance is not something that comes together very often, and the buzz and energy in the room makes for something very special,” says Lisavich. "The Showcase affords new 10x teams the opportunity to connect with an array of investors and community members."

“The great part about the diversity of investors in the audience is that each of them has their own space where they like to invest," adds Lisavich. "I think there was at least one company within the ten that sparked each investor’s interest.”

The 10x Winter 2012 team portfolio includes One Exchange Street, an online exchange for bankruptcy claim buyers and sellers; MorphCARD, a mobile application for storing and redeeming gift card values; and Rooftop Down, a property management organizational application.


Source: Mike Lisavich, 10-xelerator
Writer: Kitty McConnell

iGuiders, a Beachwood software company that guides online shoppers through their buying experiences, is the winner of the 2012 The International Entrepreneurs (TiE) Ohio business plan competition. Founded in 2008 by Jodi Marchewitz, iGuiders is a decision-making application that personalizes the search process to help users find exactly what they’re looking for.
 
Thirty-six Ohio startups entered the competition for a prize package comprised of $2,500 cash and services including incubator space, advisory services, legal and accounting support. iGuiders will now go on to Toronto in April to compete in the global competition.
 
iGuiders was selected as the winner from a panel of five judges representing investment funds and early stage advisors. Judge Todd Federman, executive director of the North Coast Angel Fund, was impressed with iGuiders concept and success in the market. “It’s always a challenging decision when a small group of judges come together,” says Federman. “iGuiders has a demonstrated a lot of traction. They’ve taken a lot of risk and positioned themselves well to grow.”
 
Federman was also impressed with iGuiders COO Chaz Napoli’s vision. “Chaz has a polished a very clear view of what they’re trying to do as a company,” he says.
 
Real Time Imaging Technologies, which miniaturizes medical fluoroscopes for dental use, took second place as an emerging company  in the competition. The company will also receive $2,500 and  have access to mentoring and other services.

 
Source: Todd Federman
Writer: Karin Connelly

Linkage Ventures and CincyTech have formed a unique strategic partnership to create and co-invest in startup companies whose technologies can help people as they age.

Cincinnati-based CincyTech is a public-private seed-stage investor that has invested since 2007 in 35 startup companies in IT and bioscience. Linkage Ventures is a newly created venture arm of Linkage, a Mason-based nonprofit organization whose members are senior living providers throughout the US. Linkage has hired investment banker and former technology company executive John Hopper as managing director of Linkage Ventures.

CincyTech and Linkage are partnering in order to identify, evaluate and invest in early-stage technologies that startups can take to market to benefit the aging population either directly or through care-giving organizations.

“This partnership is about promoting whole-person wellness and providing solutions that help people age successfully wherever they chose to do it,” says Scott Collins, president and CEO of Linkage Ventures.

The deal is unique in that it closely aligns the sources of “deal flow” – entrepreneurs with aging-related technology – with sources of capital that can help them grow and go to market. Linkage has 600 member communities in 39 states who are frequently approached about concepts and products that can help their 134,000 residents and 16,000 employees. With that deal flow and funds available through Linkage Ventures and CincyTech, the path for great solutions becomes easier to navigate.

Linkage also provides a rare opportunity to identify the needs of people as they age. “Our communities have built and earned a trust with this population that allows us to talk directly to them about their needs and desires,” Collins says.

This reach and relationship-building provides the ability to conduct truly transparent market research, says Mike Venerable, CincyTech’s managing director of digital, software and health tech.

“We can quickly validate the economics of a product or idea through their population,” he says.

Adds Collins: “It’s not just the investment. We’ve got the domain expertise internally, and we can do quick beta testing that marries well with the CincyTech network and expertise.”

By Sarah Blazak for CincyTech

Jennifer Simon, Director of the Innovation Center at Ohio University, has been spending a lot of time cheering on the Bobcats lately. Yet the weekend of April 19th-21st, she'll be switching her loyalties to a different set of teams with winning potential as she cheers on the inaugural Startup Weekend Athens, a new initiative to help grow businesses.

"People come up with fantastic ideas, but when it comes to whether or not there's a customer, that's a different question," explains Simon, whose 56-hour event is part of a network of Startup Weekend events. "We'll spend the weekend on customer validation, developing a beta version of the product and testing it."

The intense, often sleep-deprived Startup Weekends are geared towards budding entrepreneurs who have a business or product idea and want help developing it quickly. Over 56 hours, would-be company founders pitch ideas, form teams, develop business plans with the help of mentoring from successful entrepreneurs, and compete for hefty cash prizes of up to $2,500 in a final competition.

Only 10 entrepreneurs will have the chance to develop their ideas. The event kicks off with 60 second pitches followed by audience voting to pick the top 10. Those entrepreneurs who are not selected can join other teams and work on building relationships with other individuals with complementary skills.

In addition to meeting other like-minded innovators, participants will be able to network with successful company founders, venture capitalists and angel investors. Startup Weekend is open to both students and professionals, and Simon says she expects some registrants to travel from outside of the area.

"This is the first time OU has done this, and it's an opportunity for us to develop deal flow," says Simon. "There is a lot more entrepreneurial activity in Athens and the surrounding area, in part thanks to additional resources from Ohio Third Frontier developed a few years ago. The pipeline has really opened up."

The Innovation Center is a 36,500 square foot incubator space. Currently, the Center is about 95 percent full. The Center for Entrepreneurship is also housed on campus, and provides a range of business clients with technical assistance. Finally, TechGROWTH Ohio, an organization funded by Ohio Third Frontier and located at OU, helps to catalyze startup businesses throughout Southeast Ohio.


Source: Jennifer Simon
Writer: Lee Chilcote

There's a reason why Ohio Supercomputer Center's new $4.1 million,  HP Intel Xeon, processor based system has been dubbed the Oakley Cluster. Like the legendary Ohio-born sharpshooter and social advocate Annie Oakley, it's fast as hell, doesn't miss a shot and is improving the lives of Ohioans.

Just ask Ashok Krishnamurthy, Executive Director of the OSC, a facility that is funded by the Ohio Board of Regents and has been in existence since 1987. "We have more than 2,000 academic users across the state, and they're discovering new materials and developing advanced energy applications," he says. "To be competitive, we must provide the highest performance system, and this represents a new level of capability."

OSC's new supercomputer can achieve 88 teraflops, which is tech speak for 88 trillion calculations per second. Yes, in case you're wondering, that's lightning fast.

OSC's new system will help to achieve its mission of assisting academic and business users. Large companies such as Proctor and Gamble and Rolls Royce use OSC as a "second level system when they have needs beyond what their systems can support," says Krishnamurthy. OSC helps small and midsize companies develop and test prototypes virtually rather than investing in actual models, while academics use the system to complete their cutting-edge research.

"We give them access to software and expertise," says Krishnamurthy. "Once they understand the value of what this can do, it changes how they do business."

As one example, Krishnamurthy cites an Ohio company that is developing an LED projector small enough to fit inside a phone. How do they convince various manufacturers that their device can handle the projector's heat without testing every single one? That's where OSC's computer modeling comes in.

"You can simulate how the heat is dissipated," he says. "It's an easy, low-cost way to show potential customers how your design can be incorporated into their products."

OSC has also helped to develop courses for students at community colleges and four-year colleges and universities, as well as professionals who are seeking continuing education. "OSC is in a fairly unique position," says Krishnamurthy. "It is the most consistently state-funded center of its kind in the country."


Source: Ashok Krishnamurthy
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Richard Wagner must have seen great potential for growth when he launched his startup, Prevedere Inc., in 2010. The name he chose translates from the Italian as “to foresee,” appropriate for a fledgling company that specializes in helping medium to large-scale businesses predict their economic climate.

Today, Prevedere’s patent-pending business forecasting software allows companies to analyze external economic data and market factors which could impact their operations. The application allows corporate strategists to compare industry-specific data, geographic factors and global trends with internal data, allowing for more informed decisions.

In March, TechColumbus announced plans to invest $300,000 from its pre-seed fund in Prevedere. The organization's pre-seed, convertible debt-investments are made in the most promising incubation stage companies in the Central Ohio region. Those that are successful have the potential for future investment.

“Prevedere is an excellent addition to our investment portfolio,” says Tim Haynes, Interim President and CEO of TechColumbus. “Business intelligence and forecasting harness the power of today’s computing, and Prevedere provides software to easily and quickly make sense of time-sensitive and intensive data that influences critical decisions that impact success and bottom line results.”

“TechColumbus was the first resource I reached out to,” says Wagner. “The Pre-Seed funds are a great starting point to fund startup activity such as starting to hire our employees and marketing our products and services.”

In addition to the support of TechColumbus, Wagner says that he has benefited from working in proximity to the Central Ohio tech development community. He also cites the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center and the Technology Commercialization Office at the Ohio State University as resources. Finally, he credits Columbus angel investor Mike Figliuolo from thoughtLEADERS for introducing him to the OSU's monthly morning pitch event, Wake Up Start Up.

Wagner says that Prevedere will apply TechColumbus’s $300,000 investment to marketing initiatives and to refining the implementation of the software application to meet the needs of larger businesses.


Source: Richard Wagner, Tim Haynes
Writer: Kitty McConnell

Tax incentives from the state of Ohio and city of Columbus will help keep thriving information technology development company Rampart Hosting growing here in our state.

Rick Hulse, vice president of business development for Rampart, says that the company will add as many as 26 new jobs in Columbus over the next several years as its mobile application development business grows.

Rampart received a 40 percent, seven-year Ohio Job Creation tax credit, which Hulse says enables them “leeway to hire the right people for the right projects.”

“We had looked into moving or opening branches in other states, which of course would mean fewer jobs here in Ohio,” says Hulse, who says some the company’s largest customers are out of state.  “But this (tax credit) absolutely made it more attractive to stay right here.”

The company currently employs 13 with an annual payroll of about $800,000.  In addition to mobile application development the company offers web hosting, web development and tech support.

“We can build something and then we also know how to take care of it,” says Hulse.  “We are the total package.”

Rampart Hosting was founded by Leo Daugherty III and Nathan Case.  The company’s revenue has more than tripled in the last three years.   They are looking to hire additional mobile app developers, web developers and sales and administrative support as their growth continues, says Hulse.


Source: Rick Hulse
Writer: Val Prevish

Just six months after moving from Chicago to Cincinnati, mobile coupon innovator Samplesaint continues to catch major consumer brand and retailer attention. The startup's evolving technology is fueling its growth from eight to 25 employees since coming to the Queen City.

“We've had tremendous growth in product development. In terms of hiring, we've brought on a lot of IT and marketing folks. We have 25 employees, but we're not done yet,” says company founder and CEO Lawrence Griffith, a Cincinnati native.

Samplesaint was built on its mobile phone couponing technology that allows coupons to be easily scanned. It bypasses the more cumbersome process of printing digital coupons or requiring retailers to manually enter coupon codes from a phone.

Samplesaint is more than couponing. It offers a range of mobile marketing, consumer insight, research and experience services. Samplesaint's technology also includes access to a database that ties to retailers' point-of-service, allowing then to immediately identify and determine the redemption and expiration dates of coupons.

The company has already worked with major consumer brands, including Lipton, Breyers, Dove, Hellann's and Ragu, Griffith says.

“The integration of three pieces are what companies are most excited about: our ability to acquire content, geotargeting and data collection,” Griffith says. “And we can work within their existing systems.”

Samplesaint, which still has an office in Chicago, moved to Cincinnati after a $250,000 investment from CincyTech. It was one of the first companies that CincyTech investment attracted from out of state, as well as the first African-American owned company in which CincyTech has invested.

Rahul Bawa, director of digital/IT for CincyTech, says the venture development firm recruited Samplesaint from Chicago because of its unique approach to mobile marketing.

“Samplesaint has pioneered innovative mobile technologies,” says Bawa. “The company offers new ways of delivering content for consumer-focused companies and their brands. There’s a growing need in the marketplace for mobile-based marketing, and Samplesaint continues to explore ways to serve it. And with our emphasis on consumer marketing in this region, a company like Samplesaint belongs here.”

Source: Rahul Bawa
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Someday, perhaps, we'll power our ever-growing number of personal electronic devices with something sustainable like biofuels or sunlight. Until then, the nPower PEG (personal energy device) will do nicely. Tremont Electric's clever gadget converts the motion of walking or running into energy, which it stores in a battery until you're ready to recharge your cell phone or iPod.
 
Cool, right? The only problem to date has been getting hold of one.
 
"The last 18 months have been pretty challenging," says vice president Jill LeMieux. The supplier of the custom battery used in the original design proved unable to keep up. At present there are about 2,000 nPower PEG's in use -- and 5,000 on back order. That's an encouraging but precarious situation for a small company.
 
But things should improve in late March; that's when Delta Systems in Streetsboro begins mass-producing nPower PEGs. Would-be owners' reward for waiting will be greater energy efficiency in the new models -- which Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux attributes to advances in microprocessors -- and a standardized battery that holds twice the charge of the older ones.
 
Delta Systems has been "very supportive," Jill adds, fronting the tooling costs until sales ramp up. She expects to sell at least 1,000 units per month. In the near future they'll only be available through the website, but some retailers already are expressing interest. The product is a natural for stores serving runners, hikers and campers.
 
"What we've seen since the rollout of this product is overwhelming demand for it," says Aaron.
 
The company hears frequently from users who "love" the PEG, including servicemen in Afghanistan, who report that it has worked "flawlessly." And like the deal with Delta, a military order would be another big, energy-generating step forward for the tiny company. The PEG is also a finalist in the Edison Awards, which will be announced April 26. Tremont Electric also continues to work with universities and others on deploying buoys that would convert the motion of waves into large-scale energy production.
 
Notes Aaron, "It's going to get interesting around here, I can say that much."
 
 
Sources: Jill and Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

OnShift Software, a leader in web-based staff scheduling and shift management software for the healthcare industry, closed $3 million in series B financing. The funding will help OnShift meet the rising demand to manage healthcare costs.

OnShift is experiencing fast, significant growth, having achieved a 400 percent increase in annual revenue in 2011. The company’s customer base has surged to more than 600 in the past year. The funding will be used to accelerate OnShift’s sales and marketing strategies and expand its presence in the healthcare industry.

“The healthcare market is under a lot of pressure to get costs under control,” says OnShift CEO Mark Woodka. “Our customers need to manage their labor costs in long-term care and senior living. That collection of customers is primarily doing it manually. This funding will allow us to meet the demand, accelerate our growth and continue to deliver world class, innovative solutions to our healthcare clients.”

With OnShift, providers control labor costs by preventing overtime, managing open shifts, and operating with appropriate staffing levels

OnShift has 36 employees and plans to grow to 55 or 60 this year.

 
Source: Mark Woodka
Writer: Karin Connelly
 
 
 
 

Ryan Rybolt started his payment processing company, Infintech, almost eight years ago. As a former banker, Rybolt thought small to medium businesses were taken advantage of and underserved. Today, his business levels the playing field through partnerships with chambers of commerce all over the country.
 
He put together a business plan with a focus on being fair and transparent by not overcharging on credit card processing fees. Rybolt, who was already connected with the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, began to form a partnership five years ago by offering payment-processing rates much lower than other companies. Many chambers offer members discounted group rates on things like offices supplies and health care by leveraging their collective buying power. By doing that with payment processing, Infintech saves chambers and their members around 40 percent on credit card processing costs.
 
“There’s no reason why a business should pay almost twice what it costs to process a payment,” Rybolt says.
 
Infintech provides services for in-store retail, mobile, online and phone purchases. With pre-negotiated rates and no long-term contracts, Infintech gives companies worry-free service.
 
That service won Infintech the endorsement of the state of Kentucky’s Chamber of Commerce Executives three years ago, and the business started serving 90 chambers across the state. Earlier this month, the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, which is a non-profit that helps manage chambers all over the country, announced their partnership with Infintech.
 
“The took notice of our program and approached us about becoming a partner,” Rybolt says. “This will allow us to grow into any markets we want and at a speed we want.”
 
Already, Rybolt says he has been approached by as far away as Anchorage, Alaska. In the past few years, Infintech has grown by 30 percent or more, and Rybolt expects that to be matched again this year.
 
“This opportunity is going to give us the opportunity to serve clients all over the country,” Rybolt says. “We will really be able to control our own growth.”
 
By Evan Wallis

Platform Lab, a nonprofit information technology test and training facility in Columbus, had some big news to share last month. It appointed Silicon Valley veteran Ron Landthorn as Director and launched its new Data Center Solution Partner Program.

Landthorn has recently returned home to his native Columbus following a career in Silicon Valley working in international sales and business development for IT firms. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University with a degree in electrical engineering and has worked in engineering and management for businesses such as Procter & Gamble and AccuRay.

“My wife and I grew up here and it was always our intention to come back,” he says.  “I’m enthused about what’s happening in Ohio with technology development.”

Landthorn created the new program to help Platform Lab’s 200-plus clients gain better access to cloud backup solutions. The recently launched program is an important new collaboration with the Lab’s community of data protection suppliers that will help to protect data used and stored on the Internet.

“We’ve put together goals that can help us grow our respective business,” he says.

Platform Lab is the nation’s only state-funded IT test & training facility. It offers affordable access to IT infrastructure for testing, cloud computing, development and projects. “We give your company a competitive advantage by offering flexible, scalable services,” Platform Lab's website states. “Utilize Platform Lab solutions instead of investing in short-term hardware and software solutions that are difficult to manage and time-consuming.”

Columbus-based Veeam Software was selected as the program's first partner. Veeam has developed a large worldwide clientele and is considered one of the fastest growing and most innovative data protection suppliers in the world.

The Lab's Partner Program offers a win-win for business clients: first, it helps them to protect data, avoid costly mistakes and foster maximum productivity; second, it helps them to test such IT solutions to ensure they work optimally. 

Platform Lab is located within TechColumbus, a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate the development of Central Ohio’s innovation economy.


Source: Ron Landthorn
Writer: Val Prevish

A crowd eager to learn about entrepreneurial opportunities in Northwest Ohio flooded Olscamp Hall at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) on March 7th for the TechConnect event organized by the nonprofit organization Rocket Ventures.
 
The crowd of 200-plus acolytes gathered to brainstorm, network and hear a keynote address by BGSU’s new president, Mary Ellen Mazey. Dr. Mazey was formerly Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Auburn University in Alabama, which houses the Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship.
 
Dan Slifko, President and Director of Rocket Ventures, was enthused about the potential of TechConnect events to help business ventures come to life. “The whole idea is to connect minds, motivation, and money in the same room,” he says. “We want to help connect ideas with people who can help make them happen.”
 
Rocket Ventures, LLC is an entrepreneurial support organization and venture capital firm serving Northwest Ohio. Through events, funding and mentorship, the group brings together the necessary partners to help startups become successful. Specifically, the group provides pre-seed funding for tech-based companies.
 
TechConnect events take place quarterly and typically draw large crowds, suggesting the value of such networking opportunities as well as the growing entrepreneurial community that exists across the four corners of Ohio.
 
The TechConnect message will continue to spread across Northwest Ohio, with the next event scheduled for June in Findlay. Meanwhile, Rocket Ventures is doing its part to connect money, minds and motivation. The organization recently invested $300,000 in the startup InnerApps LLC, creator of the Identity Syncronizer platform for user security, password synchronization and access management.


Source: Dan Slifko
Writer: Mona Bronson-Fuqua

Three northeast Ohio businesses, with the aid of a $2.5 million grant from Ohio's Third Frontier, are researching first-of-their-kind imaging technology that will help detect medical conditions, such as cancer, sooner and save hospitals money by reducing the number of biopsies taken.
 
Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals and Philips Healthcare, partnered in the summer of 2010 to form the Philips Healthcare Global Advanced Imaging Innovation Center, where they have multiple projects aimed at combining the best attributes of CT, PET and MRI imaging systems to give doctors better tools in identifying breast cancer and take earlier action in heart attack patients.
 
The projects, which combine medical imaging technologies already in use, could eventually save hospitals millions in costs, give Ohio a leg-up on their commercialization and--most importantly--save lives.
 
In one project, the partners hope to combine PET (Positron Emission Tomography) with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems, both of which are currently used to detect early signs of breast cancer, to provide doctors with higher resolution imaging that will ultimately give doctors a clearer picture of what’s happening inside the body.
 
"The focus is on improving the spatial resolution, allowing us to find tumors much smaller than we can find now," says Dr. Raymond Muzic, the project's leader and an associate professor at Case Western. "MRI's, when used clinically, often show spots that look suspicious but turn out to not be a problem. Getting images with higher resolution will help us determine which spots are a problem and which are not."
 
The better imaging would reduce the number of biopsies doctors order to determine malignancy, saving hospitals thousands of dollars. It would also help doctors catch tumors much earlier, which could mean the difference between life and death.
 
According to the American Cancer Society, patients who are diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer, with tumors two centimeters or smaller, have up to a 20 percent greater chance of surviving cancer than patients who advance to Stage II, in which tumors are larger and start spreading to the lymph nodes.
 
The second project looks to do something similar--only with heart patients. Researchers are pairing cardiac perfusion technology with CT scanners, creating a novel imaging system that would allow emergency room doctors to assess the extent and location of damaged heart muscle when time is of the essence.
 
The partners are each contributing $1 million toward the projects, along with equipment and the time of researchers and engineers. Once the engineering is completed, University Hospitals and Case Western will oversee the clinical trials. Results are expected "within a few years," according to Muzic.
 
"The projects are a win-win for everybody involved," he said. "The goal is to develop a product here in Ohio that can be manufactured in Ohio by an Ohio company and marketed throughout the world. It's a win for each of the partners and it's a win for the state."

Tell us if you’ve heard this one before. You’re sitting in your car. Alone. While your friends are frantically texting you to find out just where, exactly, are you because you are now, officially, 15 minutes late to the party.

The lateness has earned you a reputation. Dublin-based software company Ripple Mobile might be able to help. They’re making friendships and relationships stronger by offering OnTime, a GPS-powered app that pulls meeting information from your web-based and mobile calendars and ties it to current weather and traffic patterns to give you the quickest route to your destination. The $1.99 mobile app, available now for the iPhone and Blackberry, will also alert you when it's time to leave and then text or email the people waiting for you as to whether you will be on-time or late. An Android version is under development.

"I think a lot of times busy people fill their calendars with events and aren’t always aware of how long it's going to take them to get them some place,” says Ripple Mobile co-founder Kevin Miller. “That can happen especially if you're in a new location that you're not familiar with. OnTime provides them with a little less required planning and allows them to be more productive.”

It’s one of two mobile apps Ripple Mobile has developed. The other, Ripple Tag, allows friends with Smart Phones to find each other's locations in real time and setup a place to meet.

Ripple Mobile was founded in 2002 and is housed in the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center. The company has three employees and earlier this year received a TechGenesis Grant through Tech Columbus.