Cincinnati : Featured Stories

From entrepreneurship competitions that offer prizes to top startups at Ohio colleges to an array of enticing resources that connect young talent to jobs, the Buckeye State is plugging up brain drain and turning it into brain gain.

Back in 2011, our sister publication Fresh Water Cleveland ran a feature about Ohio's newly instituted Film Production Tax Credit, which helped attract big-budget productions like "The Avengers" and "Alex Cross," plus smaller films like "Take Shelter" and "Fun Size." Fresh Water decided to revisit the topic to see how it's working out for Cleveland, and Ohio.

With 84 percent of Kickstarter's top projects shipped late, is this crowdfunding tool really all it's cracked up to be? Successful designer Chris Hawker examines whether Kickstarter is right for inventors and finds that the product development process often doesn't line up with crowdfunding deadlines. Inventors should go into the process with eyes wide open to get the best results.

The Cintrifuse venture capital team is already working on supporting the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Now, it's time to see how The Rainmaker, The Money Man, The Go Getter, The Teacher, The Connector, The Youngster and The Magician Behind the Curtain plan to get down to business.

Ohio's technology start-up landscape has grown in leaps from the virtual wasteland it was a decade ago, with brainy go-getters from across the state pushing the upsurge. Find out how these entrepreneurs were able to get a toehold in the space and just how Ohio is growing its new economic garden.

Cincinnati and its corporate giants attract designers from across the globe, but the minority gap still looms large. Read how local black design professionals have adjusted and adapted while working to recruit and retain their peers.

A growing number of former Procter and Gamble employees are branching out from the Ivory Towers and starting their own businesses, using the training and experience they gained at the brand-creating giant while pursuing their own entrepreneurial dreams.