Entrepreneurial Programs : Innovation + Job News

Thanks to an influx of new capital, the Wooster Opportunities Loan Fund (WOLF) is expanding to offer business loans to technology startups throughout Wayne County.

Established in late 2010 to provide capital to small and emerging tech companies with high growth potential, WOLF started out as a $220,000 hyper-local fund. “The city of Wooster, Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce and Wooster Community Hospital put up the dollars for the fund, so loans were available only to those businesses willing to locate within the corporation limits of the city of Wooster,” says Justin Starlin, Development Manager for the City of Wooster.
 
That has changed thanks to a $100,000 investment from Cascade Capital of Akron that will be used to help startups grow and create jobs. “We now have $100,000 in direct loan money available for businesses throughout Wayne County and $150,000 remaining for businesses within the city of Wooster,” Starlin notes, explaining that the hyper-local fund awarded two $35,000 loans in 2011.
 
The recipients of those loans were ManuscriptTracker and the JNP Group. ManuScript Tracker’s software organizes and automates the peer review process for academics. The JNP Group engineers and manufactures acoustic products for the construction and building industry.
 
Applications for the next round of funding from WOLF are due December 17th. JumpStart will perform the initial vetting. Applicants who make it through the process will be considered for funding by a local committee administered by the nonprofit Wooster Growth Corporation. Loans of up to $35,000 are available.
 
 
Source:   Justin Starlin
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Developing Cleveland area businesses showed off their ideas, technologies and talents at the 2012 Northeast Ohio Entrepreneurial Expo and JumpStart Community Meeting on Tuesday, November 13 from 1 to 5:40 p.m. at CSU’s Wolstein Center.
 
“The theme is, ‘What’s next Northeast Ohio,’” says Samantha Fryberger, JumpStart director of communications. “The idea being, a lot of companies are really early in their development.”
 
The expo featured 96 area tech startups as well as 32 support organizations, such as Bizdom, Youngstown Business Incubator, Shaker LaunchHouse, Akron ARCHAngels and Ohio Aerospace Institute. Nine student companies were also featured, one of which will be presented with an award at the event’s close.
 
The showcase was followed by a panel discussion featuring success stories of area companies that have grown into multi-million dollar businesses. “[These are] some of the biggest success stories who have merged, sold, been bought out or exited,” explains Fryberger.
 
Goldman Sachs representatives talked about its 10,000 Small Businesses program, followed by an announcement of JumpStart’s newest portfolio companies.
 
And of course, investors were also on hand to see what the next great thing is in the region. Fryberger says 25 investors attended the event last year, and she expected the same this year.
 
“It’s a little bit of everything,” says Fryberger. “It’s an opportunity to network. There are some of these companies who could help each other quite a bit. And if you’re very early in development, this is your first opportunity for exposure.”

 
Source: Samantha Fryberger
Writer: Karin Connelly

Turning Technologies and the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) have launched the Ed Tech Idea Challenge Grant Program to support entrepreneurs with a passion for transforming education through innovation.
 
“The Ed Tech Idea Challenge Grant is a collaborative effort,” explains John Wilson, Director of Turning Foundation, an organization that aims to discover where the next great educational technology will come from and how the idea can become a marketable reality. Winning applicants of this annual competitive grant will receive up to $20,000 and access to YBI’s intellectual capital in support of starting up a business and developing an idea. The deadline to apply is Friday, December 14th at 4:30pm.

YBI has two of the nation's leading companies in the ed tech field -- Turning Technologies and Lightning Grader. Using compeition to spur innovation is the obvious next step, which Wilson and his staff believe could be the catalyst for invention.
 
“One of the exciting aspects of this kind of competition is that the truly innovative concepts are not something we are necessarily thinking about at this moment,” he says. “While I’m sure we will see iterations around possible mobile apps and digital content platforms for education, we also anticipate some ideas that are just not on the radar screen right now.”
 
The collaborative program will thrust aspiring entrepreneurs into the unpredictable waters of starting an enterprise from scratch, giving immediate real-life experience to tomorrow’s innovators.
 
“The entrepreneur will experience the ups and downs of developing a concept into a marketable product,” explains Wilson. “They will be surrounded by individuals at YBI at different phases of the same experience, and the collective wisdom, experience and support network will be valuable.”     
 
 
Source: John Wilson
Writer: Joe Baur

Economic development activity is growing at a fast clip in New Albany, a northern suburb of Columbus.

In three years, the town has welcomed 19 new businesses and four existing companies have expanded. Four additional companies, including Bob Evans, which is building its new headquarters here, are slated to put down roots in 2013.
 
“We’ve created more than 3,500 new jobs since 2009,” says Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s Director of Community Development. She attributes the city’s success to a combination of good planning and strategic partnerships.
 
New Albany planted the seeds for its growth back in 2007 when it partnered with TechColumbus to create TechStart New Albany. “TechStart helped 51 New Albany-based companies benefit from more than $458,000 in TechGenesis and Pre-Seed Funds, about $310,000 in Ohio TechAngel Funds and more than $1 million in grants and debt financing,” Chrysler notes.
 
New Albany has specifically made a strong commitment to attracting smaller, entrepreneurial businesses and technology startups, she explains. “We subscribe to the cluster theory of economic development, which translates into diversification within our business park.” The park, which Chrysler says is the fastest-growing such venue in the region, comprises four clusters – research and information, retail, medical office and personal care and beauty. 

“Each of the clusters has experienced significant growth,” Chrysler notes. “Our beauty and personal care campus alone has now attracted more than 1,300 new jobs and  realized $144 million in new investment during just the past year.”

In 2011, the city launched two new programs in its business park to stimulate and support entrepreneurial activity. Innovate New Albany is geared toward encouraging public-private partnerships and increasing the number of knowledge workers employed in the city. INC@8000 is a business incubator for startups and entrepreneurial activities, including classes and seminars.

 
Source:  Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Ohio State University is growing the next generation of social entrepreneurs -- inspired, motivated students intent on addressing society's problems in innovative ways -- with a new program aimed at nurturing young talent.

“It was the proudest moment of my undergraduate career and shaped me into the industrial designer I am today,” says Krista Alley, a recent graduate of Ohio State University, of its Social Innovation and Commercialization (SIAC) Initiative.
 
Located within the College of Engineering, SIAC espouses three goals, according to Peter Rogers, Ph.D., a professor in OSU’s Engineering Education Innovation Center and a leader of the program.  “We’re looking to educate students as up-and-coming social entrepreneurs, develop products for people with disabilities to help them become more independent and provide an alternative revenue stream for the non-profit organizations with which we work,” he says.

Engineering, business, industrial design and MBA students are teamed with professionals, such as occupational and physical therapists, on projects.

Alley’s project involved designing an interactive, hand-held device to help children with Down's Syndrome become better organized. “These children can’t grasp the concept of time and time management, “ Dr. Rogers explains. “Getting them up and ready for school is a constant battle for their families because the children can’t remember which tasks come first.” Through the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio, 20 families are now testing a prototype of the device.
 
So far, SIAC has developed two other potential products to serve the disabled – a compression vest for children with autism and programmable exercise equipment for adults with physical disabilities.

While teaching social entrepreneurism in college isn’t new, OSU’s program is unique in its emphasis on commercialization techniques to achieve sustainable growth, Dr. Rogers notes.

“Once the program’s products are manufactured and ready for sale, SIAC’s goal is to have its non-profit organization’s partners help market the products to its local and national constituents,” he explains. Profits will be divided, with a portion going to the non-profits and a portion re-invested back into SIAC to help create OSU’s first completely self-sustaining academic program.  
 
Source:  Peter Rogers, Krista Alley
Writer: Lynne Meyer

At the Brandery's third Demo Day Oct. 3, a packed house at Great American Ball Park looked forward to a home run, but not from the field below. 

The stadium's Champions Club had been transformed into a space where founders of 11 startups paced, shook hands and smiled as they prepared to offer their practiced pitches that they knew could net them millions in investment dollars.

This year, there were more than twice as many applicants for the seed-stage startup accelerator in Over-the-Rhine as both of its earlier years, combined, according to Brandery General Manager Mike Bott. 

Only 10 percent of those applicants were local, Bott says. The companies selected for the intensive four-month session in Cincinnati hailed from Seattle and Brooklyn, from Cleveland and San Francisco. One local business, REPP, made the final cut.

As its name implies, The Brandery focuses mostly on consumer products and services. Its strength is in its location and its expertise: the branding giants of Cincinnati help make The Brandery attractive to entrepreneurs from around the world. The latest startup session included plenty of mobile and social applications. 

An example? The first startup to present on Demo Day: CrowdHall.

Crowdhall, a free social platform, collects questions and ideas from a single crowd and helps the members of an audience organize and prioritize them democratically. Matthew Dooley, founder and CEO of Cincinnati's dooley media, made a bold prediction about this startup, which has already created "crowd halls" with NYU prof and Earth Institute leader Jeffrey Sachs, Dhani Jones and PG Sittenfeld. 

Dooley's tweet: "Impressed with @crowdhall pitch at #brandery2012 #demoday. Will be bought out by Twitter within a year. #boldprediction @brandery @jbkropp."

You've read about this Brandery class in Soapbox for months now, from Sostock, which planted roots and intends to remain in Cincinnati, to REPP, the latest big idea from Cincinnatians Michael Bergman, his wife BreeAnna and David Volker, formerly of LPK (where Bergman also formerly worked).

Find a full list of startups here. And more coverage of The Brandery on Nibletz, "the voice of startups everywhere else."

By Elissa Yancey
Follow Elissa on Twitter.

The new Women’s Business Accelerator in Columbus is gearing up to help women entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
 
“It’s the region’s first incubator dedicated to mentoring, educating and guiding women as they explore, launch and build small and micro-businesses,” explains small-business consultant Mary McCarthy, who established the accelerator with small-business attorney Caroline Worley.
 
“Women business ownership is growing at a tremendous rate, but we still lag behind male-owned businesses,” McCarthy says. “According to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy, women-owned firms trail male-owned firms in such things as annual sales, employment growth and venture survival.”

The SBA specifically reports that the average firm owned by a woman generates only 78 percent of the profit of a comparable business male-owned business.  Also, the four-year survival rate of new women-owned firms is 8.6 percent lower than that of comparable new businesses founded by men.
 
“We want to help close these gaps,” McCarthy states.
 
The new facility is located in a suburb of Columbus and comprises 16 private offices, 12 cubicles, three conference rooms, a training room and two kitchens. Office space is available for rent on a monthly, semi-annual and annual basis. Mentoring and facilitated roundtables are included in the rent, and members get a discount on the educational tracks. Women not renting space may participate in the facilitated roundtable for a small monthly fee and may take the educational sessions at cost.

McCarthy and Worley are self-funding the incubator but anticipate that rent and educational programs will generate revenue. “We’re also seeking sponsorships and grants,” McCarthy says.
 
 Source:  Mary McCarthy, Women’s Business Accelerator

Dawn Sheanshang, a pharmaceutical sales rep, became sick of medications one day. Despite her insider knowledge, she couldn’t handle the medication regimen of a loved one who’d recently been discharged from the hospital.

Determined to help, Sheanshang searched online for solutions but found no easy answers. Out of her frustration, MedaCheck was born. With the help of startup acceleration Innov8 for Health, and a partnership with Jeffrey Shepard, a self-described “serial entrepreneur with a Ph.D.,” this high-tech health startup – and its eponymous app – were born.

“More and more today, medication regimens are extremely complicated, with many different drugs and people’s changing presciriptions," Shepard says. “People are using mobile devices for a slew of different things. We wanted to target our product around medication adherence – ensuring they’re taking the right pill at the right time, in the right amount and having it set up with a system to ensure they’re actually doing it.” 

Instead of simply placing a reminder on your phone, this app works with the pharmacies, utilizing frequently updated, high-resolution images of the approximately 16,000 medications catalogued by the National Library of Medicine. 

When it’s time to take a medication, a user can click on the pill box to open it, then view their medications using photos and bulleted lists of pertinent details: medication name, dosage, etc. Reminders, including a phone-call reminder if a dose is missed, are also built in.

The challenges of developing such an app include the necessity of HIPAA compliance and generics that constantly change. 

“The challenge is making sure that you’re not making specific claims around medication consumption,” says Shepard. “We don’t give anybody advice or share any information about any specific individual.”

The company is running a pilot of the app in November in collaboration with Cincinnati-based Kroger, with the hopes of making the app public in mid-November. Users will pay a small fee to download the app, which will be available through their pharmacy.

A web-based app as well as native apps for mobile devices is available.
 
By Robin Donovan

After Robert Knighton’s grandmother had a stroke, she could only use the right side of her body. It made keeping clean in the hospital difficult. Knight’s wife Nina, a nurse at the VA Medical Center, noticed the same problem with some of her patients.

“The bed-bound patient population can’t get up to wash their hands,” explains Nina. “If a nurse comes in and she’s contaminated and touches the bedrails, the patients have nothing to wash their hands.”
 
The problem gave Nina an idea. “After working at St. Vincent Charity Hospital and then the VA she noticed it more in conjunction with the spread of hospital-acquired infections,” says Robert. “One day she was driving and it just came to her that patients needed a personal convenient device.” So Robert and Nina formed RKN Corporation in 2010 and started to develop the Bedside Sani-Holder, a bedside hand sanitizer dispenser. “This is a smart dispenser that helps with compliance, reminds patients if they haven’t used it and tracks usage,” says Robert.
 
Working with agencies like MAGNET and NorTech, RKN is working on a prototype of the Bedside Sani-Holder. They expect to hit the market by the second quarter of 2013. The Sani-Holder is part of NorTech’s Speed to Market Accelerator.
 
“We’ve really been able to use Northeast Ohio to launch our product,” says Robert. “Cleveland is known for healthcare and technology. It kind of feels like we’re entering the market at the right time.”
 
Robert and Nina are targeting hospitals and nursing homes with the Bedside Sani-Holder. So far, interest has been high. “We have spoken with quite a few hospitals in Northeast Ohio and have received welcoming feedback and interest,” says Robert. “Humility of Mary’s purchasing department said they would be interested in trialing our product once we are ready to go to market.”
 
When their product hits the market, RKN will be hiring IT staff, customer service, sales reps and operations staff. Two people that have been helping with management tasks will also join RKN working in permanent project management and operations.

 
Sources: Robert and Nina Knighton
Writer: Karin Connelly

TiE Ohio will recognize international entrepreneurs at its awards ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 20. Two Cleveland business executives, Jose Feliciano and Wayne Duigan, will be honored.
 
TiE Ohio is a resource for entrepreneurs to network and find mentors for their businesses. This event recognizes immigrant and American-born entrepreneurs who have taken their businesses to an international level.

“Entrepreneurs have the passion, the dream and they are willing to put themselves all in,” says Joe Cole, executive director of TiE Ohio. “We want to reward the entrepreneurs who are going global.”
 
Jose Feliciano, a trial lawyer with BakerHostetler, will receive the Community Catalyst Award. The award recognizes people who have supported immigrant entrepreneurs. “He’s really been in the forefront of advocacy of the immigrant entrepreneur,” adds Cole. “He has a predisposition to being an entrepreneur.”
 
Feliciano is the founder and chair of the Hispanic Roundtable, is former chairman of the Hispanic Leadership Development Program, founder of the Hispanic Community Forum and was a founder of the Ohio Hispanic Bar Association. He also hosts the monthly talk show, El Sol de Cleveland. “He’s really been out in the forefront,” says Cole.
 
Wayne Duigan, director international sales for Horizons, Inc. is nominated for the Global Entrepreneur award. “He has significantly grown Horizons’ global presence,” Cole notes. “They’ve really done a great job in establishing an international presence.”
 
The event will be held at the Ariel International Center at 5:30 p.m. Mark Kvamme, president and CIO of JobsOhio, will be the keynote speaker. 

 
Source: Joe Cole
Writer: Karin Connelly

Flywheel, Cincinnati's social enterprise hub, has launched a new series of training sessions designed to develop marketing, planning, research and business skills in the nonprofit sector.

Meetings run this month through November, beginning with a session on Market Research, Wednesday, Sept. 19. The session will help nonprofit's better use market research to test the feasibility of new programs or to improve existing ones. (The session runs from 2 to 4 pm at The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. You can register at Eventbrite.)

This training series fits with Flywheel's mission to help non-profits in generating money through social enterprise, or products or services that have social value. 

The organization was formed early this year by the Leadership Council for Human Services Executives, the Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati, the Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Miami University, and Centric Consulting.

Flywheel has scheduled two other workshops. Click on the links to register for the them.

Social Enterprise 201

October 9, 1 - 4 pm

Business Planning Training

(in partnership with The Health Foundation)

November 2, 9 am - 5 pm

By Feoshia H. Davis
Follow Feoshia on Twitter.

The LaunchHouse Accelerator kicked off its inaugural program on September 4 with 10 technology startup companies eager to move to the next level. The program is funded through a $200,000 ONEFund grant and a $50,000 grant from Clarion Direct Investment. Each company will receive a $25,000 investment from LaunchHouse to grow their business.
 
“We’re quite excited,” says LaunchHouse CEO Todd Goldstein. “It’s changing the way investments are made in Northeast Ohio. With a little bit of capital we work with them to go from idea to validation.”
 
Goldstein describes the accelerator program as “customer-centric,” emphasizing the identification and needs of potential customers to grow the business. The 12-week program will provide mentors and instruction to the startup owners, guiding them through set goals.

“We’re hitting the ground running,” says Goldstein. “We’re not starting from scratch. We’re looking at the best innovators and how the company has grown.”
 
More than 60 companies from around the world applied for the accelerator. Twenty were selected to make their pitches to a panel of experts. From there, 10 companies were chosen, nine of which are from Northeast Ohio. The hope is that these 10 businesses will remain in Northeast Ohio once they are better established.

“The goal is to keep these companies in the region,” says Goldstein. “We believe Northeast Ohio is prime for an explosion of entrepreneurs.”

 
Source: Todd Goldstein
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Ohio Department of Development wants to help companies and organizations buy and sell their products locally across the state. 

Check Ohio First is a free and easy-to-use online program to promote contracting with and between Ohio businesses. “Both suppliers and buyers enter brief profiles into the Check Ohio First directory, which can then be searched by Check Ohio First members,” explains Wendy Boortz, Program Manager. “The program automatically matches buyers and suppliers by industry codes.”

“Check Ohio First celebrates the strength of Ohio businesses,” said Christine Schmenk, Director of ODOD, in a news release. “Ohio buyers like to do business with local companies, and this partnership is perfect for job creation.”

Check Ohio First was launched in October 2011 as a virtual, year-round extension of the Ohio Department of Development’s annual Ohio Business Matchmaker program, an annual procurement event now going into its eighth year.

According to Boortz, Check Ohio First recently added free webinars to the mix. “Buyers educate suppliers on how to do business with their organization, and procurement counselors provide webinars that help businesses get ready for contracting opportunities,” she says.  Most of the webinars are recorded and stored in the resource library located on the Check Ohio First website.

“The website also contains a list of upcoming events, and visitors can browse our resource library and link to procurement training and opportunities,” she states.

Boortz notes that Check Ohio First is building a database to reflect private and public users. “We currently have about 350 profiles, including 100 companies that have registered as both buyers and suppliers and 20 as buyers only.”


Source:  Wendy Boortz
Writer: Lynne Meyer