Innovation + Job News

Last year hiVelocity spoke with Mitch McLeod, founder of Columbus-based software company ARCOS, Inc. Utility companies across the country depend on his company’s Automated Crew Callout and Resource Management System when there’s a power outage or other emergency. The web-based system instantly finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, thus reducing the duration of such events. McLeod recently assumed an advisory role so we contacted his successor, Bill Duff, for an update on the company and his plans for the future. The new CEO has more than 25 years of experience in the software industry, including assignments across North America, Europe and Australia. He previously worked for Pathlore Software Corp., Information Dimensions, Inc. and Foresight Corp. Duff has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from the “Thunderbird” School of Global Management.


Q:  What happened to former CEO Mitch McLeod?
A:  Mitch McLeod, now chairman of ARCOS, focuses on the company’s long-range business plan and oversees the executive committee. He’s researching and evaluating industry trends and mentoring the ARCOS team.

Q:  Has the company’s focus changed since his departure?
A:  No. We’re still focused on electric and gas utilities as well as power-generation plants. Frankly, ARCOS wants to serve every utility in the United States.

Q:  At the time of our interview with your predecessor, utilities in 23 states were using your software and the company had 18 employees. Have those numbers changed?
A:  Utilities in 35 states now use our software, and we have 25 employees. We now serve all the utilities covering the State of New York, the first state entirely covered by ARCOS.

Q:  How did you rise to your present position?
A:  Three years ago, Mitch asked me to build and lead a national sales team. He wanted me to help guide new-business implementations and get our marketing rolling. After a few years of success on these fronts, Mitch felt the next step to scaling the business for the size of the opportunity in front of us was to develop a leader to whom he could delegate his day-to-day responsibilities. With my previous executive experience and Mitch’s trust, I was tapped for the job.

Q:  How does your management style differ from that of your predecessor?
A:  I guess you could say Mitch is ARCOS’s father -- he built it. I suppose I’m the adopted father. I care every bit as much for the people and the business, but I didn’t have the benefit of seeing the company from its infancy. So I’m probably a little less hands-on because ARCOS has grown big enough to walk independently and, in some ways, even run.

Q:  What challenges is your company facing?
A:  We have many opportunities in front of us. However, we want to address them all with a 100-percent success rate. We don’t want to leave a single customer behind in terms of delivering the level of customer service we’ve become famous for among utilities.

Q:  Are you developing any new products (software)?
A:  Yes. Last year we launched our mobile app for emergency callout and resource management. From a smartphone, a utility company manager can assemble a crew and track work progress. We also have a software add-on that we nicknamed “closest to the trouble.” It’s a proximity-based location service that lets a utility know where its workforce is at any given time and expedites repair work by sending the nearest resource to an outage, gas leak or other emergency.

Q:  Can you briefly describe how your software works?
A:  It’s a hosted, internet-based software system that automatically locates and assembles utility repair crews beyond normal business hours. When a power outage is reported, a dispatcher or manager taps into the ARCOS System, which automatically makes phone calls to assemble repair crews. The system displays a dashboard of real-time statistics, including response times. The system also tracks employee status, taking into account any union agreements or workforce rules. Each crewmember has a PIN that identifies and tracks their response.

Q:  How has the company grown?
A:  We’ve won a Columbus Fast 50 Award five years in a row. The award recognizes companies for financial growth and performance over the past three years. We expect to be on the Fast 50 in 2012, too. We’re also making inroads with the gas utility industry, having added at least five gas utilities in the past 12 months.

Q:  Is there one question you wish we had asked?
A:  Yes. Why is this new position exciting? ARCOS is among one of the few companies I’ve worked for where everything you need to manage effectively has come together. We have a high-quality product that’s incredibly reliable. The culture here is one in which people pride themselves on anticipating customers’ needs and responding quickly. Our customers say: “ARCOS is the vendor we wish all our other vendors were like.” The utility market is hungry for additional solutions and techniques to respond quickly to customers and to protect the public. Who wouldn’t want to be at the front of that?

Author: Patrick Mahoney
 

When it comes to making challenging New Year’s resolutions, Josh Schwarz knows how to set the bar high and deliver results.

The Case Western Reserve University sophomore is a computer science major, and his  resolution for 2011 was to create one Facebook application a week – 52 in all. To his  credit, Schwarz met the goal – on time and on target.
“I’ve always been into computers,” Schwarz explains. “I’m constantly wanting to innovate, and I realized that the Facebook platform has plenty of space for lots of new ideas.”
Schwarz categorizes his 52 apps into two segments – sharing data in a new way and viewing data in a new way.
His first app – Relationship Mania – enables users to organize their friends based on their relationships -- married, single or engaged, for example. With Email Grab, you can set up a simple way to collect email addresses from visitors to your website. Using the City Friends app, you can group your friends by their current locations and plan social events accordingly.

According to Schwarz, Cartoonize Me is the most popular app. “It transforms your photos into colorful cartoons,” he says. Next up in popularity is the Mutual Friends Matrix, designed to tell users which of their friends is most popular.

Schwarz’s apps can be accessed through his website at www.amagit.com.

His project has enabled him to meet many entrepreneurs and people in the technology business in Northeast Ohio and beyond. “This has been a great learning experience,” Schwarz says. “I’m determined to start my own company before graduating, so I’m aggressively pursuing technology, business and entrepreneurship experiences.” To that end, in addition to his classes, he’s an intern at JumpStart, Inc.
Next up for Schwarz is working on a service exclusively for Case students. “I want to build something that provides them recommendations for books, events, and jobs they might want to apply for,” he explains.

Source: Josh Schwarz, www.Amagit.com
Writer:  Lynne Meyer
 

Neuros Medical, a Willoughby company formed in late 2008, has made a major step forward in offering their Electrical Nerve Block technology as an answer for patients around the US suffering from amputation pain, residual limb pain, and other types of chronic pain conditions.

After a successful human study in 2011, the FDA has recently approved Neuros for an Investigational Device Exemption allowing them to perform a pilot trial of up to ten patients this year. The study will run throughout 2012, with a goal of moving to pivotal trials in 2013, and submitting for full FDA approval the following year. Once the approval has been received, Neuros will begin marketing the technology to clinicians and patients.

Working in Ohio has been a major advantage for Neuros, not only because Case Western Reserve Univesity is one of the foremost organizations working on neurostimulation technology, but because the company has been able to partner with Battelle Labs in developing and manufacturing their initial generation of devices for the research trials.

“There’s a wealth of talent in Ohio,” said Jon Snyder, the president of Neuros, “I moved back to Ohio from Chicago to put this company together and our Chief Technology Officer (Dr. Zi-Ping Fang, PhD) was trained at Case Western. There are great resources for product development and clinical activity here.”

Based on technology developed at Case Western Reserve University, the ENB system uses implanted electrodes to deliver direct high frequency stimulation to the user’s peripheral nerves, blocking the pain signals sent to the user’s brain.

“We think this may have many applications in other areas treating patients with chronic pain,” said Snyder, “Including post-surgical pain, occipital neuralgia, which is a form of migraine, and a variety of other chronic pain conditions that are peripheral nerve based. A lot of these patients don’t have a real alternative other than strong narcotics, and our hope is that we get to the market and provide a better, safer alternative for those suffering from these conditions. Our goal is to provide a proven therapy for those who are not getting relief from current therapies and treatments without strong side effects.”

Author: Matt Wagner

A Dublin-based startup Mobile Expeditions is building its future around mobile technology as a growing number of people buy smart phone and tablets like the iPad.

Mobile Expeditions has developed platforms for location-based, media-rich tours, presentations and games that can be used on iPhones, iPads and iPodTouch devices. The applications' content can be customized by users, like an art museum, business or a city, looking to offer people a more engaging experience during an outing or an event.

The company was founded in 2009 by business partners and two software-industry veterans Mark Gilicinski and Sean Boiarski, who saw the potential of such mobile applications after the iPhone was first released in mid-2007. Though there were smart phones before the iPhone, its easy-to-use design, multimedia features and touch screen revolutionized--and popularized--smart phone use.

"I've been involved in software during my entire career. When the iPhone came out there was a computer that you could write software for, and have access to data network that fit in your pocket. It was pretty cool," Gilicinski said.

Mobility paired with high speed-data and multimedia capabilities has led to an explosion of mobile applications like games, virtual tours, and virtual product demonstrations that companies use to promote their brands, products and services.

Many times these mobile applications are custom applications built by developers that can be quite expensive. Mobile Expeditions is developing platforms that its clients can quickly download and populate with its own content including videos, text, audio and pictures.

So far the company has more than a dozen clients, including Celebrity Cruises and Columbus, Ohio’s COSI (Center of Science and Industry). Celebrity Cruises has used the platform to create self-guided tours of its ships' extensive art collections. Through interactive maps, art lovers can locate specific works, and by touching location points on a piece can find more detail like the title, artist’s name, medium and description.

This year Mobile Expeditions is working to expand its client base and has recently hired a sales person. The self-funded company is located in the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center and was propelled from idea to business through TechColumbus's 1492 Business Launch competition and a $50,000 Tech Genesis Grant.

By Feoshia Henderson

Women entrepreneurs have been really shaking things up in the Greater Cincinnati area. Twice during the past three years--both in 2009 and again in 2011--women have won  all of the prestigious SCORE-Greater Cincinnati annual Client of the Year Awards.

SCORE is the volunteer counseling arm of the Small Business Administration, offering free workshops and mentoring to its clients.

“Over the past few years, about 40 to 50 percent of our clients and workshop participants have been women,” explains Rick Johnston, chairman of SCORE-Greater Cincinnati. “We’re definitely seeing a trend of more local women becoming entrepreneurs and also SCORE clients, which we think is great.”

Landing a coveted Client of the Year Award isn’t easy, according to Bob Wiwi, marketing chair. “Candidates must complete an extensive application process on all aspects of their business, including the challenges they faced, how they overcame them, and how their SCORE counselor helped them.” Candidates’ counselors then provide a letter of recommendation describing their client’s work and progress. “The judges have a lot to consider when deciding on the winners,” Wiwi notes.

The Cincinnati chapter named four winners in November 2011: Connie Abirached, InkyDinkTs; Lisa Gear, Lunatic Fringe Salon; Candace Klein, Bad Girl Ventures; and Shannon Adams, My Flower Service.

“These women are creating jobs, and that’s terrific for our region,” notes Johnston.

Winner Connie Abirached says, “I learned long ago that, as a woman, success is achievable but also is harder to achieve unless you work hard, are deeply dedicated, and have ambition and guts.” Winner Lisa Gear remarks, “I feel so blessed and honored to be part of this amazing group of women. SCORE was so helpful to me on my journey, and I highly recommend them to anyone.”   

By Lynne Meyer


Sources:  Rick Johnston & Bob Wiwi, SCORE
                 Lisa Gear, Lunatic Fringe
               Connie Abirached, InkyDink Ts

Having been a teacher at various Youngstown area schools for several years, Elijah Stambaugh remembers the countless hours he spent just grading student tests.

“Teachers can spend up to a third of their time just grading papers,” he said. “To me, this is a fundamental flaw in the education process.”

Having identified what he perceived to be a problem, Stambaugh set about solving it. What he came up with is an idea for a test-scoring software application that he says is “a real game changer for teachers.”  

With assistance from the Youngstown Business Incubator, Stambaugh worked with a team of programmers and engineers to develop a web-based application that enables teachers to create, print, score and analyze their own tests and quizzes.

He launched his company--The Learning Egg--in June 2010 and named his software “Lightning Grader.”

“Lightning Grader lets teachers create a test on our website, print it out for their students and then scan all the completed tests on a copy machine to grade them,” he explains. “And it’s fast--grading up to 30 pages a minute.”

Automating the arduous task of grading is just for starters, however. The software provides several different reports on each student, which enables teachers to more accurately assess each student.

“Our reporting engine has analytics that give teachers a snapshot of each student’s strengths and weaknesses,” Stambaugh said. “This information lets teachers be proactive rather than reactive in their lesson planning. They can spend more time working with students’ areas of weakness, which benefits their students.”

The Learning Egg recently received a $25,000 grant from Great Lakes Innovation Development Enterprise. Stambaugh pre-tested Lightning Grader in three schools in April 2011 and is planning to officially launch the software in February 2012.  


By Lynne Meyer

Source:  Elijah Stambaugh

Bad Girl Ventures founder Candace Klein, a Cincinnati attorney, is making good on her promise to help small business owners fund their dreams through SoMoLend, a new lending platform.

The web-based, peer-to-peer lending site is designed to offer entrepreneurs a way to raise money for their business ventures from the people they know best: friends and family.

Through SoMoLend, entrepreneurs can borrow up to $35,000 dollars through the secure, patent-pending platform. Borrowers create a profile and loan application through the SoMoLend site. SoMoLend is geared toward small businesses, but will not lend to sole proprietors, Klein said.

Potential lenders, the borrower's friends and family, can review the business loan application, and if they decide to lend money SoMOLend will facilitate it. SoMoLend allows credit worthy borrowers to bypass the bank and borrow money at as low as 3 percent interest.

"This is all about getting money in small business owner's hands," said Klein, who founded Bad Girl Ventures, a Cincinnati-based micro lending organization for women-owned startups, in 2010.

Klein created SoMoLend following her experiences with BGV, which offers funding through a competitive process that includes an eight-week business course. BGV recently expanded to Cleveland, and is planning to soon be in Columbus.
Since its inception BGV has had 300 applicants, 225 in its classes and 24 businesses funded. But that didn't leave Klein satisfied.

"What are the other 376 doing to get funded? They're probably not getting money from a bank," Klein said.

Through SoMoLend, Klein hopes to help further fill the funding void. The site is up and running, with plans for a mobile version this year. In addition to the peer-to-peer aspect, Klein is working to get banks on board. So far, KeyBank has partnered with the site to lend at least $1 million to small businesses.

Klein is traveling around the state to spread the word about SoMoLend and plans to eventually have the platform available in all 50 states.


By Feoshia Henderson

Source: SoMoLend founder Candace Klein

CincyTech closed out 2011 with pride. The organization’s annual Breakfast Meeting and Startup Showcase last quarter highlighted the start-up incubator’s $10 million investment in 28 companies and the creation of nearly 300 Ohio jobs.

CincyTech receives half of its funding from about two dozen local partners and individuals, matched by money from Ohio Third Frontier. The organization began its work in 2007.

"Thanks to the foresight of the state of Ohio in creating Third Frontier and of Ohio voters in approving it, we have been able to begin building what is now a burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem that is churning out new companies and new jobs at a rapidly increasing rate," says Bob Coy, president of CincyTech.

According to Coy, in 2011 CincyTech led 50 percent of all venture capital deals in the region this year and 90 percent of the venture-backed deals in the region were CincyTech portfolio companies. CincyTech gauges successful investments, in part, by the exit of member companies with increased ROI, by the funding its companies draw from private investors, and by the new opportunities created within the Ohio workforce as a result.

“As of June 30, 2011, we had created 207 jobs at an average annual salary of $63,000,” says CincyTech communications director Carolyn Pione Micheli.

“In addition, AssureRx Health (in Mason) and ThinkVine (in Blue Ash) were each hiring dozens of people this spring, bringing their jobs to about 50 a piece. That will give us a nice boost in the jobs numbers, in addition to our new investments in the second half of the year,” Micheli says. “You could say we were anticipating having created about 300 jobs by the end of 2011.”

2012 will see the launch of CincyTech’s investor-only secure document website featuring investment data. The organization will launch an expected $6-million investment fund and will continue to sponsor The Brandery, the Cincinnati-based consumer-marketing startup accelerator.

“The climate and the resources available for high-potential technology-based companies in Southwest Ohio have never been better,” Coy told the crowd at the Breakfast Meeting and Startup Showcase in November.

Beginning this Friday, CinciTech beneficiary companies will take part in the Northern Kentucky Startup Weekend. Startup Weekends nationwide 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch new ventures. The Northern Kentucky chapter is sponsored in part by the CincyTech-funded Brandery.
 
By Kitty McConnell
Sources: CincyTech

Students in schools across the country start their day with news and videos from Channel One In New York, and now Channel One is turning to Youngstown to help deliver that content in totally new ways.

Perkins Communications, part of the Youngstown Business Incubator, won a contract with Channel One through Ball State University to upgrade their video delivery using the newest technology available in classrooms, including TV monitors, computers and smart boards, says John Perkins, co-owner of the company.

In addition to developing new software to connect technology devices in each classroom, Perkins is working to align video and computer equipment in schools and make it more interactive for students, he says. For instance, as students watch video about a news event, they can learn about websites posting more information about the event at the same time on their smart board, he says.

These upgrades are part of an initiative from Channel One to bring video technology in line with current Internet technology, adds Perkins.

Perkins was founded in 1999 by Joe Perkins, a former engineer with ABC, FOX and PBS. The company focuses on products and services that target advanced first generation computer and networking applications in education markets.

In addition to the contract with Perkins, Channel One also operates a Network Operations Center in Youngstown for all its Internet video downloads that go out to thousands of schools across the nation, he says.

Perkins has roughly doubled its workers from five to 10 to accommodate the contract, and more growth may be in store as the success of this project becomes well known in the marketplace, says Perkins.
 
By Val Prevish

To spur economic development and create jobs in their communities, several Ohio cities have created new, hyperlocal funds that offer attractive financing to entrepreneurs that may have the next great business idea, yet lack the actual cash to implement it. The catch? They must be willing to put down roots and grow their businesses locally.

One example of a growing Ohio business that recently took advantage of such hometown love is ManuscriptTracker, a Wooster-based firm that sells web-based software that automates the peer review process for academic journals. Co-founder Brian Boyer says a $35,000 deferred-payment loan from the Wooster Opportunities Loan Fund made it possible for him to bring his product to market last year.

“We saw lots of potential to grow our business, but funding is very hard to come by for start-up software companies,” says Boyer, a Wooster native. “Thanks to receiving funding last year, we were able to develop a market version of our software, as well as sales resources such as a database, marketing collateral and potential client list.”

ManuscriptTracker’s software organizes and automates peer review tracking for busy academics that don’t have the time or resources to manage the process themselves. The stringent nature of the peer review process, particularly with scientific journals, often necessitates involving as many as 20 individuals in a single review.

“To be published in an academic journal, your work must be vetted by the research of your peers, but that means asking top researchers to set aside their time,” explains Boyer. “We simplify and organize the process and provide helpful reporting forms. We also help academics to track who in their network is quick and knowledgeable.”

With the assistance of the economic development nonprofit Jumpstart, similar hyperlocal funds have also been created in Barberton, Canton and Mansfield.

As the New Year kicked off, ManuscriptTracker had already secured one new client, and Boyer says he’s hopeful that the new software will attract additional clients soon.


By Lee Chilcote

A partnership between two Ohio medical device companies could make getting a good night's sleep easier for people who suffer from sleep apnea.
 
The new SleepView portable sleep monitor and web portal lets doctors monitor patients’ breathing and other sleep patterns at home. The device meets American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s diagnostic standards, and offers quicker, more efficient and cost-effective diagnosis and treatment.
 
Midmark, a Versailles-based giant in medical equipment manufacturing and distribution, licensed the device technology from Cleveland Medical Devices, a leader in sleep diagnostics technology.
 
"SleepView enables patients to be tested in the comfort of their own bed and convenience of their own home for a more natural night of sleep, instead of going to a sleep lab," says Midmark PR Manager Susan Kaiser.
 
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), is marked by sudden and frequent interruption of normal breathing during sleep. It's caused by a collapse of the upper airway and is estimated to affect as many people as diabetes. Still, most who suffer from it go undiagnosed and untreated.

Numerous studies link OSA to major chronic diseases such as stroke, heart failure, diabetes, obesity, hypertension and increased odds of serious car crash injuries, according to Midmark.
 
“We want to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of care for patients with OSA by providing another diagnostic option, which enables patients to be tested in the comfort of their own bed and convenience of their own home for a more natural night of sleep,” explains said Tom Treon, senior product manager for Midmark.
 
The system is available through prescription only. Patients use the SleepView self-test kit at home during their normal sleep time. In addition, the prescribing doctor has online access to registered technologists and sleep physicians who can interpret the monitor results and offer treatment recommendations, while protecting patient privacy as required by federal law.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson

A Mason-based company that designs and develops conveyor systems and other material handing solutions is doubling the size of its headquarters, creating 200 new jobs.

Founded by CEO Chris Cole and President and COO in 2001, Intelligrated is one of the North America's leading automated material handling solutions providers.  

This fast-growing company has more than 2,000 employees worldwide, including 200 at its corporate HQ in Mason. The company has developed and designed a wide variety of sophisticated automated systems that sort, move, distribute and control packaging and materials. The company's systems are used in the retail, postal, beverage, consumer goods, pharmaceutical and other industries.

Recently, Intelligrated announced it would create 200 new in the next three years and expand its operations in Mason. These tech-based jobs, which include engineering and research and development, will boost the company's plans for continued innovation and growth in the industry.

Intelligrated will also build a new 60,000-90,000-square-foot facility in Mason to support its growth. This new office will house R&D, engineering, sales, general, and administration staff.

Aiding this expansion is an incentive package of around $15 million dollars from the State of Ohio and the City of Mason. Though awaiting final approval, the incentives are likely to include an extension of Intelligrated's existing Job Creation Tax Credit, state and local loans, property tax abatement and a State of Ohio Grant.

“We aim to be the most technologically-advanced player in the material handling industry. To achieve this, we need an operation that houses the best mechanical, software and systems talent in the world. These incentives will directly support these efforts, help us create and keep more high-quality technical jobs in Ohio, and advance Mason as a strategic hub of our nation’s logistics network,” Cole said in an expansion announcement.

Intelligrated has 18 other locations, including key engineering centers in California, Maryland and Missouri, four manufacturing plants located in Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky and regional operations located in Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, California, as well as in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, Mexico City, Mexico and Brazil.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson

AmTrust Financial Services, a multi-national property and casualty insurer based in New York, is consolidating and relocating its Northeast Ohio operations to Cleveland. The expansion will bring 800 jobs to Cleveland over three years. The company currently employs 250 people in its operational hub in Seven Hills.
 
The decision to open offices in Cleveland came primarily from $25 million in local and state incentives. The company was able to buy the primarily vacant office tower at 800 Superior Avenue earlier this year and has committed to spending at least $20 million in upgrades to the building. But company officials also see the potential in Cleveland.
 
“We have found the governor [John Kasich], the county executive [Ed FitzGerald] and the mayor [Frank Jackson] of Cleveland all to be very cooperative and helpful in sealing our decision to locate in downtown Cleveland,” says AmTrust CFO Ron Pipoly. “We also think downtown Cleveland is on the cusp of a lot of great jobs, with the casino, the new convention center, the medical mart, the development of the Flats East Bank, a Westin Hotel downtown and other large projects that now includes AmTrust."
 
The Seven Hills employees will move to the Cleveland offices over the next three years. “Based on current projections provided to the state, there may be up to 800 new jobs, in addition to the 200 jobs being relocated from Seven Hills,” explains Pipoly. The jobs will be in IT programming, underwriting and customer service.

Under current plans, AmTrust wil occupy between 250,000 and 300,000 square feet in the building, leaving a portion of the total 450,000 square feet available for other new downtown tenants. 

Source: Ron Pipoly
Writer: Karin Connelly

(Courtesy sister publication FreshWater Cleveland)

The November CBIZ Small Business Employment Index (SBEI), a barometer for hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, increased by .35 percent in November. While the trend reflects companies surveyed across the country, “a good number of the survey respondents are from the Cleveland area,” says Phillip Noftsinger, business unit president of CBIZ Payroll Services.

While the trend is typical for the holiday season, Noftsinger is optimistic that the increase may lead to future job growth. “I think this time of year we would expect to see growth during the holiday season,” he says. “But we’re hoping a strong holiday season will support a longer term trend in these numbers. It’s a little early to tell though.”

A good holiday shopping season has the potential to continue into the new year. “Strong consumer spending sustains growth,” says Noftsinger. “We hope to see a continued strong holiday season, which leads to income growth and labor growth and an upward spiral in employment.”

Source: Phillip Noftsinger
Writer: Karin Connelly


(Courtesy sister publication FreshWater Cleveland)