Entrepreneurial Programs : Innovation + Job News

Phil Alexander and Mohit Ahluwalia realized something when they were earning their MBAs at CWRU: that people in all segments of businesses are charged with creating presentations at some point in their careers. However, not everyone has the talent -- or budget to hire an agency -- to create an eye-catching presentation.

“Thirty million PowerPoint presentations are made every day across America,” says Alexander.
 
So Alexander and Ahluwalia thought about starting a business that would help customers create their presentations.

“We wanted to do something with digital media,” recalls Alexander. “We were looking to figure out if we could automate the process and avoid paying the high rates of agencies.”
 
The two applied to LaunchHouse Accelerator last summer and developed Quick2Launch, a company that creates great visuals for any presentation. The company officially launched last week with its ConceptDrop technology.
 
With the company’s ConceptDrop, users login, upload their content outlines and fill out a creative brief questionnaire describing their presentation. They are then presented with a selection of pre-approved templates and themes, and Quick2Launch takes it from there and creates the visuals to go along with the content. The end result is a complete, professional presentation.
 
“We’re just trying to hold their hand throughout the creation of the presentation,” says Alexander. “We’ve tried to make it so it’s really simple.”
 
Quick2Launch partners with Reality Premedia Services, which provides access to 150 graphic designers. The company is about a month away from launching its business-to-business platform.
 
Alexander says they hope to hire a sales team and in-house designers soon. “The goal is to completely build our own entity,” he says. “We really want to be the all-in-one stop for presentations.”

 
Source: Phil Alexander
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story was originally published in Fresh Water Cleveland, hiVelocity's sister publication in Northeast Ohio.

Major regional job-creating organizations have come together to focus efforts on competing for one of the nation's fastest-growing job segments: information technology.

This collaboration includes the Cincinnati CIO Roundtable, a forum of IT leaders who are focused on improving the region’s overall IT ecosystem, along with the Cincinnati USA Partnership and the Partners for a Competitive Workforce.

The CIO Roundtable is led by co-chairs Piyush Singh, SVP & CIO of Great American Insurance, and Geoff Smith, former IT leader at P&G.

"Business leaders in the region are coming together with the common goal of talking about the importance of IT, and its role in the growth of their companies," says Tammy Riddle, IT economic development director for Cincinnati USA Partnership.

Just last week, the organizations came together for a half-day, invitation-only event —“Grow the IT economy in Cincinnati USA.” The event featured presentations from a variety of stakeholders, including the organizers, JobsOhio and CincyTech.

The group is working to meet a wide range of challenges, including creating high-paying jobs through public and private partnerships, creating a strategic plan to grow IT jobs in the region, attracting and training talent, and determining the role of startups.

"One of the key things we're going to focus on are trends that companies are seeing across the board, and how we can match those with Cincinnati strengths and build the street cred of the IT sector in Cincinnati," Riddle says.

Regional universities also play a role in talent creation. Northern Kentucky University's College of Informatics is a leader, as is the University of Cincinnati with its top-rated analytics graduate program, and the University of Miami's innovative digital media program.

Cincinnati has an emerging IT industry. There are about 30,000 Cincinnati residents who are employed in the IT sector, which has an estimated $2.5 billion impact on the country’s GDP. According to the 2020 jobs outlook, it’s also one of the four fastest-growing and best-paying employment sectors in Cincinnati, with an anticipated 10-year growth rate of 26.5 percent.

"We want to take a more proactive approach to growing jobs in this sector," Riddle says. "We want to make sure that our region has what we need to fill that demand, to be able to accomplish growth."

Next, participants will start working on what it takes to grow the IT sector, including conducting a comprehensive assessment of the current IT economy and developing strategies for talent attraction, greater awareness investment and startup activity.

By Feoshia H. Davis
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

This story was originally published in Soapbox, hiVelocity's sister publication in Cincinnati.

Nonprofit venture development organization JumpStart has awarded $250,000 to Guided Interventions, a medical startup that will call the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE) in Elyria home.
 
The grant will go toward Guided Interventions’ project to commercialize a new product that uses pressure sensors to better assess the physiological impact of coronary artery blockages at a more affordable cost. Cardiologist and CEO, Dr. Matthew Pollman, says the funding was the “tipping point” for their decision to locate in Northeast Ohio.
 
“The support from JumpStart was absolutely critical,” says Pollman. “The reward provides us with the opportunity to quickly take our company to the next level of growth.”
 
Pollman now turns to Ohio after co-founding a medical device company in the San Francisco Bay area in 2008, CV Ingenuity. During a period of economic duress across the country, Pollman found a more supportive environment for entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio. He notes, “The contrasts with Northeast Ohio couldn’t be more stark.”
 
Once CV Ingenuity was acquired by Covidien earlier this month, Pollman took the opportunity to return to his childhood state where he has served as a member of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center’s advisory board in Cleveland since 2007. He sees tremendous promise in the state of Ohio’s entrepreneurial and innovation community.
 
“I have witnessed first hand how proactive the state of Ohio has been in promoting and supporting the build out of a critical mass of technical talent and infrastructure to foster and nurture technology development companies at all stages of their growth.”
 
 
Source: Dr. Matthew Pollman
Writer: Joe Baur

Campus Shift recently announced the launch of their online textbook marketplace, allowing students across the country to sell and buy used textbooks locally.
 
Derek Haake, founder of Youngstown-based Campus Shift, says the idea was borne out of his frustration with the amount of money he was spending on textbooks during his undergrad.
 
“What we’re trying to do is give students a fair price on their books,” he says, noting Campus Shift does not purchase the books themselves, like a University bookstore might. “The marketplace allows student to connect with each other,” and determine a public location to make the exchange, eliminating shipping costs and time.
 
Haake acknowledges problems with purchasing books off eBay or Amazon, saying the student does not ultimately know what the textbook is really worth. Campus Shift works around that problem. “Our software finds what the book is really worth, so students aren’t in the dark,” he says. And it’s all done without revealing personal information. “Everything is confidential.”
 
Since launching in December, Campus Shift has seen hundreds of students signing up and listing textbooks on the marketplace. “All in all, we have a little over 175 campuses nationwide,” including California, Texas and Ohio. “Our biggest user base is in Ohio.”
 
It’s been a long, worthwhile journey for Haake, who started the Campus Shift project in 2006. He notes they’ve been working with the Youngstown Business Incubator “for about the past year,” assisting with presentations for initial seed money.
 
Excited for what’s next, Haake is asking readers to stay tuned for more in the near future. “We have a couple more software enhancements coming out in the next two to three weeks.”
 
 
Source: Derek Haake
Writer: Joe Baur

Milo Biotechnology, a BioEnterprise startup created to find therapies for neuromuscular diseases, received FDA orphan drug designation for its AAV1-FS344, a drug that increases muscle strength.
 
The drug is a myostatin inhibitor that produces the protein follistatin, which increases muscle strength. Milo is focused on using the drug for treatment of Becker and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In both types of the disease, patients have progressive muscle weakness and cardiac and respiratory degeneration. The drug also has potential uses in muscle degeneration in AIDS and cancer patients, but Milo's initial focus is on muscular dystrophy.
 
Orphan drug classification is given to therapies that treat diseases that affect less than 200,000 people nationwide. “Orphan says two things: One, it says this compound looks like it’s effective in some model of whatever disease it’s treating,” explains Al Hawkins, Milo CEO. “Second,  it means that the  target population is under 200,000 patients." The designation gives expedited regulatory review, seven years of post-market exclusivity and it qualifies for an FDA grant program in clinical trials.
 
Milo was founded about a year ago, after receiving a $250,000 investment  from JumpStart. The company also received funding from the North Coast Opportunities Technology fund.
 
Milo's drug is being used in clinical trials at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus with patients who have Becker muscular dystrophy and inclusion body myositis. Hawkins says the designation will expedite development of the therapy.
 
“There are no approved  drugs for muscular dystrophy, but there are a lot of promising therapies in development,” says Hawkins. “The community has banded together in supporting this, but we are still years away from getting to market.”


Source: Al Hawkins
Writer: Karin Connelly

A virtual trade mission taken by University of Cincinnati MBA students and local industries has turned into a very real product that could put a dent in food shortages across India.

Next year, new solar-powered refrigerator products will be tested on an aloe farm in the developing country early next year. If successful, the SolerCool could be a reality for Indian farmers, just in time for summer.

The product is a self-contained cooling unit that relies on the sun for power. It's a box that measures 10' x 7' x 11', and is topped by solar panels. SolerCool was developed through a collaboration between former and current UC students and local industries, including SimpliCool Technologies International LLC in Waynesville.

The idea for the technology came after the MBA students and SimpliCool attended a "virtual trade mission" to India in July 2011. The mission was part of a Business Law for Managers class taught by Ilse Hawkins, an attorney and adjunct professor of accounting at UC. The mission virtually brought Cincinnati and Indian businesses together to find ways of partnering to better preserve Indian produce.

Today, 30 to 40 percent of produce in India is lost to spoilage because of lack of refrigeration options, Hawkins says. India, with 1.2 million people, faces chronic food shortages.

"While we were doing the mission, we had this tiny, insulated structure that kept audio visual materials at proper temperature," Hawkins says. "We thought, 'Why couldn't we create a structure powered with solar panels like that that could be put anywhere on a farm?'"

Shortly after that meeting, Hawkins took a group to India where the idea was further flushed out. Eventually, a collaborative effort led to the creation of the SolerCool unit.

MBA students worked on a business plan, helped with the initial feasibility calculations and networked with Indian businesses who might contribute to the product.

Mohsen Rezayat, chief solutions architect at Siemens UGS PLM Software and adjunct professor in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, primarily worked on the engineering of the solar panels in the SimpliCool-manufactured cooling cube.

UC does not own the product, and therefore won't be profiting from its sales, Hawkins says. However, SimpliCool has vowed to contribute to UC's College of Business to fund further travel to India if the idea is successful, she says.

By Feoshia H. Davis
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

This week BioEnterprise and Global Cleveland are hosting their fourth online biomedical job fair, hoping to attract top talent to the industry. “This is really driven by the growth in the biomedical sector in Northeast Ohio,” explains Aram Nerpouni, BioEnterprise interim CEO. “We’ve gone from 300 to 700 biomedical companies in the area. Cleveland is becoming a national hotbed for biomedical.”

The job fairs are an effective resource for employers. It is free for employers to post their listings and reach a wide population of qualified candidates. Arteriocyte, which does stem cell research for regenerating bones, has participated in three of the four job fairs this year. In each job fair the company has hired an employee.
 
“For us it’s appealing because it’s pretty easy as an employer,” explains Kolby Day, Arteriocyte‘s vice president and general manager of research and development. “We’ve seen really high caliber talent applying to the postings." Day says they’ve seen applicants from local schools as well as residents who left Cleveland and wish to return.
 
“We’ve interviewed a lot of people and, interestingly enough, they all want to be in Cleveland,” says Day. “A big part of that is how quickly the biotech industry is growing in Cleveland.”
 
Nerpouni points out that the online job fairs especially help the smaller employers. “For smaller companies that are growing rapidly and don’t have an HR staff, it helps them keep up with the pace of growth,” he says. “It’s much easier to hunt as a pack, so potential candidates aren’t looking at just one position.”
 
Close to 50 employers are participating in the job fair this week, posting 200 open positions. BioEnterprise plans to continue the biomedical jobs fairs on a quarterly basis.

 
Sources: Aram Nerpouni and Kolby Day
Writer: Karin Connelly

Donna Lee, CEO of MascotSecret, has always eyed with envy the vacant good seats at sporting events. She thought there had to be some way to get those unused good seats into the hands of those sitting in the cheap seats. So Lee and co-founder Jennifer Jeng set out to find a way.

“This is the problem we had growing up -- we always wanted better seats,” says Lee. “You go to the game, you see all the empty seats, and we thought there has to be a better solution.”
 
This past summer, Lee and Jeng moved to Cleveland from San Francisco to develop MascotSecret through Bizdom, a non-profit startup accelerator founded by Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans and majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. “It allows you to upgrade your seats during game time through your mobile phone,” explains Lee. “All you need to do is open the app, put in how many tickets you want to upgrade, and then move to your new seats.”
 
Lee says the price to upgrade might be cheaper or more expensiver than face value depending on availability, the game, and other factors.
 
So far, MascotSecret has been testing the app at Cavs games. As a Bizdom company, they have gotten the support from Gilbert and Veritix. “We’ve had a really great response so far," says Lee. "Customers who have heard about it want to try it.”
 
MascotSecret recently received a $25,000 grant from the Lorain County Community College Foundation Innovation Fund, which they will use to further develop the app. The company is beginning talks with the Indians to use the app. The goal is to sell the app to markets across the country.

“Of course we want to expand as quickly as possible,” says Lee. As they expand, the company will be looking for technical and marketing talent.

 
Source: Donna Lee
Writer: Karin Connelly

Last May, Brandt Butze had what he calls an “Aha! moment.” He was 370 pounds and wanted to lose the weight and get in shape. He went on Facebook and posted that he was committed to walking.
 
“I had 225 comments on my Facebook page and all sorts of support,” he recalls. That first morning, his sister and a group of people met Butze and they went for a 30-minute walk. “We jogged the last block,” he says. “I was in tears there was so much support. Thirty-minute walks turned into 45-minute walks and in three weeks, I was walking six to seven miles a day.”
 
In fact, Butze had so much support that trying to schedule people to walk with him was interfering with actually walking. “I was spending three to four hours a day trying to plan walks,” he says.” I looked for an app to help and I realized other people were in the same boat I was -- finding some way to have a workout schedule where people can work out with other people.”
 
So Butze and friends Aaron Marks, Jonathan Schultz and Kevin Rahilly created FitVia, a mobile app that allows users to post their workout schedules and find others to join them.
 
“We tried different hypotheses, talked to friends and friends of friends and asked them what motivated them, what de-motivated them,” Butze says. “We realized we were on to something.”
 
The four approached LaunchHouse for help developing FitVia and were accepted to the accelerator program. FitVia will launch by the end of the year. “We’re launching this as a premier app initially,” says Butze. “We’re hoping to gain as many people as possible as quickly as possible.”
 
FitVia plans to hire additional staff as they grow. Butze plans to branch out to corporate America as they grow, targeting HR departments as a way to keep healthcare costs down.
 
To date, Butze has lost 71 pounds.

 
Source: Brandt Butze
Writer: Karin Connelly

Following the Brandery’s Demo Day, the rising social network CrowdHall has been developing new products and securing new investors.

While CrowdHall developer and CTO Nick Wientge is currently working at the Brandery with marketing and design staff, Jordan Menzel and CEO Austin Hackett have been traveling for business development and fundraising.

“We’re currently in due diligence process with a number of angel investment communities and institutional investment communities that span the Cincinnati area, Chicago, Utah and New York,” Menzel says.

The company is also looking to move forward with Vine Street Ventures.

“We’re also in the process of turning around a new product iteration, some of which has been added onto the site already,” Menzel says. “Another trunk will be coming out in January.”

One of its newest developments, “CrowdHall for Politics,” is an initiative based on a set of principles that CrowdHall created for elected officials: accessibility, responsiveness and innovation.

“We’re going to begin to highlight the elected officials that have committed to demonstrate those principles,” Menzel says. “We’ll be featuring a number of politicians from the federal, state and local level that are using CrowdHall to better keep an open door for decisions, now that the election is over.”

The initiative will be under development through the new year.

“If you’ve been looking for a place that provides you with the tools to be able to ask your questions, share ideas and your statement, and peer vote on the ones you would like to see rise to the top, CrowdHall is where you’re going to go to do that,” Menzel says.

By Kyle Stone

The Barberton Community Development Corporation (BCDC), which serves as the city’s economic development arm, was recently tapped by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to receive a $1 million loan for small businesses in the region.
 
BCDC is one of only two cities in Ohio and 20 nationwide to receive $1 million SBA loans in a special two-year pilot program.

“Historically, we’ve only provided loans to companies in Barberton,” explains Scott Wagner, BCDC executive director. “With this SBA loan, we want to think more regionally since neighboring communities benefit from one another’s growth. What’s good for New Franklin is good for Barberton; what’s good for Norton is good for Barberton.”
 
According to Wagner, local companies seeking a loan from the new SBA fund must commit to staying and/or expanding in the region. They must also have fewer than 500 employees and demonstrate that they are an established, profitable business.

Loan amounts will vary from $10,000 to $200,000, and may be used for a host of purposes, including building construction or acquisition, equipment, furniture, fixtures, inventory or working capital.

Wagner indicated they’ve already received several applications from companies, ranging from manufacturing to customer service, in all three communities.
 
He believes that BCDC’s proven track record making effective loans to local small businesses, as well as their current loan portfolio, helped set them apart and give them an edge to land the SBA loan. “The competition was very intense, and we were extremely fortunate to be selected,” he says. “It’s a fantastic honor to be one of only 20 economic agencies nationwide to receive this award.”
 

Source:  Scott Wagner
Writer:   Lynne Meyer

Big River helps organizations get the most out of their online giving campaigns with a simple theory: Appeal to what the potential donors react to and they will donate. The theory apparently proves correct. The 18-month-old cloud-based online fundraising platform has won accolades from clients such as the Cleveland Museum of Art and Lorain County Metro Parks in Big River’s ability to increase online giving.
 
“It’s almost like the last 17 years of e-commerce hasn’t made itself accessible to nonprofits,” says Big River founder and CEO Ron Cass. “Nonprofits haven’t done more than PayPal. The Big River product puts the most effective appeal in front of the donor at the right time to maximize that donation.”
 
The key is telling donors what the impact of their donations will be. “They want to know what their money does,” explains Cass. “They want to know what impact their gift is going to have. We allow organizations to create donation products, and then target those asks based on the donor’s history with the organization.”
 
Big River has eight customers of varying sizes and is already generating revenue. The Cleveland Museum of Art is one fan of Big River, reporting that membership has doubled since they hired Big River.
 
One of the first companies to be a part of Bizdom’s Cleveland operation, Big River is expanding within the Bizdom offices. JumpStart announced on Tuesday, November 13th a $250,000 investment in Big River to further expand.
 
“Any time you get an investment it changes the slope of the company,” says Cass. “We are going to focus on sales, marketing and product development.”
 
In addition to adding some new tools and bringing some ideas to reality, Cass also hopes to expand his staff. “A big part of the investment is hiring -- rapidly,” he says. “Around the order of four people in marketing and development.”
 
In the meantime, Cass was impressed with the connections he made at JumpStart’s Entrepreneur Expo this week. “I spoke to a lot of people who said, ‘I know someone with this organization,’” he says. “I got about 20 leads. I was very impressed.”

 
Source: Ron Cass
Writer: Karin Connelly

NorTech received one of seven Regional Innovation Cluster contracts from the Small Business Administration to grow its flexible electronics cluster FlexMatters. The four-year, $385,000 contract will allow NorTech to train and assist small companies in the FlexMatters cluster in attracting larger market leaders as customers through its Anchor Customer Engagement (ACE) Academy.
 
“One of the really important things about this contract is it gives us recognition on a federal basis,” says NorTech vice president Byron Clayton. “Being nationally recognized as an emerging cluster helps us bring more federal funding to the region.”
 
This is the fourth time the FlexMatters cluster has been recognized on a national level. The ACE Academy will help give the region an upper hand in terms of both jobs and securing the first customers for new technologies.
 
“It’s designed to help small, emerging businesses capture the first significant customers,” says Clayton of the academy. “It helps them be prepared so if they do get that opportunity to present themselves, they put their best foot forward. The goal is to go away with something concrete.”
 
Success of these businesses translates into more jobs in the region. “It really helps small businesses grow and create high paying jobs in growth industries,” says Clayton. “We’re already seeing success, and we’re just getting started.”

The SBA award is for one year, with a four year renewal option.

 
Source: Byron Clayton
Writer: Karin Connelly

Tim Schigel is the chairman and founder of ShareThis, a sharing and engagement platform. He served as the director of Blue Chip Venture Company and was involved with the growth of Nielsen Buzzmetrics, a leading platform for measuring blog sentiment and forums, and Third Screen Media, the first mobile advertising platform.
 
Schigel will be sharing his experience and tips with other entrepreneurs at the first Startup Grind event in Cincinnati, Dec. 6 at The Brandery.
 
What was your first startup in Cincinnati?

My first job out of college (CWRU BSEE) was with Pharos Technologies. I was employee number 11. The company grew and became Digineer. I created a pioneering product for remote computer management for the Mac at the time. I also built P&G’s world-wide network. This was all in the early 90s.
 
Where did you get your idea for that first startup?

I’ve always enjoyed pursuing new ideas. At Pharos, I grew and transitioned from a technical role into the VP of Sales and Marketing, and eventually left to do my own thing. I was also fascinated with venture capital and the fast-paced tech lifestyle of Silicon Valley. I come from a family of entrepreneurs, albeit mostly small business.
 
Why do you think startups are important to the community?

Startups are the engine of innovation. There is so much freedom to explore technology, business management and business models. This creates a great environment for unanticipated results.

Often great innovations are accidental. It takes the right environment, however, to let those accidents happen. The other factor that is a driving force for startups is time—they don’t have any. It forces the entrepreneur to adapt quickly in all respects.
 
Do you regularly attend Startup Grind meetings?

No, this is the first one. I’m excited, and anyone who knows me knows that I love to help startups and explore new ideas.
 
Where do you draw your inspiration from when coming up with new ideas?

Everywhere. I’m a big believer in the cross-pollination of ideas. The next answer to a software problem might come from biology or some other completely different domain.

We should put everything on the table and encourage people to develop a natural curiosity and well-rounded perspective. I also think innovation comes from constraints. Some of the most interesting products have emerged from very constrained environments that act as a forcing function for creativity. Open-ended creativity is actually hard and doesn’t always lead to the most interesting solution.

Finally, I like taking a contrarian point of view. If everyone thought about a problem the same way, you would lack new ideas. Sometimes the biggest disruptive ideas are viewed as out of touch, misunderstood or not even recognized until after they’ve become disruptive.

This is an interesting balancing act for an entrepreneur because you need to be a good listener and respond to feedback, but also stay true to your convictions. The more informed those convictions are, the better. Some people stick to convictions regardless of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Ultimately, the evidence should hopefully support your thesis and when that happens, you know you’ve done something new and special.
 

By Caitlin Koenig
Follow Caitlin on Twitter

Teenage diabetics often believe they are invulnerable to future health problems from their disease. That’s what Jennifer Shine Dyer, a pediatric endocrinologist and Founder and CEO of the Columbus-based startup EndoGoddess, LLC, discovered in her practice and through texting with her teenage patients.

“They block out that they have this disease,” Dyer explains. “Warning them they could be on dialysis when they’re 30 if they don’t monitor their glucose levels and take their medication simply doesn’t register. They can’t relate to potential dire future consequences.”
 
To address this problem, Dr. Dyer developed the EndoGoal app for iPhone and Android. EndoGoal makes tracking glucose levels easy and rewarding for teens.

“EndoGoal is a mobile software engagement program with rewards and a virtual pet named Cooper, the diabetes dog,” she says. “You check your blood sugar and record four glucose tests a day to earn points you can spend on Amazon. Every time you record your level, you get to feed Cooper, too.”

Dr. Dyer recently expanded the EndoGoal app to include adults as well. She’s contacting employers to subscribe to what she calls the EndoGoal Wellness Program, promoting the concept of rewarding health savings account contributions to diabetic employees who participate.
 
EndoGoal doesn’t cost users anything. “It’s all about positives, with nothing negative, like price, to interfere with use,” the physician notes. “It’s meant to increases people’s engagement with their health. We’re not telling you what to do or giving medical advice of any kind. Our goal is to encourage you to take care of yourself.”

The diabetes software program is being funded by investors, the ONE Fund of Ohio Third Frontier and Dr. Dyer. EndoGoal earns revenue through selling subscriptions to corporations who offer the program to their employees.
 

Source:   Jennifer Shine Dyer
Writer:  Lynne Meyer