Entrepreneurial Programs : Innovation + Job News

Thanks to crowdfunding, entrepreneurs have a new tool in their arsenal for raising startup capital. Columbus-based Fundable.com is a crowdfunding platform that focuses exclusively on startup companies.

“We’re the first crowdfunding platform to support rewards and equity-based funding [specifically for startups],” explains founder and CEO Wil Schroter. “We help startups raise capital by connecting them to a large network of potential backers who pledge money toward their project.”

Startups must complete rigorous requirements to be selected for the site. “They have to create a profile, including a pitch video, explain their goals and state the target amount they’re seeking. Fundraisers run from 30-60 days, and they must meet or exceed the stated goal or no funds are collected from the backers."

Schroter explains that, “As of right now, you can’t actually publicly offer equity to non-accredited investors.” The reason is because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to provide guidelines for the new JOBS act.

Instead, backers receive gifts. “We’re focused on value for value.  If you’re asking people for money, you have to provide something in return that’s of value, which could be a product. Many backers appreciate the rewards but are also motivated by their connection to the start-up concept or to the entrepreneurs themselves."

Shroter points to a recent success story. “Training Mask, LLC, had a small, fast goal of $10,000 that it needed to ramp up production for its second-generation of a training mask that simulates working out at high altitudes. The money was raised in 72 hours, and backers will get a discounted new mask and a special t-shirt. The company now has the money it needs to move forward."

"There’s really no way to raise that kind of money in 30 days,” says Shroter. “We have a huge, interested audience.”

Fundable.com began operations on May 22, has 22 employees and 20 startups posted.


Source:  Wil Shroter, Fundable.com
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Birdhouse Studios’ Nesl won the William McShane Fund Kickstarter project competition, taking home $25,000 and the opportunity to have the Nesl sold in Brookstone stores across the country. Nesl, which is a flexible rubber nine-fingered desk organizer with suction cups to hold it where ever you stick it, beat out two other projects in the finals.
 
“It’s been very exciting,” says Josh Dryden, who created the Nesl with partners and fellow recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduates Sam Li and Pete Whitworth. “The biggest part is being in nationwide stores at Brookstone.”
 
The contest was sponsored by Brookstone and Buckyballs. Voters could vote once a day on the contest site.
 
Birdhouse Studios recently raised $30,000 in pledges through a Kickstarter campaign before going on to win the McShane contest. The team met with their manufacturer last week and presented updated CAD files for the Nesl. “We want to start manufacturing as soon as possible,” says Dryden.
 
While the Nesl’s popularity in the voting varied over the voting period -- at one time it was in third place on the last day -- Dryden credits everyone at CIA with helping to secure the win. “We talked to everyone we could at CIA,” he says.
 
The team heads to New York this week to meet with Brookstone.

 
Source: Josh Dryden
Writer: Karin Connelly

It’s a good time for doing business in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley. In 2010, the Brookings Institute said the Youngstown Metro area ranked No. 1 in export growth, with manufacturing representing 38% of regional exports. $12.1 billion worth of goods and materials were exported in 2010.
 
Now businesses in the Mahoning Valley region will have the recently launched International Trade Assistance Center (ITAC) to aid in the continual growth of international exports.
 
Created in May of 2012 thanks to a grant from the Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University, ITAC will assist companies with export readiness, market research, export compliance, export documentation, export financing assistance and trade mission preparation. The man behind these free services is Mousa Kassis, who will serve as International Trade Advisor after 16 years as an adjunct faculty member in YSU’s economics department. Suffice it to say, he knows the landscape and business of international exports.
 
“The Valley is coming back,” proclaims Kassis. “Business sentiment is very high,” he adds, citing the discovery of shale gas in the region as a catalyst for renewed interest in Mahoning Valley.
 
V&M Star, North America's leading producer of seamless tubular products dedicated to oil and gas applications, has invested in a $650 million facility in Youngstown, sustaining hundreds of construction jobs. The mill’s operation is estimated to bring in 350 more jobs by the end of 2012.
 
The ITAC, explains Kassis, is part of a national effort to double U.S. exports by 2012. “Skilled and productive labor and YSU’s Center of Excellence in International Business are bringing together government, academia and the business sector."


Source: Mousa Kassis
Writer: Lee Chilcote

After 22 years as a surgeon at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Wayne Poll, M.D., turned in his surgical scrubs to become an inventor and entrepreneur. 

The former urologist, who did mostly laparoscopic surgeries, wanted to tackle an equipment problem that he – and his fellow surgeons – repeatedly encountered with laparoscopes.

“Hospitals pay millions of dollars for high-definition video systems, but surgeons don’t get the clear image they need,” he explains. “Fat, blood and water particles settle on the lens. Surgeons have to pull the laparoscope out of the patient and manually clean the lens about ten times every hour.”

Poll knew there had to be a better way, and he set out to create it. He established Minimally Invasive Devices, Inc. in 2007 with two employees. “For ten years, I tried going to companies with my ideas,” he recalls. He was constantly frustrated. Things started to happen when he won a business plan competition sponsored by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

He subsequently received help from TechColumbus, a technology business incubator serving a 15-county area in Central Ohio. Dr. Poll raised $200,000 in start-up capital and also received $2.4 million in angel funds, a portion of which came from funds supported by the Ohio Third Frontier program.

His invention – FloShield – received FDA approval, and about 600 of the devices were sold. The FloShield has air flowing around the end of the scope to blow away debris and provide a clear image of the surgical site. Surgeries can be performed more safely and in less time, he notes, which benefits patients, surgeons and hospitals.

Dr. Poll subsequently created FloShield PLUS.  “It uses the same invisible air curtain to protect the lens from floating debris, but it also has a saline solution that flushes fat off the lens.”

Approximately 30 facilities are using FloShield PLUS, which is manufactured and assembled in Franklin, Ohio. The company has 14 employees.


Source:  Wayne Poll
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

“The sun is shining, it’s nice, crisp weather and I’m on the right side of the grass – life is good.” Dr. Roy Church’s meteorology report can also describe the forecast for the nations’ startup community after Lorain County Community College received a $1 million grant from the Kauffman Foundation to take their successful Innovation Fund program to the national stage.
 
“When we created our business incubator GLIDE (Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise), we discovered very early on that many of the entrepreneurs that were trying to start new companies were experiencing a financial valley of death,” explains Church, President of Lorain County Community College. “There was clearly a dearth of pre-seed capital to get them started.”
 
The Innovation Fund, launched by the Lorain County Community College Foundation in 2007 to support high-growth technology entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio, was created to fill the capital gap and help small businesses generate revenue, catching the eyes of much-needed angel investors. Explains Church, “Our foundation came up with the idea of using philanthropic dollars from previously successful entrepreneurs to make those very earliest investments in companies.”
 
Donations to the fund are used to complete essential early tasks, such as presenting a proof of concept, finishing a prototype or creating a launch initiative. “85 companies have received about $5.6 million since 2007. These 85 companies have had a tremendous amount of success, evidenced by the private sector investment since their launch.”
 
Now the successful concept of philanthropic entrepreneurship behind Innovation Fund will be used in a pilot program to impact other regions across the country. “Community colleges are playing a unique role in higher education in that they are intended to be responsive to the unique needs of a local community,” says Church. “And since community colleges serve specific geographical regions, it makes sense to try to roll this model out through other community colleges in other parts of the country.”


Source: Dr. Roy Church
Writer: Joe Baur

More than 50 Ohio companies have received export assistance from the Ohio Department of Development’s International Market Access Grant for Exporters (IMAGE) program.
 
“The Office of Business Assistance leads the initiative to strengthen Ohio’s exporting economy and advance its leadership position in the global marketplace,” says Assistant Deputy Chief of Export Assistance, Wesley Aubihl. “Specifically, export assistance strives to increase international sales of Ohio-made goods and services, creating more and better jobs for Ohioans.”
 
Designed to increase exports and create jobs, IMAGE helps companies promote their products and services in new international markets. Best of all, IMAGE will reimburse companies a maximum of $6,000 or 50 percent on qualifying expenditures up to $12,000 for activities associated with new international marketing initiatives, such as trade shows and foreign marketing material translation.
 
Airstream Inc., developers of lightweight travel trailers in Jackson Center, is just one example of a company that has taken off (no pun intended) thanks to assistance from IMAGE grant funds. Explains Aubihl, “[The funds] offset the costs of participating in a State of Ohio-Council of Great Lakes Governors trade mission to Brazil. The trade mission enabled Airstream to meet potential key customers in the Brazilian market.”

Justin Humphreys, Vice President of Sales at Airstream, has credited the Ohio Department of Development with playing a special role in their ability to meet with key players in Brazil to assess the potential of doing business abroad.
 
Aubihl is hopeful a slew of Ohio businesses will follow in Airstream’s footsteps and experience similar international success. “Since the program began in January, the Ohio Department of Development has awarded 15 trade mission stipends, supported 37 international trade shows, 10 U.S. Commercial Service projects, 20 translations of websites or printed materials, and three export education activities,” he explains. “The participating companies have reported more than $5 million in actual export sales, with additional sales expected over the next 12 months."


Source: Wesley Aubihl
Writer: Joe Baur

Polymers are big business in Ohio. According to Wayne Earley, CEO of PolymerOhio,  “Ohio is definitely a leader in the production and use of polymers.” According to its website, PolymerOhio is an Ohio Edison Technology Center focused on “enhancing the Ohio polymer industry company's global competitiveness and growth.”

Earley’s comments came on the eve of the two-day Ohio Polymer Summit, which was held June 6-7 in Columbus and attended by more than 150 people from throughout Ohio. This was the Ninth Annual Biennial Ohio Polymer Summit.

A presentation on innovation engineering leadership was one of the summit highlights, according to Earley. There was also a segment on shale gas and its impact on Ohio’s polymer industry. “Shale gas is very significant to our industry here in Ohio by lowering energy costs and also lowering the cost of basic polymer materials,” he explains.

Another important session was the introduction of the new computational methods program. “Small- and medium-size companies can’t afford to acquire the software needed for such things as mold design and extruder simulation,” Earley says. “With the assistance of a federal grant, Polymer Ohio is now making these tools available to smaller companies.” 

The polymer industry is Ohio’s largest manufacturing industry, he states. “More than 130,000 people are employed in Ohio’s polymer industry. It’s a growing industry here.

There’s high growth in several specific segments, including conductive and electronic polymer materials, polymer nanocomposites, biomaterials and feed stocks and recyclable polymers.”

Earley points out that polymers aren’t just plastic. “They’re also in adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings and composites of other materials.”

He says that Ohio is the world leader in compounding of polymers – combining different materials to achieve a set of specifications. PolyOne in Avon Lake is the state’s largest compounder, according to Earley. “They’re successful because they have the technology and the capabilities to develop materials and compounds that are specific to certain important applications. They’re also very innovative,” he adds.

Source:  Wayne Earley, PolymerOhio, Inc.
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

More than 100 people turned out May 16 at the Ohio City Firehouse to celebrate the newest graduates of Bad Girl Ventures’ business plan competition. Babies Travel Too was the recipient of a $25,000 loan from KeyBank.

Babies Travel Too was created by Alison Musser, who based the company on her own experiences as a parent. The company provides nightly and weekly rentals of full-size cribs, car seats, strollers and other essential baby gear to people traveling to the Cleveland metropolitan area. The equipment is JPMA-certified and sanitized before every rental.

“Musser not only had a good idea; she was the right person to run the business,” says Rachel Czernin, director of marketing and developments for BGV. “She is smart, dedicated, and has personal experience in this area. She uniquely understands the predicament traveling mothers have and has the business sense to develop her concept and turn this regional business into a national business.”

Three additional companies received $5,000 loans from The Giving Back Gang. Those companies were: Anne Hartnett, creator of Harness Fitness, Inc., Cleveland's first sustainably run group cycling studio and fitness clothing retailer; Karen Malone Wright, creator of TheNotMom.com, a blog for women who are childless; and Kelley Hynds creator of Hyndsight Media, an online video journalism platform that provides short-form video web spots on current social and civic topics.
 
The event was sponsored by Huntington Bank, Additional support came from The Cleveland Foundation and The Business of Good Foundation. “Catering was provided by past finalist and loan recipient Hungry Bee Catering.
 

Source: Rachel Czernin
Writer: Karin Connelly

Two budding Central Ohio entrepreneurs have identified a problem in the bankruptcy marketplace and  developed a streamlined solution -- a new company called One Exchange Street.

One Exchange Street is an online bankruptcy claims trading engine that Todd Zoha and Sean O’Riordan established in January of this year. The startup company is designed to be a one-stop shop for both buyers and sellers of bankruptcy claims.

While working together in the turnaround and restructuring advisory unit of a global business consulting firm, Zoha and O’Riordan noticed something critical.

“We were working on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and saw how the marketing for unsecured bond positions was very transparent and liquid,” explains Zoha, President and CEO of the company. “We wondered why there wasn’t that same kind of transparency and liquidity for other types of bankruptcy claims, specifically general unsecured claims and administrative claims.”

Buyers of bankruptcy claims are generally sophisticated about the process, he notes. “If you’re a claims seller, however, you’re getting all these calls and contacts from buyers, and you have no way to evaluate whether the price you’re being offered is fair and reasonable,” Zoha says. “This is a big problem for sellers.”

With One Exchange Street, Zoha and O’Riordan have opened up and streamlined the process for bankruptcy market participants. “Claims sellers can list their claims and see recent transaction amounts for similar claims,” Zoha explains. They can also see prices at which bidders are willing to buy. “An important advantage we offer is that all members on our exchange agree to transact using a standardized claim transfer agreement. This enables real-time execution of transactions. These two things differentiate us from our competitors."

There are advantages for buyers of bankruptcy claims as well. “First, we’re a source of information for them about claims sellers,” Zoha says. “Buyers can also aggregate and buy multiple claims at once. Finally, buyers can turn around and sell a claim to other institutional buyers.”

Zoha and O’Riordan raised approximately $600,000 from friends and family for their startup and received a $300,000 investment from TechColumbus in April.

Source:  Todd Zoha, One Exchange Street
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Brian Wildes, founder and CEO of Ecolibrium Solar, is a big believer in sustainable business practices, and the name of his Athens-based company reflects that.

“I named it Ecolibrium because we have to realize that our economics have to be in line with our ecology in order for sustainability to be reached,” he explains.

The company’s product, EcoFoot, is the first 100 percent recycled plastic mounting system for flat-roof solar arrays. It provides a systematic arrangement of solar panels in rows and columns.
 
Wildes got the idea for EcoFoot while working as an engineer for a solar panel installation company. “We were always in search of new and better products and not satisfied with what existed in the marketplace,” he recalls.
 
There are three types of applications for solar panels – a flat roof, a pitched roof and ground mounting. EcoFoot is designed for flat roof mounting only.
 
According to Wildes, his product represents a big step toward enabling grid parity. “That will occur when the solar industry will match the cost of grid-delivered electricity without price subsidy,” he explains. “EcoFoot saves both time and money for solar panel installations.”
 
Wildes established Ecolibrium Solar by himself in April 2010. Since then, he has added six employees and is ready to roll out EcoFoot 2 in a couple of months. “This will be significantly different from the first version,” he says. “It will have a lower ballast weight, integrated grounding and wire management and will be more durable.” The materials in both products are recyclable, he adds.
 
“We stack up well against our competitors,” Wildes notes. “We’re leading the trends of material changes in the industry.” He plans to increase his sales force for more penetration of national and international markets.
 
Ecolibrium has received funding from TechGROWTH Ohio.


Source:  Brian Wildes
Writer:    Lynne Meyer

The Athens-based company Eco2Capture has been awarded $100,000 by the Ohio Third Frontier for its project, Demonstration of Advanced Polymer Membranes for Algal Growth Enhancement, which will showcase how to mass-produce algae for the CO2 capture and biofuel markets.

“We’re commercializing some technology developed at Ohio University to enhance the amount of carbon dioxide that is taken from the air or from a gas, like at a power plant, and transfer it into the water where algae grows,” explains Dr. David Bayless, President of Eco2Capture. “In theory, you can grow more algae with more carbon dioxide and that really changes the economics of algal growth, because the more algae you can grow within a fixed system, the better your return.”

Algae is used for fuel, Omega-3 fatty acids, proteins, nutraceuticals, and all kinds of dyes. The ECO2Capture membranes will be used to increase the productivity of algae for commercial algae growers by providing very inexpensive, just-in-time carbon dioxide to promote photosynthesis. The just-in-time delivery will also significantly lower variations in water acidity and promote algae culture health.

The technology, which Bayless characterizes as “quite simple,” is a membrane technology that accelerates the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, which in turn accelerates its acceptance into the water. Dr. Bayless and his supporting staff of Jesus Pagan and Dr. Ben Stuart will demonstrate the technology at four different sites at two different levels. First is an initial exam showing people that it works.  “The other is to actually do some eco-productivity measurements and analysis of the algae.”

Dr. Bayless and his team are excited for the opportunity. “It’s a big step and without that funding from the state of Ohio, it would have been a real challenge for us to try to get pre-seed funding to do this demonstration,” he says. “This technology is very interesting, but it has not been proven at a very large scale. What we’re trying to do is take it out of the university environment and turn it into something that is actually practical.”


Source: David Bayless
Writer: Joe Baur

Dennis Cocco has a good problem: he and other leaders of Lorain County Community College's Innovation Fund have a hard time choosing winners each year because applications are so strong.

“We’ve been doing this for four-plus years,” says the director of the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), a partner of the Innovation Fund. "The quality of the business idea, the entrepreneur and the presentation are better today than what we saw back in those early days. It’s because of the ecosystem we’ve created here in Northeast Ohio to mentor, lead and help young businesses understand the process to be an entrepreneur. We now have one of the better ecosystems in the country.”

Cocco says that those companies who don’t get funded (this year there were over 40 applications with 6 winners) can come back next quarter. In the meantime, “We offer a debriefing, explain what we saw as their strengths and weaknesses, how to make their businesses better.” Cocco says that because of this support system, there are more people starting businesses than four or five years ago.

Innovation Fund awards go to startups in the fields of alternative and advanced energy, advanced materials, instruments, electronics and controls, biomedical innovations, and advanced propulsion – categories determined by partner/funder Ohio Third Frontier.

This year’s awards went to startups in Elyria, Massilon, Hiram, Shaker Heights, Parma Heights, and Concord. They include alternative financing for retailers (IGW Finance Alternative); products to improve the energy efficiency of heating, cooling, and lighting systems (Paragon Robotics); a faster method of testing biological samples (QURA Scientific); a coating material to control corrosion (Tesla Nanocoastings); a sensor-based system to transmit patients’ clinical data to nurses’s stations (Future Path Medical); and a marketing platform for musical events (In2une).


Source: Dennis Cocco
Writer: Catherine Podojil

Life Core Technologies received a $250,000 investment from JumpStart for its Excel disposable cerebral cooling system, a device that reduces chances of death in a medical emergency.

“Excel has a cooling element that cools the brain 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius very quickly after cardiac arrest, stroke, or traumatic brain injury,” explains Life Core CEO Mike Burke. “The cooling allows the brain to use less oxygen and prevent oxygen depletion and swelling.”
 
The technology was developed by cardiothoracic surgeon Aqeel Sandhu in the late 1990s. “He discovered though his work with animals that cooling the brain can reduce the metabolic rate and several hours later they came back,” explains Burke. “In 2010, the American Heart Association came up with guidelines stating the cooling as soon as possible after cardiac arrest increases the chances of survivability and retained mental capacity."
 
The JumpStart investment will allow Life Core to conduct additional scientific studies. “We are working with a number of organizations to do additional studies,” says Burke. “We are proving the effectiveness.”
 
Burke is proud that the product is manufactured by a local company and assembled by Patriot Packaging, which employs veterans.
 
Life Core currently has five employees. “We will be expecting to grow as we attain commercialization,” says Burke. “We expect to grow internally with two people and also grow externally through distributors in Northeast Ohio.”

 
Source: Mike Burke
Writer: Karin Connelly

Last year, one of the attendees at the annual Ohio Growth Summit in Columbus "quit his job the day before the summit, came to the summit and started his business the next day," says Mike Bowers, District Director of the Ohio Small Business Development Center at Columbus State Community College.

That summit attendee is Timothy Wolf Starr, who founded the Small Business Beanstalk, a "local-first" company that connects small retailers to a base of active consumers in the Columbus area. A Small Business Beanstalk card allows shoppers to obtain discounts at independent retailers. The company is now booming, and Starr says, “I send a lot of my clients to the Summit each year.” 

That's why Bowers and Starr encourage all Ohio small business entrepreneurs or hopefuls to attend this year’s summit, which will be held on May 24th at CSCC.

This year’s summit, Bowers says, “is focused on those small business owners who are either starting or growing their businesses. An individual coming to the event can customize their day -- whether it's an owner getting tools and techniques to use immediately, someone having only an idea and not knowing anything about business, or the person who’s been in business for years and is looking to grow."

Summit reakout sessions will address such diverse issues as financing, online social media, marketing and later-stage change. The Ohio Growth Summit is made possible due to a grant from the Small Business Administration.


Source: Mike Bowers
Writer: Catherine Podojil

NEOSA Tech Week 2012 was held last week at various northeast Ohio locations, promoting the region’s technology companies and the work they are doing in the field. This is the second year for the event, which increased participation by 80 percent with more than 900 people attending nine separate events.
 
“It was awesome,” says Brad Nellis, NEOSA director. “The main goal is to raise the profile of the technology industry in Cleveland.”
 
The week kicked off with Tech Pitch night at the 100th Bomb Group, where 10 companies pitched their businesses to IT executives. “The purpose was for business development and to make business connections,” explains Nellis. The audience voted for the most intriguing company, most wanted product and best pitch.
 
A talent networking event linked 100 young professionals and college students with 25 area companies -- from small employers to international power companies. “We heard from a number of companies who participated about how good it was for them,” says Nellis.
 
The sixth annual Best in Tech Awards recognized outstanding tech companies and impressive tech entrepreneurs in the region. Six companies out of 60 nominations were named as winners in various categories. Sparkbase was named Tech Company of the Year. The CIO of the Year awards were also announced in four categories.
 
The Cool Tech Challenge invited 31 area high school teams to compete in web site design. Seventy students on 43 teams competed. Six students on three teams from Mentor High School, Beaumont School and Copley-Fairlawn High School each received $1,000 in scholarships.

 
Source: Brad Nellis
Writer: Karin Connelly