Ever wonder how wires survive in wet areas? That driveway lamp that fails, that troublesome outlet in the kitchen or bathroom — that’s where PATCH comes in, says D’Angelo Technologies founder Maurissa D’Angelo.
PATCH is a self-repairing wire insulation product. In the same way it can help you fix trouble spots at home, it can help a pilot in the field get an aircraft back to a mechanic location.
Maurissa is one of eight Ohio founders who graduated last week from the OEA Defense Accelerator, powered by Launch Dayton partners Parallax Advanced Research and the Entrepreneurs’ Center. Participants gathered virtually for nine weeks to identify commercial and Department of Defense uses of their technologies; develop plans to move their technology products to market; and position their companies to create jobs and generate revenue to support growth of the regional economy.
We caught up with Maurissa to learn more about her company and her experience with the Defense Accelerator. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
We do a lot of government R&D. We started in 2011, and now have a pretty broad scope of projects focused around electronic applications. We have two offices — in Ohio, we focus on hardware products, and in Pennsylvania we focus on software projects. We’re a father-daughter team. My background is in biomedical and human factors engineering, and my dad’s background is electrical engineering. We’re working on projects from a blood product heating system to wire corrosion detection to conductive networks in parachutes.
PATCH is a paint-on solution for shorted wires. You can spray it on any wires that come in contact with water, from lamp cords to aircraft engines. The technology was developed by and licensed from the University of Dayton Research Institute. Roughly 43% of Air Force electric wiring mishaps occur due to wire damage. PATCH stops short circuits, self-repairs the wire insulation, and extends the life cycle of the wire repair. It’s a temporary solution to improve mission readiness and survivability for the defense market, with the potential for longer term impacts in home-based applications for the commercial market. We’re also looking into automotive applications.
I’m an engineer — I like the R&D component, I like seeing our products get integrated. I like knowing that our guys out there protecting us have the best tech and everything they need. It’s a good challenge, to make their lives easier and better. And I like teaming with other companies and universities, too — there’s a lot of potential out there.
I’ve learned a lot of things that I probably should have known, but didn’t. The guest speakers are really helpful — they bring knowledge and an open-door policy. And I think eventually it will help us to better sell our products, we just need to follow the process. The napkin drawing exercise in the beginning will help us with proposals, too — if we can’t really clearly and quickly explain what our idea is, maybe we shouldn’t be bidding the proposal.
Learn more about D’Angelo Technologies and how to connect with Maurissa here.
Nearly a year after beating a brain tumor, local entrepreneur NaAsiaha Simon is taking the practices that helped her rebuild her mental and emotional wellness and embedding them into a new venture — the Gem City Selfie Museum, coming to downtown Dayton summer 2021.
The Gem City Selfie Museum will feature a number of themed rooms, like an all-yellow banana room, or a floral room, that visitors can wander through and photograph in. The themes will pull from color therapy, a practice NaAsiaha used in her own quest for better mental wellness. Yellow, for example, is the top color associated with relieving anxiety, she said.
“I want to provide a space for people to have positive, life-changing experiences and a space to heal using photography,” NaAsiaha said. “The Gem City Selfie Museum is a creative hub cultivating community engagement and sparking creativity through visual art installations to bring focus to positive life experiences and boost confidence. We’ll use vibrant colors and fun, interactive props, to take the selfie experience to a whole new level.”
She aims to work with local and national artists including Bing Davis, Bryon Smith of Smith and Son, Rich Murphy, Zuri Ali-Cole, and Taliaferro Sebastian of ArtHasNoRules, to develop the various rooms. NaAsiaha is also partnering with Ashley Scott Community Healing to offer free therapy to selfie museum visitors.
Weyland Ventures Development Company has been a critical partner in seeing the project through, she said.
“When I was in my season of crisis, dealing with a brain tumor and a lot of emotional trauma in 2020, taking selfies helped me see myself and love that reflection of me, flawed and still beautiful,” NaAsiaha said. “The Gem City Selfie Museum’s mission is to be a space with interactive illustrations created to help alleviate anxiety, depression, and stress. We want our guests to feel seen, heard, loved, and welcomed from the moment they enter the facility. The exhibits are specifically selected to evoke positive energy and emotion from guests of all ages.”
Follow Gem City Selfie on Facebook or Instagram, or visit gemcityselfie.com to learn more.
The second episode of WYSO’s new web and radio series, Bouncing Back: Dayton Small Business Survive the Pandemic, hit airwaves last week, featuring Alleah Cooks and Paula Willis, the mother-daughter founder team of Now & Zen Terrariums.
Known for in-person workshops to create terrariums — “works of art made with living plants” — the founder team pivoted to take-home DIY terrarium kits during the pandemic.
“We were able to rely just on our e-commerce business, so my mom didn’t have to be exposed in any sort of way,” Alleah recalled. “We feel very lucky.”
Listen to or read the full interview here.
When it is complete, the WYSO series will feature stories from nearly a dozen entrepreneurs within our Launch Dayton community. The stories will air each Wednesday at 6:44am and 8:44am (during Morning Edition), again during All Things Considered at 5:44 pm and finally on the following Sunday Morning during WYSO Weekend between 10:00 and 10:30 am.
The series was produced by Jess Mador from The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices in collaboration with Audrey Ingram and Launch Dayton, a network supporting entrepreneurs across the Dayton region.
The U.S. is falling behind in the arms race for hypersonic vehicle tech, says one veteran entrepreneur — and his aerospace company has a solution.
Dr. Ryan Meritt, founder of Ahmic Aerospace, left the Air Force in 2014 to transform the way aerospace test data is collected in challenging environments. Today, the aerospace startup offers a suite of instruments and sensors that can measure data for vehicles traveling 15x the speed of sounds, and it aims to serve both the U.S. defense and commercial space markets.
Ryan is one of eight Ohio founders who graduated last week from the OEA Defense Accelerator, powered by Launch Dayton partners Parallax Advanced Research and the Entrepreneurs’ Center. Participants gathered virtually for nine weeks to identify commercial and Department of Defense uses of their technologies; develop plans to move their technology products to market; and position their companies to create jobs and generate revenue to support growth of the regional economy.
We caught up with Ryan, who won the cohort’s pitch competition, to learn more about his company and his experience with the Defense Accelerator. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
We develop measurement techniques for high-speed aerodynamic applications — typically anything faster than Mach 5. When you get up to those speeds, making physical measurements is challenging. Mach 14 is about 7,ooo miles per hour — at that speed, the air just rips itself apart. Computer simulations are pretty amazing, but we have to always challenge the assumptions we build into the models. Testing occurs in facilities like wind tunnels, because that’s a lot cheaper than sending up a rocket to see what happens. A good suite of instrumentation is fundamental to any wind tunnel. You need to have confidence that the instruments will provide good data, and that’s what we strive for at Ahmic.
We measure things like skin friction, which can be very challenging data to capture. The sensor has to be sensitive enough to pick up the equivalent of a butterfly landing on it, but robust enough to handle the extreme pressures, temperatures and vibrations of supersonic speeds.
We know our target audience is in the defense market, which has 60+ hypersonic test facilities and research organizations and the nation’s top aerospace contractors. We also want to reach the larger space community and tackle hypersonic transportation, space access and re-entry challenges. We’re also looking at auto, maritime and green energy applications.
Since I can remember, I’ve had a passion for aviation. As far back as grade school, I always loved model rockets, model airplanes. I started engineering classes in high school, got a private pilot’s license, participated in civil air patrol, ROTC and eventually, I landed at Virginia Tech. At one point, I had to decide if I wanted to be a pilot or an aerospace engineer. I chose engineer, and I love the balance between theoretical and practical sciences. It’s exciting to get up every day and help invent the tools of tomorrow.
A part of me did always want to be an entrepreneur. I’d always sketch inventions when I was little, and in college, I started a drop shipping coffee company out of my dorm room.
Today, Ahmic Aerospace is in its awkward teenage years. We’ve tripled our workfoce and expanded to a 5,000+ square foot facility. I really do love the leadership aspect and the work of owning a company. But I also still love the days I can put my engineering hat on and go in and just work in the lab. We built our own wind tunnel last year, which was a significant investment of time and money, but now we can run tests whenever we need. We’re professional problem solvers. It’s fun to just go in and try something and see what we learn. A lot of times, it doesn’t work, but it’s fun to come up with new ideas.
The Defense Accelerator program has been absolutely incredible. Ahmic’s marketing coordinator, Kristina Molinaro, participated with me, and we would usually talk about the class exercises for another hour or so after the accelerator sessions ended. They triggered the right thought process to push us to think about new directions for the company. The knowledge shared by the guest speakers was incredibly valuable as well. I only wish we’d discovered this sooner.
Connect with us. This accelerator has been wonderful at connecting us to resources that would have been hard to seek out on our own. We’re looking at the Arcade and the ESP program now. Dayton is a city rich in history, originality, and innovation. And there’s a wealth of industry to work with through the area’s strong machine shops. We are excited to be part of Dayton. We are constantly challenging ourselves to live up to this community’s aviation heritage and legacy.
Learn more about Ahmic Aerospace and how to connect with Ryan here.
A Dayton founder is developing next-gen 3D-printing technology that can print electronics on a microscopic scale.
George Xiao, founder of Microcvd Corporation, is one of eight Ohio founders who graduated last week from the OEA Defense Accelerator, powered by Launch Dayton partners Parallax Advanced Research and the Entrepreneurs’ Center. Participants gathered virtually for nine weeks to identify commercial and Department of Defense uses of their technologies; develop plans to move their technology products to market; and position their companies to create jobs and generate revenue to support growth of the regional economy.
We recently caught up with George to learn more about his company and his experience with the Defense Accelerator. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
I launched my company in 2016, but it took off about two years ago with my first SBIR Phase 1 contracts. Most 3D printers, you can see what they’re building as they print. At Microcvd, we’ve harnessed a gas process that utilizes metal powder instead of ink in order to build 3D structure on a microscopic scale.
By printing on a microscopic scale, we can print electronics, for example. We’re also able to print with more materials than are available through other processes, and we can print directly on curved surfaces, creating a stronger bond than when you have to print a part, then attach it with another material. Particularly relevant for Department of Defense or Department of Energy applications, this means we can print parts like antennas and sensors that can withstand extremely high temperatures, high pressure, and even nuclear radiation.
I’m learning from the accelerator how to really do a pitch and how to prepare my business to grow. It’s not enough to have a cool technology, you have to have a plan to commercialize it.
I love to mkae new stuff with my experience & knowledge. We are developing a technology that is not on the market now. I spent 20+ years as an engineer and saw technologies erupt, progress, be replaced, and disappear. There is always room for improvement and innovation in technologies. That is the fun part, for me and for the world.
I am looking for a business partner with a experience and passion for commercializing a technology. I am also looking for investments.
Learn more about Microcvd and connect with George here.
Dayton defense startup Battle Sight Technologies is putting final touches on two new products in its suite of tools to serve the warfighter.
NightFall is an infrared maritime marker, designed so rescue planes can spot a downed pilot.
ColdFire is an infrared phosphorous, like the material used in a watch, designed to soak in energy and emit an infrared light to make it possible to identify friendlies on a battlefield.
Sales of both products will come online sometime this summer, said founder Nick Ripplinger.
Sunny Kapka, Director of Programs at Battle Sight Technologies, is one of eight participants who graduated last week from the OEA Defense Accelerator, powered by Launch Dayton partners Parallax Advanced Research and the Entrepreneurs’ Center. Participants gathered virtually for nine weeks to identify commercial and Department of Defense uses of their technologies; develop plans to move their technology products to market; and position their companies to create jobs and generate revenue to support growth of the regional economy.
We caught up with Nick & Sunny to learn more about what’s in store for the company and their experience with the Defense Accelerator. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Nick: I served in the military until I was injured in Iraq in 2009. A few years later, my wife and I were back in Dayton, and Scott from the Entrepreneurs’ Center reached out to share a new Air Force Research Lab technology with me. My business partner, Bennett Tanton, and I formed Battle Sight around that tech and created CrayTech, the world’s first, and only, reusable infrared marker. These new products build on that original technology.
Nick: NightFall is a derivative from the core chemistry of that first license. The chemistry for ColdFire is all new. We developed it with help from outside partners.
Nick: We’re looking at applications for emergency management and first-responders. So, for NightFall, a prime example would be landing a Careflight helicopter in a field, being able to mark the landing spot. For ColdFire, it could help SWAT, FBI, those folks have more command and control on the ground, to know who is who from the ground and in the air.
Nick: It’s such an amazing thing to show up every day, be creative, work with the world’s best customers, and pour your heart and soul into solving problems for them. At Battle Sight, we’ve never done a SBIR that hasn’t lead to a product. I don’t think a lot of companies can say that. We’ve built a reputation for taking complex problems and boiling them down to pretty low-tech solutions that solve immediate problems. We have customers coming to us now, bringing us their problems, and it’s awesome to work with these amazing men and women from across the Department of Defense.
Nick: We have about seven projects in various stages of development, and they’ll all be out in the next 18 months. We’re still manufacturing in-house for now. We’ll be launching a visual version of CrayTech in different colors designed for first responder scenarios. We just moved into our new office next door to the Avant-Garde building, so we’ve got about 5x more space. We’ll add to our technical team, and in 10 years, we’ll be a brand manager for a suite of products that serves warfighter needs.
Nick: It has been a great program to walk a new hire through, to get her tuned into the whole process, from R&D to working with the customer to commercialization.
Sunny: I was a civilian working for the Air Force before joining Battle Sight, so the small business side of the SBIR process was new to me. I learned a lot about how that works, how to craft a proposal, and I’ve been able to see in real time how Nick and Chris have addressed things we’re learning about in class in our company. They’re wizards at what they do.
Nick: Keep making the connections the Launch Dayton partners are known for. We’ve made some cool peer-to-peer connections through this accelerator, too, that have the potential to expand into some pretty cool projects.
Learn more about Battle Sight Technologies and how you can connect with Nick here.
Is IV hydration the new preventative wellness standard? Wellness Flow founders Paul Adongo and Sean Carroo say yes.
Paul & Sean launched their business in Oakwood last January, just months before the COVID pandemic swept the U.S. A year later, they’re working on expansion plans.
We caught up with the founders recently to see what’s in store for them 2021. The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Paul: Wellness Flow is an IV hydration company — essentially, IV hydration is a way of getting all vitamins and nutrition through an IV. Our store is located in the Shoppes in Oakwood.
Sean: IV nutrition is done for many different things in clinical, recreational and athletic settings. It’s a proactive way to approach healthcare. You can get a B12 dose to boost your immune system to keep from getting sick. Or you could pick different protocols to help you boost performance. It’s like taking vitamins — but where your body only absorbs 30 percent of vitamins taken by mouth, it absorbs 90 percent of vitamins taken by drip.
Paul: There’s a lot of medical research behind it, and on a large scale, it’s used for cancer treatments, to treat addiction, to help pregnant women with deficiencies. We got into it through athletics — it’s often used as a way to re-hydrate quickly after cutting weight, and Sean was an athlete. In Vegas, it’s used as a hangover cure, in L.A. as a beauty treatment. We chose the drips we offer to focus on preventative health & wellness.
Paul: Our primary customers are men & women, 25 to 60 years old, who are focused on alternative health and wellness.
Paul: I love what I do because it helps people. We have a lot of good conversations with people, the space is great, I like going into work. We hire a lot of folks with medical backgrounds and hear them say, this isn’t something they ever thought they’d be part of — it’s cool to help them realize different career paths.
Sean: I love it because it gives me an opportunity to help out my fellow man. We can see the benefits of what we do, and to get calls, texts, that prove we’re providing something worthwhile for people is truly fulfilling.
Paul: We came from different backgrounds — Sean was born and raised in Chicago, I was born and raised in Kenya. Sean was an athlete, I’m business and finance. We met attending Wright State University, and came together to fill this gap in health and wellness that people often don’t recognize until they come and try the product.
Paul: We’re looking to bring new services in 2021, and to open a second location in Cincinnati or Columbus. We’re also looking for a larger space for our Dayton store.
The first episode of WYSO’s new web and radio series, Bouncing Back: Dayton Small Business Survive the Pandemic, hit airwaves this morning, featuring Carly Short and Amanda Hensler, two of the five co-owners of a group of Oregon District businesses including Heart Mercantile, Luna, and Beck + Call.
“There was never a moment where we thought that the stores would not exist because we were not going to let this take us out,” Carly recalls of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “You just pivot and you find a way to put something new into your business that works for that moment.”
“We really have a girl gang that really knows each other and so if we fall, we all fall together. And when we stand, we all stand together,” she continues later in the segment. “I think that it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done.”
Listen to or read the full interview here.
When it is complete, the WYSO series will feature stories from nearly a dozen entrepreneurs within our Launch Dayton community. The stories will air each Wednesday at 6:44am and 8:44am (during Morning Edition), again during All Things Considered at 5:44 pm and finally on the following Sunday Morning during WYSO Weekend between 10:00 and 10:30 am.
The series was produced by Jess Mador from The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices in collaboration from Audrey Ingram and Launch Dayton, a network supporting entrepreneurs across the Dayton region.
A new WYSO web and radio series, Bouncing Back: Dayton Small Business Survive the Pandemic, will hit airwaves tomorrow morning, featuring stories from nearly a dozen entrepreneurs within our Launch Dayton community.
“Dayton has earned a reputation for supporting entrepreneurs. And small businesses have played a key role in the city’s recovery from the last decade’s Great Recession,” writes WYSO producer Jess Mador. “Now, many small businesses are struggling mightily to survive the economic shock of the pandemic.”
A year after the coronavirus first shuttered businesses in what is now a familiar routine, WYSO is bringing you the stories of small business owners. They’ll share what they’ve learned, how they’re coping and staying safe, and what makes them hopeful in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What emerges is a picture many Daytonians would likely recognize: resilience amid financial pain, hardship and uncertainty,” said Neenah Ellis, Executive Director of The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices.
For seven weeks starting tomorrow, March 24, 2021, you will hear Dayton small-business owners in conversation with each other, sharing their experiences, hopes and fears about running a small business during the coronavirus pandemic. The stories will run on Wednesdays at 6:44am and 8:44am (during Morning Edition), again during All Things Considered at 5:44 pm and finally on the following Sunday Morning during WYSO Weekend between 10:00 and 10:30 am. After they air on WYSO fm (91.3) the stories will be available (with audio and photographs) on WYSO.org.
The series was produced by Jess Mador from The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices in collaboration from Audrey Ingram and Launch Dayton, a network supporting entrepreneurs across the Dayton region. Center director Neenah Ellis was the editor.
As the episodes air, we will update this post with links to the online stories. Stay tuned!
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is currently recruiting companies to participate in a new training program designed to accelerate growth for small businesses with potential for job creation.
This year will mark the first time the Emerging Leaders program — an intensive, seven-month, executive-level training initiative — will be offered to Dayton-area businesses.
The curriculum includes 100 hours of combined classroom, homework and peer-to-peer mentoring. Participants will engage in focused development and expansion strategies, including options for accessing new capital and securing government contracts. Upon graduation, each company will have a three-year strategic growth action plan with benchmarks and performance targets to help them emerge as self-sustaining businesses that create jobs and build communities.
This program is free. To be eligible, your business must:
Interested? Contact the SBA’s Alex Kohls, Senior Area Manager – Dayton Region, at [email protected].
31 S. Main St.
Dayton, OH 45402
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