State nearly doubles the region’s funding to invest in high-tech companies
The Ohio Third Frontier Commission has awarded The Entrepreneurs Center $10.8M to expand support for innovative entrepreneurs driving Dayton’s thriving startup scene.
The Entrepreneurs Center leads the region’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider (ESP) network, an Ohio Third Frontier program that provides funding and assistance to high-potential technology-based startups to accelerate early growth.
“This award is a testament to the progress The Entrepreneurs Center has made helping Dayton founders launch and scale their companies,” said Scott Koorndyk, President of the organization. “This ESP grant represents funding at a level our region has never seen before and will allow us to not only continue, but to expand, our exciting work with Dayton’s most promising new ventures.”
Since taking over the region’s ESP network in 2017, The Entrepreneurs Center has aggressively worked to fuel local economic growth by deploying resources and mentorship to the area’s most promising high-tech startups.
By mid-2019, the number of startup companies in the center’s expanding portfolio was nearly double the program’s pre-2016 levels. In 2018, total third-party investment in those companies surpassed $35M — nearly triple the program’s highest pre-2016 numbers. The Entrepreneurs Center also assisted its innovative startups to secure 38 patents on new technologies, with an additional 95 patents pending across the medical, financial, agricultural, manufacturing and defense sectors.
“The Entrepreneurs Center has reinvented itself over the last three years and emerges at this pivotal moment with significant State backing to play an important role in ensuring the Miami Valley reaches its full potential as an innovation and technology hub,” said Gayle Rominger, Vice Chair of The Entrepreneurs Center Board of Directors. “This funding allows the organization to continue fueling our region’s startup momentum and building a more prosperous future for Dayton.”
As leader of the region’s ESP network, The Entrepreneurs Center has rallied more collaborators than ever before. Partners on this three-year grant include Wright State Research Institute, University of Dayton, Sinclair Community College, Miami University, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Dayton Partnership, Arcade Innovation Hub, Wright Brothers Institute, Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education, Ascend Innovations, Converge Technologies and Cornerstone Research Group.
This award will support The Entrepreneurs Center’s efforts to significantly expand programming and support for the region’s entrepreneurs as it moves operations into the Arcade. The Entrepreneurs Center joins University of Dayton as a proud partner in The Hub, an anchor tenant of the downtown revitalization project. Small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurial thinkers from across the region will have access to The Hub’s 95,000 square feet + events + amenities.
“By aiding these entrepreneurs in their efforts to launch and scale new businesses, we are increasing prosperity across the Dayton region,” said David Schoeff, Chair of the Entrepreneurs Center Board of Directors. “Startups bring vitality through their innovative ideas, the investment they attract, the talent they retain, and the jobs they create. These businesses represent a new wave of success stories for Dayton and we are proud to support them.”
We have a special lineup for you this Friday for our final Early Risers event of 2019!
Pitching entrepreneurs will include two of the area college students who completed our pilot Early Risers Academy pre-accelerator program this fall.
Please note the new time & location — pitches will start promptly at 8a in the BarryStaff Community Room, 230 Webster St, Dayton, on Friday, Nov. 22.
You’ll meet:
Max Gilson, a Wright State University grad student working to launch Zeus, a consumer drone startup;
& Mike Sundermeier, University of Dayton senior & CEO of Recyclops, an AI recycling bin.
While the judges are choosing the winner of the pre-accelerator’s $1,000 cash prize, you’ll hear from Ethan Smith, founder of SmithFly, which specializes in outdoor recreational products like floating tents and fly-fishing rafts.
Our November edition of Early Risers is sponsored by Alex from The Wright Cup, a Dayton-based specialty coffee subscription service. Thank you!
Early Risers is a morning pitch series that connects entrepreneurs to the things they need most, like first customers, key employees, mentors, funding, and more. Each startup gets 10 minutes to pitch, then the audience gets 5 minutes for Q&A.
In the last two years, 90% of startups have gotten their ask granted through a connection made at Early Risers. So grab a cup of coffee & a donut and find a place you can plug into Dayton’s startup community!
Let us know you’re coming! Register here.
Want to pitch? Click here: http://bit.ly/pitchEarlyRisers
Want to sponsor (and get two minutes in front of the audience)? Click here: http://bit.ly/sponsorEarlyRisers
Hope to see you at BarryStaff!
A Dayton-based software startup is tapping the power of personalization to boost insurance sales at a fraction of the cost of enrollment firms.
ConsumerOptix has built a sales and enrollment platform that leverages personalized interactive media and consumer psychographics technologies to power the sales process by matching insurance offerings to an individual’s personality, attitudes, values, and lifestyle.
“Insurance is an age-old industry that tech is finally catching up with,” ConsumerOptix Co-Founder and CEO James O’Hara said. “Where most innovation has focused on the back office, like claims processing, our innovation really centers around the front office, the consumer experience. We’ve had people tell us we’ve cracked the code — our personalized platforms are driving new business.”
Carriers, brokers, agents, wholesalers, and advisers utilize the company’s Accelerate and eBenefitsIQ products to drive sales and enrollment in the group insurance, individual insurance and online insurance environments.
ConsumerOptix’s online Accelerate platform delivers & tracks responses to tailored marketing and sales communications, enabling insurance carriers, brokers, agents and advisers to individually engage with consumers to drive insurance sales and commissions.
“We just heard from one of our top carriers that the intelligent automation and personalization of our Accelerate platform grew sales by 28 percent, all online, without agent involvement,” O’Hara said.
eBenefitsIQ is an online, self-service benefits enrollment tool that utilizes psychographic data to tailor interactive video communications about voluntary benefits to an employee’s personality, attitudes, values, and lifestyle, resulting in increased enrollment.
“Five people may purchase short-term disability insurance, but for different reasons. Tailoring the benefit’s value proposition by consumer segment drives results,” Co-Founder Brian Kipp said. “The eBenefitsIQ product aligns the message with the customer’s unique behaviors and motivations, thus delivering targeted messaging that resonates and dramatically enhances retention and conversion. We are achieving high participation and engagement at a fraction of the cost of expensive enrollment firms.”
The Entrepreneurs Center of Dayton, Ohio has been critical to the company’s accelerated growth, O’Hara said.
“Dayton has a long track record of innovation, and it is a city that understands the value entrepreneurs provide to the region’s economy and quality of life,” O’Hara said. “Our mentors at The Entrepreneurs Center knows what it means to grow a business and how to foster an environment of innovation, growth and connections.”
The Entrepreneurs Center runs the region’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider (ESP) program. Backed by Ohio Third Frontier, the program provides entrepreneurs with private and public funding, as well as assistance to grow their technology-based startup companies.
ConsumerOptix was accepted into The Entrepreneurs Center’s ESP portfolio in June. Landing $750K in investment in August allowed O’Hara to hire a development manager and a vice president of business development. The tech firm closed deals with several insurance industry giants in September.
“ConsumerOptix is a great example of how Dayton is increasingly becoming home to exciting new high-tech startups,” said Scott Koorndyk, President of The Entrepreneurs Center.
As it continues to grow and hire, the startup is looking to raise an additional $3.5M by 2021.
I-Corps@Ohio, a statewide program designed help university researchers and entrepreneurs move cutting-edge tech from the lab to the market, is accepting proposals for its 2020 cohort.
The statewide program is designed to assist faculty, staff and students from Ohio universities, colleges and community colleges to validate the market potential of technologies and launch startup companies.
I-Corps@Ohio teams must have at least three members — a principal investigator with access to intellectual property; an entrepreneurial lead, often a business or STEM grad student; and an executive/entrepreneurial mentor who is often an experienced or emerging entrepreneur or an industry leader.
Teams accepted into the cohort will receive up to $15K in funding & will complete an intensive eight-week training program that incorporates Lean Startup, Customer Discovery and Business Model Canvas methodologies.
During the 8-week program, I-Corps@Ohio teams will:
- Implement key business modeling concepts, including problem-solution fit, customer/market segments, value propositions, channels, and revenue streams;
- assess core assumptions by developing and testing hypotheses about each critical aspect of the total commercial opportunity;
- conduct at least 100 interviews with customers, end-users, purchasers and channel partners to develop a rich understanding about the actual needs for a proposed product or service and its overall market viability.
- learn from executive mentors and program instructors with relevant industry, scientific and startup expertise.
Team outcomes will include a clear go/no go decision regarding market viability, a development and transition plan should the decision be to move forward, and a project presentation/demonstration for potential investors, collaborators and industry partners.
The goal of the program is to accelerate commercialization of technologies from Ohio universities, colleges, and research institutions while expanding the business acumen and networks of faculty and students across the state. The resulting companies will drive sustainable technology-based economic development in Ohio.
I-Corps@Ohio is modeled after the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) successful I-Corps (Innovation Corps) program, which has been proven to increase innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry collaboration.
In August, Lindsey Deck shared her plans for a new downtown boutique fitness studio — this weekend, she opens the doors to Space Three, located at 39 South St. Clair Street.
“Space Three is about capturing this notion of our humanity that good things come in threes” Lindsey said. “Mind, body and soul. Earth, wind and fire. Rock, paper and scissors. I want Space Three to be a third gathering place outside of home and work where people can breathe, sweat and stretch.”
Space Three will offers nearly two dozen group fitness classes each week across three different formats — TRX (Total Body Resistance Exercise), a suspension training workout that helps participants get stronger, leaner and more flexible; BootyBarre, a fusion of dance, Pilates and yoga that tones the entire body; & SWERK, a hip-hop dance fitness class that offers a high-intensity, cardio-focused workout.
The new studio will kick off its grand opening celebration at 7 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, with seven free classes offered throughout the morning. Classes will run every 45 minutes until 11:30 a.m.
Santa Clara Juicery will also be onsite with juices, juice shots and protein bites from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and babysitting will be available during the classes.
“Space Three is open to everyone, regardless of their fitness,” Lindsey said. “We’re not just creating a gym. This is a space for people to come and be part of a community of like-minded people. It’s about being healthy in mind, body and spirit.”
Membership options at the studio include drop-in, 5- and 10-class passes, a monthly pass, and an annual pass. All memberships may be purchased online. Lindsey is offering a 25 percent discount through Nov. 30 to celebrate the grand opening.
Lindsey is an attorney at Taft Law by day, as well as a wife and mother. She knows first-hand how important it is to take care of yourself — and how important it is for those workouts to be time-efficient & require a limited commute. A Dayton native, she has dreamed of opening her own studio since her law school days in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Keep up with Lindsey and Space Three on Instagram and Facebook.
University of Dayton is currently hiring for its new Greater West Dayton Incubator Manager position.
This individual will engage with UD students and faculty to help support small businesses and entrepreneurs in Greater West Dayton. This includes connecting businesses and entrepreneurs to resources at UD and in the broader community. The individual will work from an incubation site located within a West Dayton neighborhood.
Minimum qualifications include: the ability to operate with an entrepreneurial mindset and be comfortable with ambiguity; experience in organizational leadership; familiarity with the Greater West Dayton community needs; excellent relationship building and cultivation skills; successful fundraising experience, including support of donor development programs, grant writing, etc.; some post-secondary education; experience coaching and supporting small businesses; three years professional experience in business or a community non-profit; a service mentality demonstrated through professional experience; excellent written and verbal communication skills; evidence of cultural intelligence; and a demonstrated ability to effectively establish cross-cultural relationships across multiple dimensions of diversity.
Preferred qualifications include: a master’s degree in a related field; three+ years leadership or supervision experience in nonprofit or entrepreneurial business; some sales and/or service experience and familiarity with CRM systems (Salesforce, ACT); successful experience working with disadvantaged businesses or startups or other groups.
Interested? Apply here.
Are you a small business owner committed to growing your company?
Applications are open for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, which will launch in Dayton in May 2020.
The 14 week-long program teaches small business owners how to scale, from how to lead and hire, to how to prepare financial documents to seek funding, to how to marketing, sales & operations tactics. These workshops will be delivered in-person, every Friday from 8a to 5p from May 8, 2020 to July 31.
The program is free to participants — a roughly $7,500 value per business owner, said Kandise Bobo, workforce development manager at Sinclair Community College. Sinclair will be administering the Goldman Sachs program, which Kandise describes as a “crash course MBA.”
Each cohort comprises 30 to 40 small business owners. According to national program statistics, 67 percent of these business owners increase revenues & 47 percent of these owners create new jobs within 6 months of completing the program.
Applications are due by Jan. 31, 2020. Applicants should be owners or co-owners of a business that has been in operation for at least two years, made at least $150K in revenue in the most recent fiscal year, and has at least four employees (including the owner). These employees do not have to be full-time. Most important, Kandise emphasized, is a desire to grow the business.
Apply online here. Those selected to move on to the second round will be contacted to provide supporting documents and participate in a 30-minute informal interview.
Want more information before you apply? Attend an informational webinar Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 12p; Thursday, Dec. 5 at 8:30a; or Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 5p. Register here.
It’s no secret that the tech industry struggles with diversity & inclusion — so Sparkbox is hosting Digital Diversity Days later this month as a step to address the issue.
Digital Diversity Days at Sparkbox will run 10am to 4pm on Wednesday, Nov. 14 & Thursday, Nov. 14 at Sparkbox, 123 Webster St., Dayton. The free event will feature a workshop with Silicon Valley veteran Karen Catlin & a day-long leadership forum that includes moderated sessions and breakouts.
Through 25 years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Adobe, Karen Catlin witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. In her workshop, she will pull directly from her book, Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces, to offer strategies to attract job candidates from underrepresented groups; be inclusive during the interview process; set up new hires for success; amplify and advocate in meetings; give effective and equitable feedback; and use inclusive language in the work environment.
Attendees should bring a laptop, tablet or phone to review their organization’s career site, job descriptions and more, as part of exercises to identify immediate improvements to attract more candidates from underrepresented groups.
On Thursday, there are no presenters — just organic discussions that foster engaging conversation & peer-to-peer learning. Potential topics include creating inclusive workplaces, attracting diverse employees, communication barriers, resistance to change, difficulty in defining diversity, intercultural miscommunication, in-group favoritism, etc.
“The goal is to help you solve your challenges, gain inspiration and get back to work with a whole set of ideas to implement immediately,” the Sparkbox website states.
Sparkbox is a local tech company that partners with organizations of all sizes to plan, design, and develop phenomenal websites and apps.
Register for Digital Diversity Days here.
Baba Love Organics founder Vaniti Byrd is organizing a new local shopping opportunity this holiday season — Soul Made Sunday.
Vaniti is seeking local makers, entrepreneurs & organizations to participate in the Sunday shopping & dinner event, slated for Sunday, Nov. 24 from 4-8p at the White House Event Center, located at 101 E 2nd St, Dayton.
“When I think about Sunday, I think about family and a good Sunday dinner,” Vaniti said. “That’s why this event will feature my very good friend, who has become family, Jasmine Brown of De’Lish Cafe, a local soul food cafe in Dayton.”
As well as local, handmade goods & services, the free event will feature raffles, a DJ, a photo booth, and children’s activities.
Perks of shopping the Soul Made Market? Beat the Black Friday rush; purchase local, handmade goods & services; and save on shipping costs, Vaniti said.
“When you support a small business, you support a big bream,” she said.
Vending spots are first-come, first-serve. Email [email protected] by Friday, Nov. 8 to reserve a spot.
Add the event to your calendar here.
Renovations will soon be underway for a kitchen incubator in downtown Dayton.
Mutt’s Sauce founder Charlynda Scales, Divine Catering owner Dabriah Rice, and serial entrepreneur Jamaica White are leading the effort to open the shared kitchen space, which will be located in the former Chin’s Restaurant at 200 S. Jefferson St., near the Dayton Convention Center.
The trio hopes to open the space as early as January 2020. First will come an aggressive crowdfunding campaign, with the goal of raising $200K in 30 days, Dabriah told the Dayton Business Journal.
The trio intends to move some kitchen incubation operations into the Dayton Arcade during its phase 2 development, slated for 2021.
Read the full story here.
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