Want to make some entrepreneur connections across the Midwest?
Join Entrepreneurs Anonymous and Atlas Partners for a Radical Collaboration event Thursday, May 23 over lunch at Wilderness Agency, 17 Front St., Dayton.
The goal of the event is to foster regional partnerships that link together entrepreneurs across neighboring cities.
“Basically, Atlas Partners tours the country connecting people doing cool stuff,” EA founder Joe Harrison said.
Part of his goal is helping organize the event is to bring new players to the city of Dayton, he said. The lunch in Dayton is a small part of a longer day for the Atlas folks, who will also be visiting Detroit, Columbus and Cincinnati.
“We want to get to know you, introduce you to our partners which are doing cool things, and figure out how we can share our regional resources to help each other,” Atlas Partners Managing Partner Timothy Wolf Starr said in a comment on the the EA Facebook page. “We are such close neighbors, but we do not see enough cross-pollination. As Atlas, we see a ton of groups that want to come work with the Midwest more, and we want to be able to tell them about all the great things in the region, not just what’s directly in front of us.”
“The event is an opportunity to get to know each other and find ways to support innovation,” he continued. “This series is designed to serve as a catalyst to promote community engagement and strategic partnership. We want to make the introductions to create intersections that help the dreamers and the doers make greater impacts by working together.”
Startups, creatives, and social enterprises, non-profits, and organizations throughout the region are welcome. FUSIAN is providing lunch, Third Wave Water is providing coffee, and a local resource provider organization is covering drinks.
“I’m humbled by it, humbled by the community willing to jump in,” Joe said.
KeAnna Daniels is an empowerment coach, super connector, entrepreneur, servant-leader — and now the newest member of the Dayton Tech Guide team!
Ke is our new Program Manager. She’ll be developing new programs to reach residents in Dayton’s neighborhoods & suburbs, as well as engage students from area colleges and k12 schools. Her goals are to truly understand entrepreneurs’ needs, offer innovative programming to meet these needs, and to continue to drive collaboration between the region’s organizations & institutions, and across city and state lines using her network.
“I’m excited to officially be working with a team I’ve been working with the last year and a half, in a more official capacity, supported by an institution, to work on improving intentional diversity & inclusion,” Ke said. “I’m excited to explore opportunities and possibilities of programming we can offer in an out-of-the-box type of way.”
A Dayton native, Ke attended Colonel White Academic Magnet Academy. She studied social work and entrepreneurship at Miami University, then earned her masters degree in social and economic development and a certificate in management from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014.
After grad school, she was a recruiter for a new progressive STEAM school in St. Louis, then Administrator and eventually Executive Director of GatewayVMS, an organization that provides pro bono mentoring & support services & resources to entrepreneurs.
She returned to Dayton in 2017 to help care for her grandfather. In December 2017, she launched KMD Empowerment Consulting, LLC, her faith-based life and business consulting company, and jumped right into the Dayton entrepreneurial ecosystem as a volunteer.
But her entrepreneurial instincts stretch back even further. She did hair on the side in high school and college, and has almost always had a side hustle.
“Even as a young girl, I knew I wanted to be my own boss,” she said. “I always had an entrepreneur mindset. I found positions that allowed me to hold leadership roles, to make decisions and work with flexibility and freedom.”
Off the clock, you’ll find her giving back to the community — she holds roles as board or committee member for Co-op Dayton, UpDayton, Dayton Startup Week & Startup Grind Dayton, and she’s the founder and leader of the Gem City Entrepreneur Resource Fair; kicking back with friends, family and her bichon poodle, Kobe; or traveling — she checked more than a dozen places off her bucket list last year.
She’s able to tackle it all by prioritizing personal time & positive self talk. Her personal motto: “Faith Over Fear.”
“I love what I do because I see how it affects me and my community, it brings me joy to positively impact myself and others. It comes naturally and organically to me,” she said. “I like to work with people who are positive and risk takers, not pessimistic. Sometimes the constraints of society can keep us in a box. I love working with people who think outside of the box, who focus more on doing rather than talking — those who create the change they wish to see.”
Know Ke, or want to know Ke? Shoot her a welcome email: [email protected].
We’re bringing back our Early Risers: Startup Week Edition pitch competition — and we want YOU to apply!
We’re looking for up to 10 startups — five tech & five non-tech — to pitch for cash prizes this year.
Last year, Inveloped Cards cofounders Carlos Portis & Frank “Buddy” Pitts, Jr. took first place in the tech startup category.
“It was a good day that honestly was a springboard for us,” Carlos said. “We made some great introductions. We learned about resources available in the area, and that was amazing and took us on a new trajectory.”
The first-place winner in each category will receive $1K cash, $500 in marketing services from the ONEIL Center, and a 60-second video from New Media Incubator ($630 value). Second place winners will receive $250 in marketing services from the ONEIL Center. All finalists will be featured in a Dayton Daily News ad on June 9. Winners will also be featured across Dayton Tech Guide’s social media and email newsletter.
A diverse panel of experts will judge the competition and select the winners. The pitch competition will be held Thursday, June 6 from 5-7pm at The Steam Plant.
To qualify, your company must be:
— less than four years old
— under $50K in revenue or investment
— connected to Dayton
Founders who pitched last year are ineligible to pitch again this year, but if you applied last year and weren’t selected, we’d love to see you apply again.
So whether you’re building software or baking cupcakes, we want to hear from you! Apply by May 22!
In this new monthly feature, we’re celebrating milestones big and small with our entrepreneurs and founders! See what our awesome startups have been up to this month, in no particular order:
• Several local entrepreneurs made the Dayton Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list! Congratulations, KeAnna Daniels, Lauren White, Julio Mateo, Ryan Muhlenkamp, Brian Powell & Caressa Brown!
• Dani Ruffolo, founder of Handy Hats, auditioned for Shark Tank in Nashville, Tennessee & won the University of Dayton’s Flyer Pitch. Congratulations, Dani!
• Founder Will Foster & head chef Ben Kalis of Picnk announced a partnership with Levitt Pavilion to sell picnic baskets at this summer’s free concerts. Congratulations, gentlemen!
• Tae Winston got a physical truck for her Fashion Remedy Boutique. Congratulations, Tae!
• The National Black Business Directory became an official Techstars affiliate. Congratulations, Nate!
• Third Wave Water launched a new product, the Tethys, a new inline water system for cafes. Congratulations Charles & Taylor!
• Yellow Springer Tees & Promotions announced they’ll be opening a brick & mortar in June. Congratulations, Mark!
• Pepe’s Mexican Flavors marked one year in business. Congratulations, Jazline!
• Emerald Sparks was featured in Cinci Chic, and successfully trademarked her brand, Create Sparks. Congratulations, Emerald!
• Yetunde Rodrigues of Yetunde Rodriguez Design announced she’ll be artist-in-residence this summer at the Northwest Branch of the Dayton Public Library. Congratulations, Yetunde!
• Caroline Cao of Endo Guidance Technologies was awarded $150K from the state of Ohio for prototype development. Congratulations, Caroline!
• Seth Hummel of Strong Plastics was awarded $100K from the state of Ohio for prototype development, Congratulations, Seth!
• Mutt’s Sauce arrived on the shelves of 87 Kroger stores in the corporation’s Cincinnati division. Congratulations, Charlynda!
• GlobalFlyte was named the Soin Award for Innovation winner!
Something or someone we missed? Tell us! We need your help rounding up this good news so we can celebrate our entrepreneurs together. Thank you in advance!
Two Dayton startups have been awarded $100K+ in state funding for prototype development.
Caroline Cao, founder of Endo Guidance Technologies, was awarded $150K last week for prototype development for her radiation-free alternative to X-ray imaging during endovascular surgery.
Seth Hummel, CEO & President of Strong Plastics, LLC was awarded $100K for the development and commercialization of a strong load-bearing plastic to replace aluminum.
The funding was awarded through the Ohio Third Frontier Commission’s Technology Validation and Start-up Fund, which provides grants to Ohio institutions of higher education and other nonprofit research institutions. The funding is to be used to demonstrate that a technology is commercially viable through activities such as testing and prototyping.
In total, the commission last week approved $2.25 million to develop new technologies and move them out of the lab and into the marketplace.
“Ohio’s world-class research and medical institutions are developing breakthrough technologies,” Ohio Third Frontier Commission chair & Ohio Development Services Agency director Lydia L. Mihalik said. “We are helping get these products to market where they can make a difference.”
Endo Guidance Technologies
Caroline, Wright State University professor of biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering by day, is working on the prototype of a lightweight, optical fiber shape sensor that would allow physicians in the operating room to track tools in real time for image-guided surgery, without exposing themselves or their patients to the radiation required by current methods.
It’s the first tech she has worked to commercialize.
“Things we invent in the lab don’t usually get to this point,” she said. “But this is both innovative and useful. It will change the way surgeons do work and will be a great benefit to the patient. And we’ll all become patients someday.”
Born in Vietnam, Caroline grew up in a stereotypical Asian education system heavily focused on math, she recalled. When she started university in Vancouver, Canada, her goal was to become a dentist.
While she was in university, her father had an aneurysm and fell into a coma. He eventually woke up and recovered, but she spent a lot of time in the hospital with him and his healthcare team.
“That’s when I became interested in med tech,” Caroline said. “I realized I wanted to build things to make a difference, to help people, things that would have a more immediate impact on health.”
She switched her studies, and found herself at the forefront of remote laparoscopic surgery — minimally invasive surgery that uses small tools and cameras to work on a patient, rather than cutting open their whole abdomen.
The first robots to perform laparoscopic surgery appeared in operating rooms in 2001.
Caroline was recruited to Dayton from Boston in 2012.
Boston’s med tech market was very competitive and mature — but Ohio was hungry for startups, she recalled, specifically citing Ohio Third Frontier efforts. In 2016, she attended the first Dayton Startup Week.
“It was amazing, stimulating, energizing. It was my first exposure to a community of entrepreneurs, and they were very open and very passionate. I was surprised at how collaborative they were, sharing partners and contacts,” she said. “That’s when I decided it could happen here.”
Inspired? Check out this year’s Startup Week schedule here!
A few tickets are still available for for TEDxDaytonSalon | Innovation which will be held on June 4, 2019 from 9-11:45 a.m. at the Steam Plant located in downtown Dayton.
The TEDxDaytonSalon | Innovation is happening during the 2019 Techstars Startup Week Dayton.
This is the second of three TEDxDaytonSalon events happening this year, which will continue the tradition of talks by local speakers and a half day program.
“Attendees can expect to be enlightened by the possibilities and actionable ideas from the team of Innovation speakers,” TEDxDaytonSalon Committee Chair John Farrell said. “As well as impressed with the depth and breadth of expertise that permeates in our community.”
Eight speakers will explore different forms of innovation in their talks such as medical, science, technology, business, entrepreneurship, personal passion, virtual reality, and workforce development. Speakers for the June event include:
For more information and to register for the event, visit tedxdayton.com/salon-innovation.
The greatest risk in aviation — the thing that claims the most lives — is loss of control, Danny Glasser, founder of Aviation Fundamentals explains.
A pilot himself, Danny is tackling this issue by developing an in-flight training program in which he can safely recreate dangerous conditions while a training pilot is actually in the air, so that a true emergency isn’t the first time a pilot experiences those conditions.
He’s seeking cofounders to move his company forward. He’s looking for someone who is a fellow pilot (or at least is interested in becoming a pilot), is creative, and can function with partial knowledge.
In cofounder roles, these individuals will develop a digital flight control system, build it, install it in an airplane, and test the system in flight. Specific titles are Controls Engineer & Mechanical Design Engineer.
The requirements:
Bachelors degrees in engineering required, preferably in the areas of electrical, mechanical, aeronautical or computer/software engineering; Private pilot license or a willingness to pursue your license independently; Strong work ethic; Self-motivated and independent; Goal-oriented; Entrepreneurial ambitions.
The desired experience & traits:
Design and tune closed loop control systems; CAD software (SolidWorks preferred); Flight Simulator design; Flying qualities / Flight dynamics; RTOS environment coding; Matlab/Simulink, C, C++, or Python; App/GUI design for tablet computer; Wrench-turning experience (tinkering on cars, machining, welding, breadboarding circuits, building electronics hardware, etc.)
If you or someone you know is interested, email your resume in a .pdf format to [email protected] or call Aviation Fundamentals at (937) 303-1359.
We’re excited at the lineup of entrepreneurs slated for this Friday’s Early Risers!
You’ll meet:
Vaniti Byrd, founder of Baba Love Organics, sustainable, plant-based skincare line;
Keith Valiquette, inventor of the Kettle Grill Smoker that will convert your backyard grill for smoking meats;
& Spencer Janning, founder of Freedom Brace, which provides a medical brace for pediatric patients!
Our April 2019 edition of Early Risers is sponsored by Better Business Bureau Dayton/Miami Valley. They’ll be bringing the coffee and eats to kicks off the 7:30-9am event.
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!
Early Risers kicks off a whole FREE day of open co-working and events @444 with Dayton Tech Guide, Nucleus, Wright Brothers Institute & The Entrepreneurs Center.
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 @444 on Friday!
Want to experience the Dayton region’s next great food brands before they hit shelves?
Join us for lunch, Friday, May 10, 12-1:30p at 2nd Street Market!
Come early enough to grab a bite from one of the vendors at 2nd Street Market, our new Early Risers: Food Edition sponsor. Or arrive right at noon to catch the pitches, then stick around and connect over a plate of local eats!
You’ll meet:
Mandy Groszko, owner of Ella Bella Gluten Free, offering gluten-free flour and baking mixes;
Chef Neah Rainey, Owner of SWEET RAIN Desserts, baking up eye-catching, mouthwatering treats;
& Chef Da’Ves Lee Malone, owner of Sprouting Dreams LLC, popping up delicious vegan meals across Dayton!M
Early Risers is a 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 Dayton Tech Guide’s morning editions of Early Risers. So grab a sample and find a place you can plug into the Dayton region’s food startup community!
Our next regular edition of Early Risers will be this Friday morning, April 26, 7:30-9am.
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
Dayton startup GlobalFlyte, whose mission is to provide unparalleled service to first responders through innovative technology solutions, is the 2019 Soin Award for Innovation winner.
“The quality of applications we receive each year continues to grow and the level of true innovation occurring in our region is astounding,” Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Phil Parker said. “As we watched GlobalFlyte mature over the past year, their enthusiasm, passion and commitment to innovation and to saving lives and property really resonated with our panel of judges.”
GlobalFlyte’s team of seasoned public safety professionals license cutting edge technology from the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and integrate it into commercially developed mapping, imaging and smart phone technologies to provide emergency responders with a cloud-based service to cut through chaos and better coordinate emergency response.
“On behalf of our entire team, we are extremely proud to be to be chosen as the 2019 Soin Award for Innovation award winner, and we thank the Soin Family and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce for this honor,” GlobalFlyte President and COO Tim Shaw said. “GlobalFlyte is very proud of its innovative cloud-hosted and easily deployable solution for first responders. We help clear the fog of chaos by giving the incident commander tools to make enhanced decisions to protect life and property.”
The platform enables directional sound to distinguish overlapping audio transmissions, real-time tracking of responders and mapping of the scene, secure chat and image transmission capabilities between responding team members to keep valuable audio channels open, and automatic transcribing of audio transmissions.
“This integration creates a unique robust situational awareness solution for our local government public safety users responding to emergency and crisis incident,” Shaw said.
One of the innovative ways that GlobalFlyte will utilize the Soin Award cash prize will be to offer grants to area public safety departments to help offset the cost of using the GlobalFlyte platform.
The Soin Award for Innovation is designed to help innovative businesses take their ideas to the next level. The ideal applicant demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit through a unique recently- or soon-to-be introduced product or service that will have the ability to sustain long-term growth for the company, increase local employment, and assist in the creation of economic prosperity within the region.
With generous support of chamber members, especially Soin LLC and the Rajesh K. Soin family, the Chamber’s Education and Public Improvement (EPI) Foundation presents the Soin Award for Innovation at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting each spring.
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