Launched in 2003, the Civic Innovation Lab, a project funded by The Cleveland Foundation, offers mentorship, training, and funding for ideas that have can have an impact on the Greater Cleveland economy.  The Lab allows any individual to take a risk, innovate, and present a new idea that can make change. The Lab has already funded 34 great ideas led by passionate and knowledgeable individuals we call champions.

The Lab connects present community leaders (mentors) and future community leaders (champions).  Please join the Lab in a breakfast introducing their latest two champions.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Trinity Commons 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

The New Lab Champions Are: 

Brother Charles McElroy, College Interns for Energy Efficiency awarded $30,000 

Trevor Clatterbuck & Bob Gavlak, FreshFork Market awarded $30,000

This breakfast is FREE, but you MUST REGISTER.

Send an email with “Register for Breakfast” in the subject line to info@civicinnovationlab.org  and include your name and company.

Trinity Commons
2230 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland
Free Parking! Enter on Prospect near East 22^nd

College Interns for Energy Efficiency (CIEE) is a program that assists local manufacturers in applying for energy efficiency grants from the state of Ohio Department of Development. College interns will help write grants to the state, which has approximately $1MM available for smaller manufacturers. CIEE estimates that grants will average $50,000 and hopes to assist five manufacturers in the first year. 

FreshFork Market is a “virtual farmer’s market” that allows local restaurants to purchase fresh food from local farmers. This supply chain solution uses an innovative web-interface to streamline and promote a sustainable local food model in which local products are delivered directly from the farm to the restaurant.

The MAGNET Incubation Roundtable is a regular feature, offering entrepreneurs access to a variety of regional experts on topics of interest.

The next roundtable will take place on Tuesday, December 9 and the topic will be “Starting a Business 101″.  This roundtable will have a heavy focus on the financial, legal, and planning aspects of planning and starting a business.   

The speaker, Greg Hostelley, of Inner Circle Advisors, will cover a variety of topics including financial management, securing funding, legal issues, and business plan development and execution.  Some of those items might be new to you while some might be reminders for important concepts.  However, given the open discussion format of the sessions, you’ll have the opportunity to delve into topics important to you in greater depth.  Regardless of the stage of your business, you should find this program valuable and informative. 

This free program is scheduled from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. including time for networking from 3:30 to 4:00 pm with refreshments. Attendance is limited so get your reservation in soon! 

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Seminar Room
MAGNET Innovation Center
1768 East 25th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44114 

For more information or to confirm your attendance, please contact Barbara Paul at 216-432-5322, Barbara.paul@magnetwork.org.  

Feel free to contact me if you have further questions at 216-432-4197, wayne.zeman@magnetwork.org.

These economic times can be particularly rough on entrepreneurs.  Since covering the infamous Sequoia Capital presentation to funded companies (which included strong guidance on building a year’s worth of capital somehow, some way), there have been a number of articles offering advice for entrepreneurs during the current financial downturn.  Most of them include cash/capital acquisition (hoarding?) to ride out the downturn.

The Entrepreneurial Mind, a blog written by Dr. Jeff Cornwall who runs the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University, recently published an article with four more reasons why every entrepreneur should be paying particularly close attention to their cash on hand these days.  If you are an entrepreneur, then click over and read the article.  In summary, Dr. Cornwall presents these four reasons why these days, cash is king:

• Greater sales uncertainties
• Credit difficulties
• Potential cash flow issues with your suppliers
• Ability to take advantage of opportunity without financing

So, keep a keen eye on that cash flow statement entrepreneurs.  You may have some hard decisions to make over the next year.  Having a small “cache of cash” will certainly help.

Microsoft recently rolled out a program called BizSparkwith the goal of “supporting and accelerating the success of a new generation of high-potential Startups.”  Through the BizSpark program, you can get access to Microsoft developmental software, support and licenses at no cost.

Of course, with all Microsoft initiatives, it isn’t quite that simple; but it’s close.

In order to qualify, you must fit the following four criteria:

1. Is in the business of software development,
2. Is privately held,
3. Has been in business for less than 3 years, and
4. Has less than US $1 million in annual revenue

There are some footnotes to these criteria so be sure to click over to the BizSpark home page for full details.  In addition, to be eligible to use the software for production and deployment of hosted solutions you must also be developing a new “software as a service” solution (on any platform) to be delivered over the Internet.

The only other criteria is you have to be “sponsored” by a local Network Partner.  I tried to browse the local authorized network partners using the link provided (this one), but got an error message (please hold the snickering to a minimum - they’re giving you free software).

All in all, this seems like it could be a useful program for those of you early stage, pre-revenue IT startups, so we definitely recommend you check it out.  For more information, these pages are very useful:

• BizSpark FAQ page
• The Startup Program Guide

Good Luck!

We are pleased to announce that YBI portfolio company, Eris Medical Technologies, has received a $100,000 investment from the Innovation Alliance Fund. The Fund is a partnership of Lorain County Community College, the University of Akron Research Foundation, and GLIDE, an Edison Incubator sister organization of YBI.

Eris will use the proceeds to finish the Beta test trials and speed the commercialization of  the firm’s revenue integrity technology that identifies lost charge capture opportunities for hospitals and medical centers. You can learn more about the product at www.erismed.com.

Akron and Lorain investing investing cold, hard cash in a Youngstown software company.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is real regional cooperation.

Jim Cossler
Chief Evangelist
Youngstown Business Incubator
330.884.6262
www.ybi.org

The Dominion Foundation recently contributed $15,000 to the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) for the INSPIRE! project.  INSPIRE! is a new program of YBI that will offer flexible development suites and access to entrepreneurial resources for information technology start-ups that are in the very early stages of formation. 

“YBI is appreciative of this substantial investment as it affirms the mission of YBI to assist technology-based entrepreneurs establish and accelerate their scalable, proprietary information technology applications,” states Julie Michael Smith, chief development officer of YBI.  “YBI will be using this investment to create INSPIRE! - a resource for technology entrepreneurs that are in the very early stages of developing and implementing new information technology solutions.” 

“Dominion Foundation is pleased to invest in YBI’s new entrepreneurial initiative that will help technology entrepreneurs and companies in the northeast Ohio,” states Theresa D. Bishop, Philanthropy Manager of the Dominion Foundation.  She continues, “Dominion has been a long time supporter of YBI, and recognizes the need to invest in innovation and entrepreneurship, and thus, its importance to the creation of new business, jobs and strengthening the economic climate of the community.”

About Dominion

Dominion is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,000 megawatts of generation, 1.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas and oil reserves, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines.  Dominion operates the nation’s largest natural gas storage facility with 975 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states.  For more information about Dominion, visit the company’s website at http://www.dom.com.

STATE OFFICIAL TO DISCUSS TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION PROGRAMS

Norm Chagnon, Ph.D, Executive Director of Ohio’s Third Frontier Project Commission, will discuss the state’s technology development and commercialization programs on Thursday, November 20^th at Noon at Youngstown State University’s Moser Hall, Room 2400.  The program is jointly hosted by Advanced Manufacturing Initiative, affiliated with YSU and Third Thursday at 3 pm, a program of the Youngstown Business Incubator. 

Initiated in 2002, the Third Frontier Project is a 10 year, $1.6 billion commitment to expand Ohio’s high-tech research capabilities and promote innovation and company formation that create high-paying, skilled jobs. Ohio is committed to investing in industries such as biomedical, advanced materials, information technology and advanced energy where it has a global competitive advantage. 

Dr. Chagnon, with over 20 years experience in technology-based economic development as a member of the Ohio Department of Development’s Technology and Innovation Division, will discuss these technology development and integration programs as well as how businesses, universities and research organizations can collaborate.   

Also speaking will be YSU Chemistry Professor Tim Wagner and Gary Wakeford, President, Syncro Medical Innovations who both successfully secured funding from the Third Frontier Commission to research, develop and commercialize new technologies and products in the Mahoning Valley that will have global implications. 

Reserve your seat by contacting Julie Michael Smith, Chief Development Officer, Youngstown Business Incubator at jmsmith@ybi.org or 330-259-7644. 

Advanced Manufacturing Initiative’s mission is to spur the development of advanced products and processes by linking businesses with higher education and other institutions that facilitate growth and innovation.  AMI hosts educational networking meetings for manufacturers, development organizations and universities. It provides access to manufacturers to university resources, workforce development initiatives and communicates manufacturing issues via advocacy to public policy makers.  AMI is an initiative of YSU.

TH3 (Third Thursdays at 3) is a networking and educational forum that brings together innovative and progressive people with a vision to create and sustain an innovative and entrepreneurial environment in the Mahoning Valley.  TH3 events are for local companies to showcase new technologies, for technology organizations to share their resources, for entrepreneurs build relationships, for educators to highlight their initiatives - a place for innovative talk, robust debates and inquiring minds. Sponsored by YBI, it is an opportunity to learn about the “cool things” going on - right here in the backyard of the Mahoning Valley!

There is a lot of positive change happening in the region, particularly around entrepreneurial activities and economic development.  NEOinc follows several regional blogs reporting on these topics.  Sometimes the posts shine a spotlight nationally (or internationally) on the region.  Every month we publish a short list of some of the stories we’ve noticed that embody the spirit of achievement, growth and change in our region.

Continued

Foreign markets offer Ohio-based aerospace and defense manufacturers tremendous opportunities to expand their sales.  Even manufacturers that are enjoying healthy domestic sales should consider tapping into the potentially vast foreign demand for their products.  Moreover, the current weakness of the U.S. dollar makes Ohio components more affordable than ever to foreign buyers, which means that today is the right time for manufacturers to increase their exports. 

However, the opportunities abroad are accompanied by practical and legal hurdles that manufacturers must approach properly in order to ensure that their foreign ventures succeed.  This seminar provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges involved in foreign sales and will give manufacturers helpful guidance about how best to expand into foreign markets.

Agenda:

8:00 a.m.     Registration & Coffee 

8:30 a.m.     An Overview of the Opportunities and Challenges of Foreign Markets
                    Mark J. Sundahl, Of Counsel, Yormick & Associates 

8:45 a.m.     How to Penetrate Foreign Markets: Direct Sales, Sales Representatives & Distributors
                    Mark J. Sundahl, Of Counsel, Yormick & Associates 

9:30 a.m.     How the Ohio Department of Development Can Assist You with Foreign Sales
                    Sean F. Corson, Sr. Trade Manager, Ohio Dept. of Development, Global Markets Division 

10:00 a.m.    An Overview of U.S. Export Control Regulations - and How to Overcome Them
                     Jon P. Yormick, Managing Attorney, Yormick & Associates 

10:45 a.m.    A Company’s Perspective on Compliance with Export Controls
                    Representative from Moog, Inc. (to be confirmed) 

11:15 a.m.    Summary and Wrap-up
                     Mark J. Sundahl, Of Counsel, Yormick & Associates 

11:30 a.m.    End of Program

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Location: OAI, 22800 Cedar Point Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44142

Registration:
The event is complimentary but you need to register.

https://web1.oai.org/ (Networking and Events) 

By e-mail: patriciagrospiron@oai.org and monicadumitriu@oai.org
By phone: Patricia Grospiron, 440-962-3216 and Monica Dumitriu, 440-962-3141

For more information, please visit www.oai.org.

This one has been posted all over the web, for good reason.  The partners of The Sequoia Fund, recently held a meeting with their funded companies in light of the recent financial meltdown. 

The summary basically shakes out as get profitable and get ready to ride out a long storm.

In case you’re interested, the full presentation is linked below.  These are just the slides so often you have to read between the lines, but you should get the gist.  It’s only fair to note that nowhere on the web has Sequoia confirmed the comments being reported.  Our wrap-up follows the presentation.

• While there are some interesting takeaways from the global financial mess on slide #21, the key messages to entrepreneurs start on slide #39
• “Tough Love” messages include indications of a long recovery and substantial changes to the financial environment, new realities (less money) and new challenges (fewer exit options)
• Slides #46 and #47 give you a couple real world checklists to go through with your business, and
• Slide #53 is the presentation’s wrap-up slide with some final thoughts

One observation that is very pertinent and has been pointed out elsewhere on the web is the need to re-examine all your business plans and spreadsheets.  Assumptions and conditions are changing daily it seems, but certainly any assumptions made more than a few months ago are most certainly invalid.  Costs are higher and sales will most likely be lower.  Rework the details immediately to see where you are.

However, it’s not all gloom and doom.  As reported several other places, the current economic situation could provide opportunity, if not a great time to start (yes, start) a new business:

• Area small businesses see opportunities in lean times
• 5 reasons to start a business now
• A couple bright sides to the current challenges