Entrepreneurial Business Incubation

HCBC News

Allostatix, LLC. signs Distribution Agreement with The Wellness Practice - Global Self Health Corp. (February 1, 2012)

Allostatix LLC, the creator of the Allostatis Risk Prediction System (ARPS™), a scientific analysis tool which measures the cumulative impact of daily life stresses on an individual’s whole body health, announced a distribution agreement with The Wellness Practice to provide its products to the Chiropractic Industry. ARPS™ uses neural networks to transform health data into actionable knowledge to predict disease and premature death in healthy people, 3-5 years in advance.

The Wellness Practice is led by Dr. James Chestnut, who is a world recognized authority, author, and lecturer on the topics of wellness and preventative lifestyle and allostatic load within the chiropractic profession.

Congratulations to this HCBC client on securing a quality distributor in The Wellness Practice.

To learn more about Allostatix, please click here.

Bridal Divas Ink wins 4th Bad Girl Ventures Loan (Cincinnati Enquirer - December 17, 2011)

Stacey Shiring wants to level the playing field for local graphic designers and stationery stores.

As more brides turn online to pick out their wedding invitations and stationery, the Norwood graphic and web designer located at HCBC hopes they consider Bridal Divas Ink, a site that aggregates about 180 local designs and lets brides mix and match elements to create customized pieces.

“It’s our effort to show people they can buy from their neighbor online as easy as they can on the giant web sites,” Shiring says.

Shiring is Bad Girl Ventures‘ fourth $25,000 loan recipient and among the 26 women who have received $700,000 in funding since the micro-finance program for women started in March 2010. Many of the loans have been provided by traditional banks and other partners of the non-profit, says Bad Girl Ventures founder Candace Klein. The organization recently launched in Cleveland and will award its first loan there in January.

To read more, please click here.

WE Celebrate's acknowledges HCBC's Mary Myers (December - 2011)

Mary Myers received several nominations for the WE Celebrates Awards Program that was held on December 7, 2011 at the Downtown Hilton. Those nominations added up to secure Mary as a finalist for the Best Mentor Award.

HCBC congratulates Mary on being named a finalist and we join the hundreds of clients she has assisted throughout the years in saying "Congratulations".

Job well done, Mary!

Internet, Laundromat good fit (Cincinnati Enquirer - December 11 - 2011)

Calvin Kline and Alex Blust want to take the Internet to the people, one laundromat at a time.

The two stepbrothers, both 32, are in the early stages of a national launch of their startup, Everybodys Internet, an Internet café concept that puts computers in laundromats, hospital waiting rooms, or other areas where people are stuck with time on their hands. Everybodys Internet has participated in both HCBC's incubation and outreach programming areas.

With about 400 computers active in 170 locations in eight states so far, it is proving to be a hit with customers and with laundromat owners.

To read more, please click here!

Longo featured on a WCPO - Channel 9 Interview (November 5 - 2011)

HCBC was given the opportunity to be interviewed late last week by WCPO and it was shown on Saturday morning.

Here is a link to the interview

Thank you to Crystal Faulkner of Cooney, Faulkner, and Stevens CPA for including HCBC in the interview.

DotLoop Founder Changes an Industry (Cincinnati Enquirer - November 5 - 2011)

Austin Allison is proof that a sound idea sells.

Allison is the chief executive officer of DotLoop, the Blue Ash startup company that’s received national accolades for transforming the way people buy and sell homes.

Today, 100,000 U.S. Realtors conduct real estate negotiations online using DotLoop’s platform, which allows contracts to be drafted, edited, approved, signed and stored by agents, buyers and sellers, without requiring paper or an in-person meeting. For the last seven months, Allison has made a profit.

It’s been a relatively easy road for the 26-year-old, who has just three years in business.

Allison had some experience running a business – he’s had a real estate license since age 18 and owned investment property. Before the housing market crash, he’d started planning for ebuild, a company offering online tools for “do-it-yourself” homeowners. He’s completed two years of law school at the University of Cincinnati.

DotLoop benefited by being an HCBC Outreach client in their early days. HCBC is proud of all the accomplishments DotLoop has achieved and we look forward to watching the growth continue.

CitiLogics, LLC. featured in Soapbox (November - 2011)

Two local environmental engineers are pouring their skills and passion into a new custom software program that will help city governments and public utilities better manage their water infrastructure.

Their effort, CitiLogics, was founded 2009 in by Jim Uber, an environmental engineer at the University of Cincinnati and and Stu Hooper, who has more than 15 years experience in drinking water treatment optimization and distribution system water quality. Together, they have previous experience in systems analysis, and business and software development.

To read the whole article, please click here

UC - An Engine for Innovation (Cincinnati Enquirer - October 23, 2011)

Dean Carlo Montemagno believes that some of the best teachers at the University of Cincinnati are dreaming up products that could change the world. They're partnering with corporations like GE Aviation, Procter & Gamble and Ethicon Endo-Surgery to apply that research or start their own companies. And they're providing students with real-world experience that readies them for careers.

Montemagno, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, is an entrepreneurial pioneer for UC. This month, he raised $50 million in funding from the state of Ohio and GE Aviation to start a new research institute at the university.

He soon will launch an Entrepreneurial Innovation Center, too. In recent interviews, Montemagno revealed to the Enquirer the first details of a university initiative to create high-tech, high-paying jobs and drive economic development in this region.

The Entrepreneurial Innovation Center also is a pilot program. Montemagno signed an agreement with the Hamilton County Business Center to provide mentors, business coaches and professional staff to assist his professors and students.

"The timing is perfect," says Pat Longo, the Norwood center's executive director. "There are a lot of pent-up entrepreneurs on that campus who don't know where to turn. We'll help the ideas become real."

Jason Heikenfeld is an example. A professor in the college's school of electronic and computing systems, he also founded a startup to market products that use electronic ink he developed in the lab.

"Our rules, procedures, state mandates are tilted toward our main product - educating students and performing scholarly research," he says. "UCRI allows UC to branch out and do work that cannot typically be done inside a university."

To read this entire article, click here!

WCET's Viewfinder features Jason Young (October - 2011)

In 1993 a young man came to Cincinnati from St. Louis to go to art school on a scholarship. Upon his arrival he learned that his tuition was covered but nothing else. No housing, no books. He was so determined to learn that he became homeless for over a month and a half while going to school. Today he owns a production company with plans for expansion. You want to see what determination looks like? Meet Jason Young, producer, director, editor, and fine artist in this edition of Viewfinder.

Jason Young operates JYS Productions, one of HCBC's emerging enterprises!

Click here to watch the video!

Bridal Divas featured in Soapbox (October - 2011)

SoapBox connected with Stacey Shiring of Bridal Divas and asked her a few quality, thought provoking questions. Our favorite question and response is as follows...

What resources here did you take advantage of and how did they help?

We moved in the Hamilton County Business Center (HCBC) in July and they have been a great resource for providing business counseling and affordable studio space. There are many different types of companies in the HCBC which gives you a chance to learn from other entrepreneurs outside your market. Each business owner and the mentors at the HCBC are incredibly supportive and open to share their experiences with you.

Thanks for the positive feedback, Stacey!

HCDC & HCBC and University of Cincinnati to Drive Research to Market (September - 2011)

In an effort to move technology innovation and research results to market more quickly and easily, UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Hamilton County Development Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding which facilitates entrepreneurial development and commercialization of the college's research.

To learn more about this Memorandum of Understanding, please click here.

HCBC announces Economic Impact of Clients (September - 2011)

Hamilton County Business Center, Inc. (HCBC), an Edison Technology Incubation Program located in Cincinnati, Ohio, is proud to announce the economic impact of the 48 companies that were active in our business incubation program the past 12 months (July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011):

*	Number of Active Companies:	48
*	Total Revenue:	$17,215,918
*	Companies with Revenue Growth in 2011:	33
*	Companies Receiving Capital:	13
*	Aggregate Capital Received:	$7,877,005
*	Total Employment:	197
*	Jobs Created in 2011:	48
*	Number of Companies with Job Growth	21
*	Total Aggregate Payroll:	$9,916,720
*	Average Salary / Job:	$50,339

Even with a tough economy, entrepreneurs in Southwest Ohio continue to achieve excellence through strong planning, gritty determination, providing value added products and services, and leveraging the resources and connectivity of HCBC’s Business Incubation Program.

HCBC continues to collaborate with a number of quality business assistance and access to capital organizations to assist in the creation, development and growth of innovative businesses in Greater Cincinnati. These organizations include the State of Ohio’s Edison Technology Program, CincyTech, C-Cap, HCDC, Queen City Angels, the Minority Business Development Coalition, BioStart, and TechSolve.

HCBC is proud of the momentum created by our clients and we look forward to seeing how they all progress over the next 12 months.

Soapbox catches up with Mindbox Studios' Joshua Johnson (September - 2011)

Soapbox asked HCBC graduate company, Mindbox Studio, for their thoughts recently. Joshua Johnson provided some quality input, but our favorite question is this one below!

What resources here did you take advantage of and how did they help?

First, my family. I had support from my wife, my parents and even extended family and friends all over. For some reason, they believed in a kid with no experience, who had a laptop, Converse All-Stars and a bit of passion. Outside of that, there were a plethora of other resources that made a huge difference in the Mindbox story.

HCBC: Pat Longo and the crew at the Hamilton County Business Center was a very early backbone that helped my partner, Lucas Cole, and I sink our teeth in the startup world, and most importantly, learning how to build a sound business.

The "Cunninghams": I'm talking about none other than Bill and Jim Cunningham. They aren't related, but their passions certainly are. Bill is Mindbox Studios' wise uncle, and Jim loops us into things like Morning Mentoring and the Startup Bootcamp. These guys should be paid by the City of Cincinnati for all they do to inspire young companies.

HCBC "Celebrates Entrepreneurship" in Southwest Ohio by Celebrating Seven Businesses Including 2 Graduate Companies (September - 2011)

A wonderful celebration involving 2 graduate companies and 5 "up and coming" entrepreneurial ventures was held on September 9, 2011. Both Rick Reed Productions and Private Health News have graduated from HCBC's Business Incubation Program over the past 12 months. In addition to highlighting the 2 graduate firms, HCBC also celebrated the accomplishments of the following firms:

Define My Style, LLC.
JYS Productions
General Nano, LLC.
Productive Engineering, Inc.
Copper Mountain Beverages

Soapbox catches up with General Nano's Joe Sprengard (August - 2011)

Soapbox asked Joe Sprengard a number of great questions, but HCBC's favorite was this one! Way to go, Joe!

Question - "What resources here did you take advantage of and how did they help?"

DoD SBIR program - General Nano has secured seven SBIRs in 36 months
CincyTech – imagining grant program; helped tremendously in defining our business model and vertical markets.
Ohio Third Frontier– General Nano won $2M from the Advanced Materials Program; $1M allocated to UC to expand the Nanoworld Lab; fosters a fluid pipeline of IP.
Hamilton County Business Center (HCBC) – our home away from home.

JYS Productions highlighted in SoapBox (August - 2011)

JYS Productions,an HCBC client, was featured in the August 16 edition of SoapBox. Although JYS Productions has only been with HCBC for less than 6 months, they are already moving their business plan forward and the marketplace is noticing!

Click here to learn the cool story of JYS Productions

Coffee Company Heats Up (Cincinnati Enquirer - July 17, 2011)

Steve Hatch walked away from a lucrative job with a top beverage company to launch what he thinks will be the next big thing at your local grocery store – flavored coffee in its own microwaveable cup.

His 9-month-old venture, Copper Mountain Beverages, is headquartered in the Hamilton County Business Center in Norwood. It’s already received national attention for its signature brand, Hot 2 Go!, a single-serving, ready-to-drink coffee. Wal-Mart sells the brand in 1,800 – roughly half – of its stores nationwide and plans to introduce Hot 2 Go! in remaining stores this fall, when cooler weather lifts demand for hot coffee.

To read more, please click here

Turning language into life's business (Cincinnati Enquirer - July 16, 2011)

As an intern for the mayor of Merida, Mexico, Grace Bosworth learned the importance of speaking the language of the people.

She'd travel with the mayor's wife into small Mayan towns and watch the woman interact with residents who spoke various dialects. After graduation from Ohio University, Bosworth moved back to the town to teach English and travel the country.

"I've always been interested in languages," Bosworth says. "It's my calling in life."

Nearly a decade later, Bosworth is using her deep appreciation for language and culture to launch a web-based translation services business targeted to corporations, hospitals and governments.

To read more, please click here

Safe Schools highlighted in SoapBox (July - 2011)

Safe Schools, an HCBC graduate company, was highlighted in SoapBox's latest issue. Congratulations and thank you to Brian Taylor and Greg Estep for starting and growing their IT company here in southwest Ohio. This is a quality entrepreneurship story!

Click here to learn more about this amazing company

MBJ Consultants awarded Circle of Excellence Award from the Minority Business Accelerator (June - 2011)

HCBC graduate company, MBJ Consultants, was awarded the Circle of Excellence Award from the Cincinnati Minority Business Accelerator for its accelerated growth and extraordinary business performance as measured by growth in sales, employees and
goal setting.

Here is the announcement:

The purpose of the MBE Award is to showcase firms who exemplify the behavior of a successful, growing firm. Our minority firm award recipient has been working with the MBA almost from the beginning. Over the last five years, its revenues have grown over 100% and it has created partnerships and joint ventures with both majority and minority companies.

Its name can be found on many project sites across the city including the Banks, Queen City Square and local corporations such as LabOne. In addition, it has created many smaller opportunities for other diverse companies across the region. This company’s work with the MBA has spanned from the creation of a strategic growth plan to counsel on alliances and introductions to corporate spending opportunity.

No stranger to creating community impact, this company has spent countless hours mentoring and creating employment for inner city youth. It is in the spirit of creating economic and community impact and producing extraordinary 2010 results, that
this year, the “Circle of Excellence” award goes to MBJ Consulting.

Congratulations to Monroe Barnes and the team at MBJ Consultants for earning the Circle of Excellence Award from the Minority Business Accelerator!

Business Courier's The Pitch Focus - Global to Local Language Solutions LLC (Business Courier - June-2011)

Click here to learn about this week's The Pitch Company!

Soapbox Growth Company - HCBC Graduate - Etegent Technologies (SoapBox - May - 2011)

The kids today call it TMI - Too Much Information. It can be the same with businesses, which sometime find the megabytes of data at their disposal overwhelming.

But while the trendy TMI signals private, unwanted details, the digital facts available to companies can be important, profit-making or safety-related information. The problem is finding the specific needles you need in a virtual roomful of needles.

This is where Etegent Technologies comes in. It carefully mines that data, extracting valuable information and needed knowledge to help companies improve and grow.

To read more, please click here....

Harmony Garden Research Academy Trains Residents to Lead (SoapBox - May - 2011)

This summer, a small group of residents in the West End will be part of a new kind of leadership development program. A year-long academy will train four women how to conduct research, how to identify health disparities and how to hone their own life and workforce skills.

The Community Resident Research Academy, the latest programming effort by the non-profit Harmony Garden, builds on more than three years of work alongside West End residents.

In that time, community researchers - all women, all mothers - have surveyed their neighbors to find out what kinds of help and support they want and need. The community research team organized a healthy, happy, hazard-free program, says Executive Director Lisa Mills.

To read more, please click here....

Technology-based language services company makes move (Cincinnati.com - May - 2011)

Global to Local Language Solutions, better known as Global2Local, announced their recent decision to move their office and base of operations into the Hamilton County Development Center, a small business incubator for high-growth technology based businesses.

“People don’t generally think of language services as being technology based,” said President, Grace Bosworth. “Global2Local is the next generation of the translation/interpreting business.”

Global2Local is a company that combines all the services of a typical translation/interpreting company, and combines them with all of the services of a typical web company. Their services are squarely pointed toward businesses, particularly businesses that work internationally, and they are quickly becoming the go-company for Cincinnati businesses looking to gain customers around the globe.

“We take translation services a step further than any other company of our kind,” continues Ms Bosworth. “Not only can we translate your company’s website, we can fully optimize it too. Not only do we use translation memory tools, we can actually build them for our clients, as well as applications customized for them.”

Global2Local has also expanded their services to accommodate technical translations, software localization, and translation of media of any kind, including video and voice-overs. Their goal is to use technology to offer services more quickly, more efficiently, and, ultimately, less expensively than other companies of their kind. “HCDC allows us to work side by side with other growing businesses, such as video production companies and other web companies. This is a dynamic environment. We are learning new things every day and the enthusiasm of this incubator is palpable. We are right where we are supposed to be and we couldn’t be happier,” concludes Grace.

Program offers help to small businesses in Cincinnati's Uptown (Business Courier - April - 2011)

The Hamilton County Development Co. and Uptown Consortium have teamed up to develop a small-business assistance program for companies located in Uptown, including neighborhood business districts in Avondale, Clifton, Corryville, Clifton Heights, Fairview, University Heights and Mount Auburn.

The Uptown Small Business Assistance program will target sectors including restaurants, retail, professional services and franchises – both existing and startups.

In addition to meeting with companies to gauge the local business climate, the program will provide one-on-one business coaching and technical assistance to help ensure lasting growth, according to a spokeswoman for the program.

The program marks the county’s entry into providing business services within the city in a coordinated way. Outside Cincinnati city limits, HCDC has successfully collaborated with local governments and companies within business districts such as Glendale and Lockland to promote the district as a whole and improve economic development in those areas.

Congratulations to Cincinnati USA Innovation Award Winners and HCBC Affiliates - DotLoop and ESI (April - 2011)

The Business Courier, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and CincyTech named 10 winners in the inaugural Innovation Awards program.

The Innovation Awards celebrate innovative companies and people that show how new ideas can be developed into fuel for the Tri-State’s economic engine. The winners were announced at an April 14 event at downtown Cincinnati's Duke Energy Convention Center. Winners were:

• Outstanding Information Technology Innovation (Small company) – DotLoop
• Outstanding Emerging Innovation – ESI Inc.

Other HCBC clients nominated include:
•    General Nano, LLC.
•    Private Health News
•    Safeway Safety Products
•    The Cincinnati Minority Business Collaborative (HCDC is a part of this group)
•    Ubelix

Incubators Help Ventures Fly (Cincinnati Enquirer - February 2011)

After a year of being out of work, Mary LeRoy, a philanthropy development professional, found a new job with a small start-up company at the Hamilton County Business Center.

She’s one of hundreds of workers taking jobs with young, growing companies that have been nurtured by various business support programs in the area. Throughout the recession, these incubators, accelerators and seed funding programs have helped new businesses launch or grow.

Now, as the fragile recovery continues, they’re helping create new jobs and keep others that might have been lost.

“It’s very exciting to feel like you’re part of the building of a company,” LeRoy said of her new job with Ignite Philanthropy Advisors. “You feel like you’re at the heart of it all.”

LeRoy, of Anderson Township, had worked for the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, but left her position there more than a year ago for personal reasons. When she wanted to return to work, she felt ready for a change. She knew Susan Ingmire, who founded Ignite in 2009, a small business focused on administrative support for family foundations, and decided it would be a good fit.

“The niche that Ignite was in was more unique, so it allowed me to do some different, more varied kinds of things,” said LeRoy, who has been with the company about six months. “It’s very fulfilling to work in a small company.”

Ignite has one full-time and three part-time employees, and Ingmire says continued growth could mean the need for additional workers. “Business is picking up. Phone calls are up from a year ago at this time,” she said.

As one of 46 tenants at the Hamilton County Business Center, Ignite is one of many young companies that the incubator supports with counseling, low-cost office space and administrative services. Member companies have created 177 jobs with a total payroll of $7.8 million, director Pat Longo said.

“The last six months have been as active as anytime in the last five years,” he said. “We’ve gotten eight new companies in that time. The pipeline is becoming more robust.”

The Hamilton County Business Center is one of the largest business incubators in the country. It specializes in seeking out companies with potential for high growth, particularly high-tech businesses. “Our dream vision is to get each company to the point of seven-figure revenue and 10 employees,” Longo said.

“A lot of our companies start out as one- or two-person shops, but quickly become three, four or more people.”

In Northern Kentucky, ezone, a support program for entrepreneurs and young businesses, has assisted 191 companies since 2001 and created more than 1,200 jobs with an average wage of $60,000, president Casey Barach said.

He’s seeing strong growth in both high-tech and life-science jobs.

“There’s lots of interest in both those areas,” he said. “An interesting shift this year is that we’re seeing more jobs in high tech, but fewer in support areas such as administration.”

Bob Coy, president of CincyTech, a seed funding program for high-tech ventures, said the improving economy is creating an atmosphere that’s conducive to new business.

“Within our region there has never been a better time to start a business,” Coy said. “We have capital, and increasing optimism means investors are ready to put it to work. Generally, we think 2011 will be a good year compared to 2009 and 2010.”

CincyTech’s portfolio of 19 companies has created 240 jobs averaging $61,000 a year in annual salary.

Last year, more than 800 entrepreneurs submitted business plans for review to CincyTech, Coy said.

“There are a lot of great ideas out there. The pipeline is strong.”

While Cincinnati may not have the star power of high-profile, start-up markets such as Silicon Valley or Seattle, it is still a strong player in creation of young businesses, Longo said.

“Other areas look to us and think we’re doing a pretty good job,” he said. “Being in a city where there is a vibrant entrepreneurial community is important. We are one of those cities.”

Edison Technology Business Plan Competition - Winners Announced (February 2011)

After working with a variety of companies via the FastTrac TechVentures 10 week course, HCBC and BioStart facilitated a business plan competition for five companies that are on the verge of launching. These five companies participated in all the course work, benefited from mentoring sessions, and honed their investment pitches. At stake was $9,000 in funding that was provided by the program's main sponsor, the State of Ohio's Edison Technology and Innovation Division.

After an afternoon of competition at HCBC, the winners are as follows:

First Place - Base Quality Systems ($5,000 winner)

Second Place - First Step Health ($3,000 winner)

Third Place - Constant BioTechnology ($1,000 winner)

Congratulations to all our participants.

If you are interested in learning about our next FastTrac TechVentures course which will be starting in March, 2011, please contact Mary Myers at 631-8292.

HCBC featured in last Cincy Entrepreneur Tool Kit from Cincy Magazine (February 2011)

Please feel free to check out HCBC and some of our companies on the pages of the Cincy Entrepreneur ToolKit. We are featured on pages 3, 4, 5, 10, & 14 in the tool kit.

Click here to down load the Cincy Entrepreneur Tool Kit

College Pals Find Their Niche as Video Producers (Cincinnati Enquirer - February 2011)

Good video producers can make even the padding under Astroturf look cool. Video, after all, is about finding a good story in just about anything.

That’s the mantra of Dan Phenicie and Drew Money, who left the corporate world a year ago to start Seven/Seventy-Nine Ltd. at the Hamilton County Business Center in Norwood.

Shooting video had for years been a hobby of the two college friends, who both were born in July 1979 (hence the name).

They’d write and produce short Quentin Tarantino-style feature films or quirky commercials for Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. and events like Over-the-Rhine’s BockFest. Others liked their work and by January 2010 they had enough of it to quit their jobs. Phenicie had been in politics and marketing and Money, product design.

Today, the pair has quadrupled the workload and plans to hire additional staff.

They’ve filmed Jellystone Park Camp Resorts commercials that aired in movie theaters before last year’s Warner Brothers production, Yogi Bear. They’ve produced videos of physicians explaining surgeries for Private Health News, also in the HCBC. Those are distributed to patients and families prior to an operation. And soon, they’ll begin filming a travel show for Time Warner Cable’s local On Demand station.

The documentary-style turf padding video was created for a client of the downtown ad agency The Creative Department.

And a new license with a technology company called Veeple in California now lets them embed interactive links in videos on YouTube or a web site. It could provide clients a new way to advertise products or services during videos. They’ll soon test the technology through a series of web shows featuring a pair of local entrepreneurs sharing tips and horror stories of starting a company. Coffee mugs, for example, could link to advertising for a coffee shop.

“We want to use video in ways people don’t think about,” said Phenicie.

Phenicie and Money have a team approach for any project. Phenicie is a strong writer and networker. He writes scripts and handles sales for the team. Money is the guy behind the camera and the computer, guiding the creative direction of the video and its editing.

They spend time with clients before a shoot, outlining goals for a video project. Who is the audience? Is the client trying to sell a product or service? Will the video just provide information? Is it for television or a web site? Does the client want it to spread through social networks online?

“We understand how to take a message for a client and apply it in the best way,” Money said.

They also work to save clients money during production.

Operating on a shoestring budget when producing was just a hobby has forced them to be creative in their techniques. They rent rather than own all the highest tech digital video equipment. They create the effect of two cameras while using just one. And they’ve determined unique ways to maximize light during shoots.

“We found our own techniques that make our videos look like they cost twice as much as they do,” Money said.

The men are making money and investing back into the company these days. They hope to soon have time to shoot for fun again too.

“We want to be useful for business and industry and produce good videos, but use that income to create artistically compelling stuff,” Money said.

Emersion Design grows in tough economy (Cincinnati Enquirer - February 2011)

A group of like-minded architects broke away from an established local firm in 2007 to form their own company, focusing on the needs of their clients and respect for community.

Four years later, Emersion Design has become a thriving young business that’s quadrupled in size and generated a respectable list of clients and projects, all while facing the worst recession in memory.

“In 2007 we had a folding table and a few chairs,” says Steve Kimball, one of the original four founding architects. “Now we’re looking for more space once again.”

An expansion later this year would follow several moves the firm already has made to accommodate its rapid growth at the Hamilton County Business Center.

In 2007, during Emersion’s first year in business, revenue was $500,000, Kimball says. Last year, its was $3.5 million, and he expects a 10 percent increase in 2011.

Kimball attributes success largely to Emersion’s philosophy of looking at the big picture when working with a client. That is: How will the building be used long-term and how will it benefit the community where it’s located?

“Projects that are driven solely by financial considerations are not the type of projects we’re interested in,” Kimball says.

“We are focused on clients who give back to the community, instead of just their own commercial interests,” he says. “As architects and as engineers it gives us a chance to be involved in doing good work as well as just making money.”

Last fall, Emersion was chosen as the architectural firm for the renovation of the historic Art Academy building at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The firm also has done work for the University of Cincinnati, the American Red Cross and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton.

The company philosophy is part of everyday life at the office, Kimball says.
As such, Emersion was one of the first architecture and engineering firms in the world to receive the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification for its office space.

The designation means the firm used the highest level of green building standards when it renovated its space at the Hamilton County Business Center. That included using recycled construction materials to improve on the existing structure, and taking advantage of mass transit.

Jim Cheng, a founding principal and lead designer, says the office workspace also is set up for internal interaction.

“We really don’t have any private offices here,” he says. “In fact, Steve (Kimball) sits in the worst cubicle in the office – the smallest and farthest from natural light and view with used furniture from our earliest days. Alan Hautman, a vice president, sits in an identical workstation. Both have extremely accomplished track records and exemplify our attitude: It’s not about us, it’s about our clients’ success in their bigger picture, and the bigger picture we all share.”

Cheng says this even applies to new hires.

“If a candidate just talks about him or herself in the interview, it’s over,” he says. “We want people who focus on our clients and on society as a whole.”

The philosophy led to an American Institute of Architects honor award last fall for ensuring that the firm’s buildings interact well with the surrounding community.

“When you’re conscious of the broader perspective, it is something clients really appreciate,” Cheng says.

Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, says that choosing an architect is more like selecting a spouse than hiring an employee.

“It’s not just about their competence,” he says. “It’s a little like getting married. You’re going to spend a lot of time together, so you’d better have a certain amount of chemistry.

“There are many architects who can do the job. It’s knowing that you can trust them and that you’ll work well together,” he says. “That’s just as important as anything else.”

HCBC's Director, Patrick Longo, featured on WVXU's Impact Cincinnati (January 13, 2011)

To listen to a rebroadcast of the show, please click here!

HCBC agrees to sponsor SCORE again in 2011 (January 2011)

HCBC has agreed to renew its mutually beneficial relationship with the local chapter of SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives). Again this year, HCBC will provide conference room and seminar space for SCORE counselors to leverage.

The first installment of the renewed relationship will occur on January 29, 2011 when SCORE will present its "Starting Your Own Successful Business" seminar. The seminar will commence at 9 am and will run to 1 pm in HCBC's Large Conference Room (Suite 76-160). There is NO COST to this seminar but pre-registration is required. To register, please visit SCORE's website at www.scoreworks.org .

HCBC is proud to be affiliated with the good people of SCORE!

FastTrac company, NeatWaytoMeet.com, helps travelers make lodging decisions based on personal networks (SoapBox - January 2011)

Cincinnati Entrepreneur and current FastTrac participant George VonAllmen has spent 30 years in the hotel business - during that time one unfortunate constant has rang true: absent a well-known special event, it can be tough to sell out hotel rooms during the week.

That's especially true for the Bed and Breakfast set, said VonAllmen, who along with partner Don Farrell founded eConnectPEOPLE, a company that designs websites and mobile apps that help users make lodging and entertainment decisions based on their interests.

"Weekdays, they just stink. So Don and I started brainstorming on what can we could do to bring them some weekday business," VonAllmen, of the west side, said.

The pair knew it would take something creative that wouldn't necessarily involve cutting room rates to catch the industry's attention. They'd seen a lot of ideas and strategy - VonAllmen has been in hotel marketing and consulting for 30 years and Farrell, of Memphis, has spent 35 years in the hospitality industry and co-founded and sold Signature Worldwide, now the largest Sales/Service Training company in the Americas.

To read more about this article, please click here

Business center grew jobs, revenue (Cincinnati Enquirer - November 2, 2010)

As a tough economic environment strained many small businesses, the 45 housed at the Hamilton County Business Center added 39 new jobs and raised $4.6 million in venture capital during the year that ended June 30.

Their combined revenues surpassed $14.2 million.

The Norwood-based business incubator, funded by Hamilton County and the state of Ohio's Thomas Edison Technology & Innovation Program, recently shared results from the year with stakeholders. It recruited 12 new companies to the center and graduated four businesses to traditional office space. Eight firms closed for business during the year, a number slightly higher than previous years.

Project transforms West End women (November 2010)

Three years ago, LuShonda Gibson's world wasn't much bigger than her West End apartment.

She was a single mom working entry-level jobs and raising five kids. Not only did she know almost nothing about her next-door neighbors, she had no desire to.

Then a local nonprofit focused on improving the lives of girls and women offered her a rare opportunity: Become part of research projects in the West End - and become one of the researchers conducting it.

Along with nine other neighborhood women, Gibson learned to lead focus groups, collect data, recruit respondents, analyze results and prepare public presentations.

To read this article in its entirety, please click here

Cybervise named SCORE Client of the Year (October 2010)

Commercial HVAC repair, Website maintenance, and a flavored-pretzel snack company took top honors at SCORE- Greater Cincinnati's Clients of the Year at its annual awards luncheon at Kenwood Country Club. "We chose three clients this year because of the difficulty of the business environment and the obstacles they overcame," said SCORE chairman Tom Moon. Usually one winner and two runner-ups are declared.

Carmen Krupar, owner of Cybervise, Ltd. of Norwood, a four-year-old Website maintenance, re-design and performance optimization firm, became familiar with SCORE two years ago when she volunteered to present Web Fundamentals seminars for SCORE.

In 2009, she decided her business needed help developing a marketing plan that would double her business by the end of 2010. A SCORE mentoring team made up of Dennis Murphy of Montgomery; Mike Crossen of Montgomery, Jim Downing of Loveland, and Marvin Kramer of Anderson assisted her in defining her sales process, determining her value add, and helped her create a benefits summary, proposals and a marketing plan. Since implementing her marketing plan, her active client list has increased 44 percent, and average monthly revenues have increased 26 percent.

She also received a 2010 Small Business of the Year Award from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"By the end of the first quarter this year, I had as many leads as I did the entire year in 2009," said Krupar. "Already this year, Cybervise has made as much as it did in all of 2009. I credit my success to having regular meetings with my SCORE counselors."

Congratulations on a job well done to Cybervise!

HCBC and BioStart bring Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture Program to SW Ohio (September 2010 - Soapbox)

The Hamilton County Business Center and BioStart incubators have teamed up to bring the world renowned Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture Program to Southwest Ohio's tech-focused entrepreneurs.

Sponsored by the The Kauffman Foundation, TechVenture is a hands-on business development program geared toward scientists, inventors, engineers and IT developers. Through this program southwest Ohio innovators who want to commercialize a new technology or grow an existing tech business can get the specialized help they need.

Click here to go to FastTrac Information Page

Gift of Gab (August 2010 - Wall Street Journal)

Give a speech. Win a client.

As simple—or even scary—as that formula sounds, a host of entrepreneurs have found that conquering public speaking can be the route to more contacts and customers. Impressing people with your expertise at a conference, in a classroom or over the radio can sometimes win more business than making sales calls or manning a booth at a trade show. Not to mention that the most successful speakers can take home thousands of dollars in fees for an appearance.

For all the training they go through, entrepreneurs say it was vital to practice delivering their message in public. "You don't get better by reading and studying the craft," says Scott Miller of B2 Bee LLC in Cincinnati. "The only way to improve is to put yourself out there."

To see the rest of the article involving HCBC client, B2Bee, please click here

Summer is time of preparation, activity, and news for HCBC (August 2010)

The summer of 2010 has been quite active for HCBC.

We continue to attract great companies and entrepreneurs to join our incubation program. General Nano, Everybody's Internet and Lookout Advisors all joined HCBC in the past 3 months. If you are keeping track at home, HCBC has added 12 companies to our program since December 1, 2009. These companies form a cohesive nucleus that allows are 45 plus clients to benefit from each other's experiences and activities.

Oh, and the environment continues to get better. In mid-August, HCBC increased its business coaching firepower by adding Scott Jacobs of Harvest Consulting LLC as a marketing and sales specialist. His expertise will be leveraged by all levels of clients here at HCBC. Jacobs joins the existing team of Myers and Longo to improve the connectivity and assistance of HCBC's offering.

Again this year, HCBC is sponsoring Cincinnati Innovates, a competition to find the best new technologies and innovations in Greater Cincinnati. Once found, business assistance organizations like HCBC hope to leverage our programming for the winners of this competition.

HCBC is about to launch a new small loan program for incubation clients. This loan program will provide up to $15,000 to HCBC clients to help fund smaller projects that traditionally fall below bank minimums. HCBC will leverage a State of Ohio Edison Supplemental Grant Award to help fund this program. Contact Patrick Longo to learn more.

HCBC is collaborating with Bio/Start and leveraging a State of Ohio Edison Supplemental Grant to implement a FastTrac® TechVenture™ 8 week course to help early stage technology ventures get launched and moving forward in this tough economy. If interested in learning more, please contact Mary Myers of HCBC

As you can see, HCBC is not resting on its laurels. We are diligently working on enhancing the entrepreneurs success rate in Southwest Ohio!

Local entrepreneur launches web-based accounting program for small businesses (May 2010 - Soapbox)

Local entrepreneur Scott Miller has just launched a new company from the Hamilton County Business Center, and is working to generate some buzz about his new software product, the Bee.

B2BeeLLC launched within the last week with its namesake software product The Bee, an invoicing system designed for small business owners.

"I really wanted to create something that would help small, one-to five-person companies. One day I sat down and had coffee with about 50 of these small business owners, and everyone was having a hard time with accounting and bookkeeping. Most invoicing programs are made for accountants, and these weren't accountants. I wanted to create something that would help them," said Miller, of Blue Ash.

Click here to learn more.

Deal Radar 2010: Rural America OnShore Sourcing (May 2010 - Sramana Mitra Blog)

Rural America OnShore Sourcing, Inc. (Rural America) is a U.S.-based onshoring company. Through its offices in Ohio, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, it provides the same outsourcing services performed by offshoring companies, except it uses professionals based in rural parts of America instead of overseas, hiring these professionals for 25% to 40% less than the cost of U.S urban labor. The goal is to offer clients the advantages of using U.S.-based labor while reaping the cost benefits equivalent to offshoring.

To read the blog entry highlighting Rural America Onshore Sourcing, please click here

Five Cincinnati Companies That Could Change the World (May 2010 - Soapbox)

Finding businesses that have the potential to be world changing is a tall order, but luckily, here in Cincinnati we are fortunate to have a number of young entrepreneurs working on technology or design that is at the forefront of their respective industries and tackles problems that are near the top of our nation's consciousness.

Issues like green energy and transportation, environmentally conscious building design, cutting edge health care solutions, and health and wellness education are all represented in this stand out group of businesses.

These companies are all young, and some have yet to roll out their offerings to the general public. But they are all working on products or concepts that will have the potential to make our everyday lives in Cincinnati better, while helping bigger causes as they do.

Even more encouraging about this story is that for each of the five listed here there are many more who could have been chosen. Cincinnati is full of enlightened ideas. We just don't have enough space to list them all.

Emersion Design, an HCBC client, was selected as one of the five companies that could change the world.

Please click here to read more.

Starting an Outsourced Business Services Company (April 2010 - Gaebler.com Article)

Interview with Christopher Hytry Derrington, Co-Founder and CEO of Rural America OnShore Sourcing
Seasoned entrepreneur Christopher Hytry Derrington of Rural America OnShore Sourcing shares his thoughts on the the challenges and rewards of starting his own technology outsourcing business.

To read the interview, please click here.

Ecosil Technologies, an HCBC Gradaute company, receives first Ohio Patent Award (April 2010 - Press Release)

A patented method of treating metal to bond better with rubber has garnered Prof. William Vanooij and colleagues of ECOSIL Technologies LLC of Fairfield, Ohio the first Ohio Patent Award from The Ohio Academy of Science (OAS) and The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) Intellectual Property Law Section. The award also recognizes their attorney, Martin J. Miller of Cincinnati.
The invention uses silanes—a class of chemicals that contains the element silicon—as a coupling agent to bond two otherwise non-bonding and incompatible surfaces. Cooper Tire & Rubber in Findlay, Ohio has successfully tested the chemical on the steel cords in their tire belts to improve the performance of radial tires.

Prof. Vanooij said that his research goal with silanes to bond rubber to metals was to find a process that could replace the brass coating on the steel cords in radial tires because brass technology has several drawbacks, one of which is that brass-coated steel is sensitive to corrosion. “Further,” he said, “the exact formulation of the natural rubber in the tire, which is optimized for adhesion, makes that rubber sensitive to heat aging, the underlying cause of the tires failed by tread separation that one can sometimes observe along US highways, especially in the summer.”

Congratulations from HCBC to Ecosil Technologies on continuing to invent and commercialize remarkable technologies!

Rural America OnShore sourcing brings jobs back home (March 2010 - Soapbox article)

Some of the best business models rise from the ash heap of failure. Christopher Hytry Derrington founded Rural America OnShore Sourcing with three partners and Sundeep Dronawat after seeing poor results from several offshore outsourcing projects. Since opening in December 2008, Rural America has made location a non-issue for Americans needing outsourced work.

Offshore outsourcing is an irresistible cost-saver for many U.S. companies. But the lower wages paid to foreign workers are offset by communication and time barriers. "You're paying people to help you do business," said Marty Gardocki, Rural America's Vice President. He has contracted outsourcing in the past, and observed that the blended offshore rate - the actual cost of offshore services - is comparable to what Rural America charges.

Click here to read more

Private Health News offers timely service, creates relationships with healthcare providers (March 2010 - Soapbox article)

Like any business, hospitals look for ways to engage people, promote their own brand and forge relationships with the public. And a local company has found an innovative, and effective way to do that through specialty e-mail newsletters. Dan Ansel has built a thriving business around the concept that has caught the eye of healthcare providers across the country.

Ansel, Private Health News' co-founder, developed the idea of offering hospitals a health-focused news service in 2002 after working for three decades in hospital communication and administration. He launched the company in 2003, and now is linked with more than 150 healthcare related web sites in 30 states, including Tri-Health locally.

Click here to read more

Seamless connect between programs, capital, credited with Ohio's high-tech rise (March 2010 - Hi-Velocity)

Tony Giordano has been around the block. He's started successful companies in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He has a good job as assistant dean of research and business development at Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.

So why is he moving his new cardiovascular company, TheraVasc, from Louisiana to Cleveland? Quite simply, he says, there's no place like Ohio.

Click here to read more

Greater Cincinnati Venture Association Update - How to Raise Money in Cincinnati (February 2010)

The Greater Cincinnati Venture Association's (GCVA) monthly luncheon focused on the status of early stage and venture capital available to local entrepreneurs. Jack Wyant of Blue Chip Venture Capital was the moderator. In his introduction, Jack made mention of the vast assistance and capital opportunities in the Greater Cincinnati marketplace and he said that there is one organization that has been around for 25 years that has walked the walk of helping entrepreneurs find money. He said the phone number is 631-8292 and its HCDC.

Patrick Longo, Vice President of Entreprener Assistance at HCDC, said, "It's an honor to have Jack Wyant of Blue Chip recognize the efforts of HCDC. We've worked for 25 years to make entrepreneurship better in this community and its great to have this positive feedback from an individual as credible as Jack Wyant!"

Here are the five take aways from the February GCVA luncheon as posted on Doug Bolton's Blog:

To read more, click here

HCBC Adds Graduate Facility (February 2010 - Soapbox Article)

Like the start ups that have grown out of its incubators, the Hamilton County Business Center is expanding services, offering office space to companies that want to stick around after their incubation phase ends.

HcBC is leasing space at its 1775 Mentor Ave. building in Norwood to growing companies. The 1775 building is just across the street from HCBC's main building. So far, three companies are currently in the building: Sheet Dynamics, MobileTEK Consulting, and Transmissions LLC.

To read more, please click here

DotLoop Enjoying Unexpected Sales Boom (February 2010 - Business Courier Article)

The growth isn’t happening as predicted at DotLoop Co.

“It’s faster than we expected,” said Austin Allison, a founder of the Blue Ash-based software firm that helps real estate agents process contracts online.

Just a few months out of beta testing, DotLoop now has 500 agents registered to use its system and contracts with 30 brokerage firms representing more than 3,000 agents. It’s been named an approved vendor by Keller Williams, a real estate franchise company with 73,000 agents nationwide. And it’s working on similar deals with Prudential (60,000 agents) and ReMax (120,000).

Incubation Nation (February 2010 - Soapbox Article)

In the early 1990s Eric Collins and Robert Gray had a business idea they were tinkering with in Collins' garage.

Both engineers at GE Aviation, the government contract they were working on was about to end, and their names were on a list of employees to be laid off.

"Rather than take new jobs we knew we wanted to go into business," says Collins. But the logistics were tricky. The composite material they were developing for the aviation industry would take months of testing before it could be marketed and the men needed a location to work from that wouldn't cost them an arm and a leg while they applied for research grants to complete their testing.

They found the lifeline they needed in the newly created Hamilton County Business Center, one of the area’s most successful business incubators, which opened in 1989.

To read more, please click here

Bootstrapping Small Business (February 2010 - Cincy Magazine Article)

General Electric. Microsoft. CNN. All three corporate giants were founded in the midst of U.S. economic crises.

We don’t know yet which entrepreneurial ventures will emerge successful from the current recession, but Hamilton County Development Co. President David Main has a feeling this recession will mimic the past and create some large multinational corporations of its own.

While a future Microsoft may or may not be in the works in Greater Cincinnati, one thing is for certain: A company could get a lot closer to corporate greatness with the help of the HCDC.

To read more, please click here