JumpStart: IdeaExchange Blog

Two weeks ago in Columbus, 500+ venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and government leaders gathered to hear about the accomplishments of The Ohio Capital Fund (OCF) and our State’s growing venture capital community. (For those of you not familiar, OCF provides incentives for investors from outside Ohio to invest in companies based here). Due to the work of many, including the OCF, the Ohio Department of Development, and all of the other members of the venture community - Ohio has earned some serious bragging rights! Among the many great accomplishments shared at the OCF Summit, here are some of the most compelling:

• 196 companies received $446 million in equity investment in 2008. Of this, 73 companies (37% ) and $259 million (55%) were from the Northeast Ohio region.
• Total investment dollars ranked Ohio as 13th in the U.S. for venture investing.
• Early-stage funding (which represents the type of dollars that would be invested in a company after a JumpStart Ventures investment) was up 67% from 2007 ($238 million in 2008), compared to a decrease nationally of 20%.
• Organized angels invested $45 million in 107 companies in 2008. I have to believe this is one of the top levels of investment and broadest reach of companies of the last decade, if not longer.

*Read the rest of the 2008 Ohio Venture Capital Report from Ohio State for the rest of the details

Relative to The Ohio Capital Fund itself, its success is also evident with these stats:

• The fund has invested $111 million in 21 funds, which have deployed that capital in over 35 companies.
• These companies receiving investment have created 1400 jobs, and not one of those jobs has gone away in the last 12+ months.

Some of the other information shared included the impact of Ohio Third Frontier, as reported by the Stanford Research Institute’s report released last month. Consider this data regarding VC investment in the state:

• Venture capital investing has grown over 13% per year over the last five years in Ohio, more than double the national rate of VC growth
• Total seed and early-stage VC has actually grown at 18% per year over the last five years

Ohio Third Frontier and the Ohio Capital Fund have played an instrumental role in this growth, but not the only role; this success is also due to the entrepreneurs of our region, who have identified the ideas, pursued their growth, and grown the businesses that are attractive and competitive investments for investors within and outside of the region.

John Dearborn is the Chief Development Officer of JumpStart and brings experience as an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at companies across the US and Europe over the last 25 years to the pursuit of economic transformation in Northeast Ohio.

A while back, our CEO, Ray Leach, wrote a blog regarding podcasts available from Stanford University concerning a wide range of topics for entrepreneurs. For those of you that follow Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner podcasts, you know what a great find this site is. If you haven’t been there in a while or not heard of it, you should check it out.

Many times in my past life as an entrepreneur, I found myself incredibly close to the details of the business I founded. Needless to say, making payroll every two weeks when you’re bootstrapped has a way of keeping you focused!

Sometimes, it’s good to step back and take a look at some broad, strategic issues of a more general nature that can get you to think not only about the world at large, but may even bring a fresh perspective to your own business or situation. These great podcasts allow you to do just that and gives you really interesting perspectives from some of the world’s sharpest minds. For instance, check out the recent lectures from Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer. The following video podcast, titled “The Future of Microsoft, The Future of Technology,” really got me thinking and it just might get your wheels turning as well.

You may not agree with the almost-always-bombastic Mr. Ballmer, but you have to appreciate his zeal, even after all the years he’s been at it and with how many people want to take down his company!

John Dearborn is the Chief Development Officer of JumpStart and brings experience as an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at companies across the US and Europe over the last 25 years to the pursuit of economic transformation in Northeast Ohio.

I start many mornings each week with an elliptical workout that includes listening to podcasts to see what I can learn. One of the podcast series that I consistently listen to is the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series produced by Stanford’s University Entrepreneurship Center. Every week a new podcast is released of a recent lecture given at the University by incredible speakers - from successful entrepreneurs to big names in venture capital.

This week, the podcast titled “Retooling Early Stage Development” really made an impact on me, as Steve Blank comments on the illogic most venture-backed companies operate under versus really understanding the needs of the market and their initial customers.

All stakeholders of entrepreneurship can benefit from listening to the insightful people Stanford brings in to speak to their MBA students. These podcasts are not to be missed!

Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high-growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.