JumpStart: IdeaExchange Blog

If you’ve been paying attention lately, you’ve heard a lot about Issue 1 from us. That’s because we think it’s fantastic, as do the people you have elected as your Ohio House and Senate Representatives, among others. But, how often do you hear about an Ohio issue from someone in California? If you do, it must be good. Well, guess what - that’s what’s happening here. Third Frontier (the program that will be renewed if Issue 1 passes on May 4th) is getting attention across the nation, including The Huffington Post in California.

Don Reed says “Between now and May 4th, Ohioans will vote on Issue 1: a spectacular jobs program. It is an urgent reason to go to the polls: in person, or by absentee ballot…If I lived in Ohio, I would run, not walk, to the nearest computer - investigate the issue, maybe even get an absentee ballot, so I could vote early - and vote yes…Let us hope, that like another old saying, ‘As Ohio goes, so goes the nation.’”

Read the rest of his thoughts on the topic, including all the reasons he would vote yes. I couldn’t agree more!

Cathy Belk is the Chief Marketing Officer of JumpStart. She specializes in branding, marketing communications, and business management. She brings 16+ years of experience in a variety of marketing and business roles, but gets her energy from working daily with entrepreneurs and their growing companies.

After spending six plus years working on mentoring and investing in brand new emerging companies founded in Ohio, I am 100% convinced that this work is a critical component to re-building Ohio’s economy.

At the same time, however, I also believe that Ohio’s ability to attract startup companies whose technology was invented and developed elsewhere – from California to Europe — but now has the need and ability to go-to-market may be equally important to our short-term economic future.

If Ohio is able to leverage its current competitive assets, from its low cost of living to its strong manufacturing-oriented workforce, it will be able to create thousands of new jobs in the short term which will enable Ohio to generate significant tax receipts and create new jobs. This also allows us to buy some time for the companies that have recently been started in Ohio over the last five years to grow and mature, and provide more time for individuals who are being re-trained to take on more white collar jobs that are already in great demand.

That is why the renewal of Ohio’s Third Frontier Project must be pursued diligently now that the State budget resolution is behind us. This public/private initiative has the ability to not only support new businesses but if we leverage the expertise in the State, we can now attract and commercialize technologies that have been invented elsewhere, and have the ability to generate revenues and create jobs more quickly.

Recently we have been working with companies that have been venture-backed that are headquartered in other states but now are looking to establish their first significant manufacturing operations. Many times, for these companies it does not make sense to locate these in higher-cost communities that are further away from their customers. Ohio has the ability to address and solve these challenges for such companies.

Startup companies in the cleantech space, in particular, face real challenges in establishing their first manufacturing operations many of which make perfect sense to be located in Ohio as these business are looking to leverage the industrial expertise of the Ohio economy.

JumpStart looks forward to working with leadership in the State and in the private sector with the new Third Frontier Project in order to make all of this happen starting now.

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.

Everyone is aware that this is a tough economic year, and that job prospects for new college graduates are not great. This has severely affected student internships, which provide not only short term talent for companies, but also important work experience for students, a long term talent pipeline for companies and vitality for our region. These issues and opportunities are particularly key to the continued entrepreneurial development of Northeast Ohio. A number of programs, three of which JumpStart TechLift Advisors either manages or promotes, are driving student internships into our entrepreneurial companies and organizations: 

• The JumpStart TechLift Business Intern program is in a pilot phase this year, thanks to a generous grant from the GAR Foundation. The goal of the program is to place Northeast Ohio students in business applications at entrepreneurial technology companies in the region, with a focus on the Akron area. The program is completely filled for the 2009 season. Sixteen students from nine different Ohio universities and colleges will work with a wide variety of technologies including software, internet marketing, new energy solutions, clean technology, advanced materials, robotics, military electronics and medical devices. The internships are in human resources, marketing, market research, accounting and intellectual property. In addition to their work experience, interns will attend events to learn about venture capital, entrepreneurship and business networking. 
• In 2008, JumpStart TechLift Advisors announced an exciting new program with Purdue University called Interns for Entrepreneurship for internship experiences at Northeast Ohio entrepreneurial technology companies. Four students, two from Northeast Ohio, one from India, and one from New Jersey will participate in the program, which, in addition to their work experience in medical devices, nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing, includes in-depth studies in entrepreneurship, business planning and venture capital.
• Ohio’s Third Frontier Internship program is one of the best in the nation for its flexibility and resulting success in placing science, technology, engineering and math students into Northeast Ohio technology companies. JumpStart TechLift Advisors was involved in helping at least 30 of these internships happen in 2009 alone. 
• Additional interns are working in economic and entrepreneurial development organizations, including JumpStart, NorTech, the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition, BioEnterprise, Entrepreneurs EDGE and others, through various other internship programs, most notably Summer on the Cuyahoga.

So what is the benefit of all of these programs and internships? In order for Northeast Ohio to develop and grow a self sustaining, fast moving, entrepreneurial culture, we need a constant supply of young talent, exuberance and creativity. Programs that are helping to make this happen are making a real difference and are probably among the best “bang for the buck” opportunities for growing the talent pool in the region.

Chris Mather is President, JumpStart Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Previously, he managed a number of technology initiatives in Northeast Ohio for NorTech. Before entering the economic development world, Chris ran a number of technology companies in Northeast Ohio and New England, including Ion Optics Inc., where he raised $6.7 million in venture capital, and Apsco Inc. and Gould Instrument Systems. Prior to that, he spent 13 years in sales, marketing and management roles with Hewlett Packard after graduating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Electrical Engineering.

JumpStart received one of its highest honors this past Friday when we learned that we had won the 2009 Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Excellence in Urban or Suburban Economic Development Award. I am most proud of the quote in Secretary Locke’ press release about the award that states: “JumpStart, Inc. represents the best and brightest in 21st century economic development.” This award, along with a $2.575M award from the Ohio Third Frontier Project, has helped JumpStart create real momentum for our progams in Ohio and have raised the profile of the organization on a national and international basis.

However, just as I share with our organization’s team and stakeholders on a regular basis, the economic outcomes of our programs need to be realized and communicated everyday as accelerating new firms in Northeast Ohio is a difficult, long-term strategy — not a quick fix to our economic challenges. This is especially true when a community is trying to create a new industry, one company at a time.

One of the stories I share with people is that it took Benjamin Franklin Goodrich 18 years of product development, post his move to Akron from New Jersey, in order to exceed $1M in annual revenue! Despite this timeline, ultimately Goodrich and the industry he helped to found in Akron ultimately created over 70,000 jobs located in Summit county by 1960.

JumpStart’s greatest challenge now is how to continue to assist, invest and accelerate in such firms that take quite some time to make an economic impact when we are living in one of the greatest recessions in our country’s history. The good news is the JumpStart is a great example of a robust public/private partnership with over 80 different supporters and funders. The challenging news is that almost all of these suppporters are having tremendus financial challenges which is leading us to think through how JumpStart can be as innovative as possible in order to maintain or even increase our momentum despite these challenges.

If you have any ideas as we consider these issues, please engage with us and share your thoughts and ideas.

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.