Last Saturday, July 23, Shaker LaunchHouse and Ohio Homecoming hosted the largest gathering of Ohio entrepreneurs and innovators of its kind at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center. The 6ixth City Tech Fest is designed to promote and celebrate the region's hottest entrepreneurs.

"We had 200 people and 26 of the fastest growing start-up companies," says Todd Goldstein, LaunchHouse partner in charge of finance and operations. "It was a really good makeup of entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders and people from the community."

In addition to the showcases, there were educational demos, new product launches, expert panels, keynote addresses and musical acts. "At any given time there were entrepreneurs giving pitch sessions in front of 120 people," says Goldstein. "It was just another way for us to help entrepreneurs from all over the region gain more exposure."

MobileXpeditions, a start-up in Dublin, Ohio, won a trip to Tech Week in Chicago and the opportunity to showcase their company this week.

"The whole idea of 6ixth City Tech Fest was to mix with the Chicago Tech Fest, but do it in Cleveland, Ohio," says Goldstein. MobileXpeditions was chosen as the winner by a panel of six judges who are involved in business incubators and other entrepreneurial organizations around Ohio.


Source: Todd Goldstein
Writer: Karin Connelly

As a corporate attorney, Candace Klein has worked with a lot of women who own businesses. She saw many of her clients struggling to stay afloat -- maxing out personal credit cards and mixing personal and business accounts to make ends meet. "My heart went out to them," she recalls. She began researching alternative financing options and discovered a hard truth: Women have a harder time getting financing for companies than men.

So Klein decided to do something about it. In 2010, she formed her own company, Cincinnati-based Bad Girl Ventures. BGV is a localized microfinance company that educates women and helps them successfully fund their companies.

Since 2010, more than 200 businesses have applied for Klein's program, of those 125 have been educated and 18 have been financed with a total of $310,000. "Our goal is to remove as many barriers to accessing financing as possible," says Klein.

Now Klein is bringing Bad Girl Ventures to Cleveland. This October, entrepreneurs will be able to enroll in Klein's eight-week program to learn the basics behind running and financing a successful business. The participants will have the opportunity to compete for $25,000 in funding after completing the program.

Bad Girl Ventures will have one full time employee in its Cleveland location, while Klein will divide her time between Cincinnati and Cleveland. She hopes to have 50 applicants for the first class.

"Significant jobs will be created from our investment in these businesses," she says, adding that 37 jobs have been created in Cincinnati from the 18 companies she's helped.

Klein has gotten support from the Cleveland Foundation, the Business of Good Foundation, KeyBank and the City of Cleveland.

Source: Candace Klein
Writer: Karin Connelly

When asked why he decided to open his custom-engraved baseball bat store, Johnnyville Slugger, on W. 25th Street in Ohio City, owner Johnny Smatana naturally employed a sports metaphor.

"If you go to the Yankees and bat .280, they'll hate you," he says. "If you go to a little place where you can do some good, they'll still like you."

Smatana, whose career includes a stint playing football for the Miami Hurricanes and 27 years moving freight for Estes Forwarding Worldwide, says he spent a month looking at different locations, but felt most at home here.

"There's so much happening here; Ohio City is the most up-and-coming part of the city," he says. "Also, this part of the street was in dire need."

The new Johnnyville Slugger -- which will include a glass-partitioned workshop in the rear of the store where customers can watch the bats being made -- is slated to open this month near the corner of Bridge and W. 25th.

Smatana, who made bats in his Sagamore Hills barn for three years before venturing out to look at storefronts, specializes in making bats that people display in their offices or homes. "They're more art than anything," he says.

Some of his favorite bats include the pearl-white Elvis slugger, studded with seven rhinestones, and the Troy Polamalu bat. "The key is putting your signature on it," he says. "The guys flip out over this stuff. I call them 'man sticks.'"

Smatana will make almost every part of the bats in his W. 25th St. shop. "I'm a cradle to grave guy -- we sand the bats, dip them, stain them and engrave them," he says. "People tell me what they want on the bats, and I do it."

Smatana, who discovered Ohio City when he and his wife began frequenting the restaurants there, is looking forward to making it his home away from home. As evidence of his commitment, he cites his unusual 30-year lease agreement.

"It's like a bacon and eggs breakfast," he quips. "The chickens are involved but the pig's committed."


Source: Johnny Smatana
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Over the past year, more than $48,000 has been invested in energy audits and "green" retrofits for merchants along Buckeye Road on Cleveland's East Side.

According to Deepa Vedavyas, Associate Director for Development at Buckeye Area Development Corporation (BADC), this is just the beginning. She hopes to see Buckeye Road merchants become the first "green-certified retail district" in Cleveland.

"We're using this as a learning opportunity, and encouraging them not to stop after the audit and retrofit," she says. "Energy-efficient businesses save on utility bills, which gives them an extra dollar to use towards marketing or expansion."

In all, 20 Buckeye Road merchants received energy audits, which assess the energy-efficiency of storefronts and determine cost-effective ways to help them save on their energy bills. Ten of these also received a $3,000 retrofit grant and participated in the Green Plus educational program. Green Plus is a national organization that is based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and provides technical assistance and certification for retailers that go green.

The energy audits and retrofits were supported by a partnership with the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) and funding from the Ohio Department of Energy (ODE). The Generation Foundation provided funding for the Green Plus program.

Buckeye businesses that completed audits also received $150 energy saver kits that included such items as LED exit lights, spray-in foam insulation and water-saving faucet aerators. Those that did retrofits have completed such tasks as adding insulation and sealing up air leakages at windows and doors.

Vedavyas plans to work with merchants to monitor their progress, evaluate their energy usage and see how much they save on utility bills over the next year.


Source: Deepa Vedavyas
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Students from St. Martin dePorres High School in Cleveland are sprucing up their neighborhood. Thirty three students created 11 murals based on the cultural background and institutions in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood.

The murals were installed on Tuesday into vacant storefronts between East 60^th and East 64^th Streets as a way to liven up that section of St. Clair Avenue near the school, eliminating blight and creating interest in the corridor.

"It really came together well because the students really learned about the culture of the area, and that is reflected in the art," says Jamar Doyle, project and commercial development director for the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation. "We wanted to brighten up the area so it wouldn't look so drab."

The project was organized by St. Martin dePorres service coordinator Mary Grasla and art teacher Michelle Brickner. Funding came from a Cleveland Cityworks grant and support from DayGlo Color, which is based in the neighborhood.

The murals are portable, so they can move from one storefront to another as the vacancies are filled. At least one vacant storefront in the project has already been filled by a sandwich shop. Placement of the murals is up to the building owners.

The project was such a hit, the school is considering making it a yearly thing. "We may continue the project as a learning piece," says Doyle. "It was a lot of fun."

Source: Jamar Doyle
Writer: Karin Connelly

The renewal of an urban core usually involves, at some point, a grand, sweeping plan that calls for huge development projects costing millions, or billions, of dollars: a new convention center, a mass transit system, a comprehensive waterfront plan. But as cities realize the importance of attracting and retaining talent, it's the smaller development projects and neighborhood investment that are driving real and sustainable change.

Benjamin Parris sees an innovative, cost effective way to get around town. He's promoting and selling electric bicycles through his company, F&E Electric Bikes. The bikes, which hit up to 18.6 miles per hour, are a step away from mopeds, but are classified as bicycles rather than motorized vehicles.

Parris got the idea to produce the bikes after spending some time in China, where the bikes are commonplace.

"They've been very popular in the past five to 10 years in China with the local farmers who need to get from village to village and transport food," explains Parris. "It's an ideal thing for them to use and affordable. When I came back to Cleveland, I said, 'Let's get rid of the parking problem and gas problem and learn something from the largest industrial nation in the world.'"

The bikes initially take five to six hours to charge using just a standard outlet, and then take about an hour to recharge. They go more than 20 miles on a single charge.

Parris has produced 10 bikes thus far and sold two at around $750 apiece. Additionally, he is donating two bikes to cancer charities. Currently the bikes are manufactured oversees. He hopes to start producing them in Ohio next year.

"By far they are the cheapest and only electric bikes that are around Cleveland," he says.


Source: Benjamin Parris
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) announced Tuesday that it has selected North Collinwood for its Artists in Residence Program, an effort to use artist-based development to help revitalize one urban neighborhood.

The two-year, $500,000 pilot program will provide a small loan program for artists buying or rehabbing homes in the target area, a small grant program to support artists' work in carrying out community-based projects, and artist home ownership services such as credit counseling and saving programs.

A panel of arts, community development and planning experts selected the target neighborhood through a competitive process. Seth Beattie, Strategic Initiative Director for CPAC, said the panel was impressed by the grassroots, arts-based approach of Northeast Shores Development Corporation, the nonprofit that serves the neighborhood. A total of 13 community development corporations from various Cleveland neighborhoods applied to the program.

"We wanted to work with someone that got it, and Northeast Shores made a compelling case," says Beattie. "They've done a great job of giving artists license to use the neighborhood as their canvas, yet they've followed behind and supported them, resulting in organic, grassroots redevelopment of the neighborhood." He cited the arts-based businesses on Waterloo Road as one example.

Although the details of the program have yet to be worked out, Beattie mentioned several possibilities, including $2,500-$10,000 grants to artists for community-based projects, arts-based community dialogues, and integrating arts-based development into current redevelopment projects in a deeper way.

The program is being funded in part through a $250,000 grant from Leveraging Investments in Creativity's Creative Communities Challenge Grant Program, a one-time competitive grant program made possible through the support of the Kresge Foundation.

CPAC is a nonprofit arts and culture service organization that works to strengthen Greater Cleveland's arts and culture sector. Some of its programs include the Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute, a business training course addressing the needs of working artists, and From Rust Belt to Artist Belt, a conference series that examines the role of artists in the redevelopment of industrial cities.


Source: Seth Beattie
Writer: Lee Chilcote

You think you have a lot of balls in the air. As owner of Cleveland Plays, this city's premier sport and social club, John Teel manages a dizzying assortment of moving parts. The organization maintains an active database of roughly 20,000 members who play a dozen different co-ed sports in 40 separate leagues at eight different locations on any given day or night of the year. In addition to providing some much-needed fun and exercise, Cleveland Plays may be the best unofficial dating enterprise in town.

Four years ago, Susan Borison and Stephanie Silverman were regular moms who were struggling to make the right choices while raising their children. Though they found plenty of resources addressing issues regarding young children, they found a void as their children reached adolescence. So the Beachwood-based moms started their own magazine, Your Teen.

"I have five kids and parenting magazines started to be irrelevant when they hit age eight," explains Borison. "I used to say to my husband, 'I want the next magazine,' and he said, 'Just do it.'"

So, with no background in journalism or publishing, the two women set out and launched Your Teen in 2008. The goal was to address the daily struggles of raising a teenager. Today, the magazine is published quarterly and goes out to 20,000 homes and is available at Barnes and Noble bookstores in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The magazine has a staff of five, plus interns.

"We want to empower parents to feel knowledgeable and raise their kids in a way they feel comfortable," says Borison. The mag covers everything from substance abuse and sexuality to driving and mental health. They tap experts such as Ellen Rome, head of adolescent medicine and the Cleveland Clinic, and Judy Stenta of Bellfaire JCB, for insight and advice, and host panel discussions three times a year.

"We kept falling on people who wanted to help us," says Borison of the resources they have. "The generosity of sharing their time and knowledge is incredible. We just get 'yes' over and over."

Source: Susan Borison
Writer: Karin Connelly

Situated on the edges of Cleveland and Shaker Heights, and home to a diverse, international community of residents, Shaker Square has long been a community gathering place for people of different backgrounds.

So it only makes sense, in a way, that Bruce Altchouler (a Clevelander and electrical contractor with a knack for project management) and Ziv Sarig (an Israeli businessman with a finance background) would meet and discover they shared a passion for historic Shaker Square and fixing up older buildings.

Together, the two entrepreneurs, who are neighbors in Cleveland Heights, have formed BruZiv Partners. The nascent development company recently wrapped up renovations on an historic, nine-suite apartment building located at 2646 N. Moreland Boulevard, just off Shaker Square. It is the first multi-family building in Cleveland to meet the Enterprise Foundation's Green Community Standards.

"We saw an opportunity to take an older property that had declined over the years and do something positive for us and the community," says Altchouler. "Once we'd purchased it, we decided to step it up and do a green rehab."

Within the preserved shell of the historic building, the developers installed high-efficiency windows, insulation, a new boiler and Energy Star appliances. The units also feature high-end maple cabinetry and granite countertops.

"We wanted to attract high-quality tenants to the area, and you do that by showing a good product," says Altchouler. "Renters are also becoming more aware of 'green,' and appreciate the fact that we use healthy, low-VOC paints."

Getting to this point wasn't easy, but it was worth it, Altchouler says. To meet the Green Community Standards, BruZiv had to adhere to lengthy guidelines and hire an independent rater to assess the project.

In exchange, the City of Cleveland granted a tax abatement on the improved value of the building. The developers also obtained low-interest financing from Dollar Bank through Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit whose mission is to revitalize urban neighborhoods through rehabilitation lending.


Source: Bruce Altchouler
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Mike Perry has a rather strange hobby. In his spare time, the president of Szarka Financial Management uses his skills as a hiring manager to help people spruce up their resumes and find new jobs.

"It all started when one of the financial managers literally walked a client into my office and said, "so-and-so got laid off from the Cleveland Clinic. Can you take a look at her resume?'" explains Perry. "So I sat down with her. Soon, I had a parade of clients, family members, and friends coming to me."

In the three or so years he's been doing it, Perry estimates he's consulted with nearly 500 people -- free of charge. He sees eight to 10 resumes a week, from everyone from tool and die makers to CEOs, and he has an 85-percent success rate finding his 'clients' new jobs. Additionally, Perry speaks to job-seeking groups on a regular basis and has a job-seeking tips blog, In the Business of You.

Perry speaks from experience. "When I was laid off from KeyBank in 2001, I found there's a lot of inaccurate and poor advice for job seekers," he says. "When the economy took a turn for the worse, I saw it as a chance to pay it forward. People are getting terrible advice on how to get a job. I don't rewrite people's resumes. I give them the tools to do a much better job of it."

Source: Mike Perry
Writer: Karin Connelly

Car salespeople often have the reputation of being slick and shady. But Mark Dubis thought, "What if there was a way for those dealerships and salespeople who do a good job to get the recognition they deserve?" So Dubis created Carfolks.com in 2008, an interactive Facebook-style site for the auto sales industry. Based in Lakewood, he's been tweaking the site since then. Now the site is at "full speed."

"People who are good don't have the tools to have a virtual brag book," Dubis explains. "We're the only website in the country that has an interactive map of every dealer in the country. Any consumer can log on and rate any salesperson in the country."

The concept is simple: Give customers a forum to share their car-buying experiences with the dealership and salesperson. The site allows prospective customers to find dealerships with strong customer focused attitudes. Dealerships and their sales teams are rated for their performance, and all reviews are posted on the site. Dealers have the opportunity to contact the customer and work to ensure the customer issues are addressed.

"The majority of customers are happy or satisfied, they just don't have a way to say it," says Dubis. He likens the site to Carfax. "Carfax validates the vehicle, Carfolks validates the dealer. Carfolks is essentially word of mouth advertising."

Carfolks.com currently employs three people. As the site grows, the company plans to hire at least four people in sales and programming positons.

Source: Mark Dubis
Writer: Karin Connelly

Sustainable Cleveland 2019 (SC 2019), an effort by the City of Cleveland and local environmental groups to promote sustainability as a means of growing the economy in Northeast Ohio, will soon have a physical home in Tower City Center.

Andrew Watterson, Cleveland's Chief of Sustainability, says the purpose of the new Sustainable Cleveland Center is to promote efforts to green Northeast Ohio, provide central meeting space for environmental groups, and offer affordable shared office space for companies and nonprofits working to advance sustainability within the region.

"We're increasing our audience by putting the Mayor's Office of Sustainability into a more public space," says Watterson. "Forest City has been extremely generous by donating the space, and we've signed a two-year lease."

The Office of Sustainability will set up shop on the second floor of a two-story retail space that is accessible from the Huron Road entrance to Tower City Center. A number of regional companies, including GE Lighting, Alcoa and Eaton Corporation, have donated materials for the build-out.

Watterson stresses that the Sustainable Cleveland Center is a "collaborative effort" that will ultimately house many partners. The nonprofit Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S) has indicated an intent to lease space on the first floor, but has not yet signed a lease. A range of other companies and organizations have indicated a desire to showcase products, information and materials.

Watterson hopes the center will eventually lead to the creation of a sustainable business incubator in downtown Cleveland. "We're testing the idea out at a scale that's manageable," he says. "In the meantime, it provides us with an excellent way to tell the story of what's happening with sustainability in Cleveland."


Source: Andrew Watterson
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Last summer, Ohio City native Alex Nosse biked from Cleveland to San Francisco with a friend. While cycling for eight hours a day, he had plenty of time to dream of finding a job that also fueled his passion.

"It was a light-bulb moment," he says. "I realized how much passion I had for cycling, and that I wanted to do something bike-related."

A year later, the avid cyclist has launched Joy Machines, a new bike shop that opened in June on West 25th Street in Ohio City. Nosse and his business partner/mechanic, Renato Pereira-Castillo, specialize in helping bike commuters and others who want to reduce their dependence on cars.

"Most bike shops are more into the recreational and sport side of cycling, but we believe in using the bike as a transportation tool first and foremost," Nosse explains. "We really want to encourage cycling all across the city."

Nosse and Pereira-Castillo, who grew up on the same street and have known each other for more than 20 years, decided to locate their bike shop in Ohio City because of its central location and reputation as a bike-friendly community.

"We get people that come into our shop that say, 'I've been car-free for years now,'" says Nosse. "We also get people from all over the region that are drawn here by the West Side Market, Great Lakes Brewery and the restaurants."

The entrepreneurs were aided by a $9,000 small business start-up grant from Charter One Bank and Ohio City Inc., a nonprofit community development organization that serves the neighborhood. "Our landlord matched it, which resulted in almost $20,000 in savings," says Nosse. "This accelerated our start-up process -- we went from talking about it to opening the shop in six months."

Joy Machines sells new bicycles and a wide array of parts and accessories. Pereira-Castillo, who has worked as a bike mechanic for eight years in Cleveland and on the West Coast, can repair or restore just about anything on two wheels.

The shop's walls are adorned with bike-themed murals by Cleveland artist Haley Morris. "We have a big one of the Guardians of Transportation, on the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge," says Nosse. "Except the car that the statue is holding has been replaced by a bike."


Source: Alex Nosse
Writer: Lee Chilcote



 

Since opening Dredgers Union, a new apparel and home goods store on E. Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland, owner Danielle DeBoe has been surprised by the number of out-of-town visitors she's had.

"They ask if I have a location in their city, and then rave about the store and insist that I open one where they live," says DeBoe with a laugh. "I'm excited because we're providing out-of-towners with a more well-rounded retail experience."

DeBoe, who also owns Room Service boutique in Ohio City, launched Dredgers Union with clothing designer Sean Bilovecky to revive and update the tradition of shopping in downtown Cleveland. Stocked with sizzling dresses, snazzy suits, trendy lamps, bedding and a range of other items, the store functions as a smaller, more stylish version of the department stores that once thrived here.

A stroll through the store, which is about 4,500 square feet, reveals what DeBoe calls "vignettes," or discrete sections featuring lamps, bedding, kitchen items, perfumes and soaps, women's lounge apparel and even a children's section. These areas are housed on a raised platform that is separated by a railing.

Bilovecky's private label clothing line is featured at the rear of the store. The merchandise includes denim jeans, suits and casual button-down shirts he calls "wovens." So far, men's apparel has been the most popular store item.

"We create custom, made-to-measure suits, so instead of getting them shipped overseas, our customers can get them right here," says Bilovecky, who specializes in edgy, contemporary design and created the successful Wrath Arcane label. "People love the fact that they're designed locally and made in the U.S."

Dredgers Union will celebrate its grand opening with a big party on Friday, July 8th. The event will also kick off this year's "Made in the 216," an annual design show that DeBoe created several years ago to showcase local talent.

This year's 216 event, which takes place all weekend long in the expansive lower level of Dredgers Union, has added local furniture designers to the mix.


Source: Danielle DeBoe
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Business is booming in Little Italy, and the past year has seen a slew of new shops open in the historic community. Known for its galleries, shopping and great Italian restaurants, Little Italy welcomes newcomers peddling everything from fabric to vintage apparel.

The new specialty shops and galleries fit right in, embracing the old world feel of the neighborhood. Heartstrings, an antiques, art and unusual gifts boutique, moved from the basement of the former Lycium School building to a larger store in a former church on Murray Hill. Known for having "all things quirky," the store features vintage apparel, art, sterling silver and handmade soaps and oils. "There's so much to look at," says Sue Marrone, president of the Little Italy Merchants Association. "It's pure eye candy."

Bolt and Spool, which sells fabrics, patterns and ribbons for children's clothing, opened in November in the old school on Murray Hill. Owner Nan Webb chose Little Italy because it reminded her of Europe, where many of her fabrics come from. "With the cobblestone streets in Little Italy it kind of feels like you're there," she says. "In the school, it feels like you're not alone. There's a sense of community there."

Serafino Gallery and Design on Mayfield Road features the work of local artists. The non-profit company holds regular exhibits by local artists in various media. The shows promote arts and the community. "They have incredible showings there," says Marrone.

These businesses are just a taste of what Little Italy has to offer. "There's always neat things to do down here," says Marrone. "It's always a great place to be and it's a tremendous source of pride."


Source: Sue Marrone
Writer: Karin Connelly