Bizdom Cleveland has invested in 16 young companies since it set up shop in January 2012, and the organization is targeting 18 more companies this year. While many of the companies are local startups, Bizdom also scours the country in search of promising businesses to recruit to Cleveland.

So far Bizdom has brought four companies to Cleveland: Queryly from New York, MascotSecret from San Francisco, Firmly Planted from Los Angeles and CourseBuffet from Seattle.

“The bottom line is we’re looking for the best and the brightest wherever we can find them,” says Paul Allen, leader of Bizdom Cleveland. “We find them, and then we do our best to sell them on the benefits of doing business in Cleveland.”

It’s not difficult to recruit companies to the area, given Cleveland’s support of small startups. “There’s a very large and organized infrastructure here,” Allen explains. “Cleveland has a bunch of organizations that provide support, expertise, resources, investment, equity and debt funding. The continuum of organizations that support small business is unlike other parts of the country.”

And the assistance is accessible. “Cleveland has a tight-knit startup community that doesn’t take long to identify the key players,” Allen says. “They exist here and you can access them.” Allen points out that the Dan Gilbert and Quicken Loans name also attracts businesses.

One of Bizdom’s requirements is that its portfolio businesses locate in Cleveland. All four relocated companies have chosen downtown for their headquarters.

Bizdom companies have created 36 full-time and 10 part-time jobs. Allen hopes more out-of-town companies will come to Cleveland for Bizdom’s fall accelerator program in August. “We have lots of applicants from out of state for August,” says Allen.

Source: Paul Allen
Writer: Karin Connelly