Imagine being an entrepreneur and having at your fingertips resources for everything from pre-seed funding to regional incubators. Questions about how to turn an idea into a business, how to request funding and how to place your innovative idea in the proper hands could be answered by simply clicking a button or linking to a respected adviser.

That's the idea behind the JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network's newly launched website, which aims to make access to the appropriate connections simpler and more effective for entrepreneurs within a 21-county radius.

"By having this website serve as a single entry point to a continuum of resources, we're making access to those resources quicker and easier," says John Dearborn, president of JumpStart Inc. Interested parties fill out a form detailing their idea or startup business, and are then put in touch with the appropriate local resources.

Several area entrepreneurial support organizations, all of which have received funding from Ohio's Third Frontier, comprise the JumpStart Entrepreneurial Network:  GLIDE, MAGNET, Braintree Business Development Center, Youngstown Business Incubator, Akron Global Business Accelerator, BioEnterprise, Glengary, LLC, North Coast Angel Fund, North Coast Opportunities Technology Fund of Cuyahoga County, Innovation Fund founded by Lorain County Community College Foundation, Ohio Aerospace Institute, NorTech, IdeaCrossing and JumpStart. The region's higher-education institutions are also members.

According to Ray Leach, CEO of JumpStart, this influential group has together received $69 million in federal and state grants, reached annualized revenues of $100 million and created and supported 850 direct jobs at an average salary of $67,200.

SOURCE: Jumpstart, Inc.
WRITER: Diane DiPiero