The Entrepreneur Beat

Credit BREANNA MCCRYSTAL / WKSU

WKSU undertakes a year-long examination of entrepreneurship in Northeast Ohio with a 360-degree look at business creation in the region and examine the resources available to start-ups, the opportunities, and pitfalls in the local business climate. The project includes long-form features as part of WKSU's ongoing Exploradio series as well as entrepreneurship-themed news reports.

The Entrepreneurship Beat is produced with generous support from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation. Burton D. Morgan Foundation champions the entrepreneurial spirit, contributes to a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, and leads in the burgeoning field of entrepreneurship education. Read more about the project HERE.

Ways to Connect

The CEO of Bounce Hopes to Build an Innovation Hub in Akron

By Jeff St. Clair • Apr 12, 2018

After 35 years, the Akron Global Business Accelerator has rebranded itself as Bounce, Akron’s Innovation Hub.

Doug Weintraub is the newly installed CEO.

He’s also a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of the Cleveland venture capital group Jumpstart.

Weintraub has big visions to build a start-up community in Akron.

He takes us on a tour of the soon to be renovated first floor of the former BF Goodrich factory ahead of the facility's first public open house on Friday.

ConxusNEO Convenes Tech Leaders and Businesses to Confront Growing Skills Gap

By Lucas Misera • Apr 10, 2018

ALIGN IS SET TO TAKE PLACE IN AKRON APRIL 17. — ConxusNEO / ConxusNEO

Akron nonprofit ConxusNEO is bringing tech leaders and local businesses together on Tuesday, April 17, to talk about the growing skills gap.

ConxusNEO vice president Michelle Collins says the event, ALIGN, will focus on how data-collection technology is shaping what companies need from their workers.

Cleveland Clinic and JumpStart Select 12 Health Companies for Plug and Play Accelerator

By Lucas Misera • Mar 13, 2018

photo of Global Center for Health Innovation — ANNIE WU / IDEASTREAM

Twelve healthcare startups have been selected to join the Plug and Play business accelerator program in Cleveland.

The startups all use technology to improve healthcare -- from using virtual reality for physical therapy to creating a sensor that monitors sugar levels without drawing blood. The winners will be mentored by Plug and Play and Cleveland Clinic for three months at the Global Center for Health Innovation.

Case Students and Alum Will Pitch in the Inaugural Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition

By Kellie Nock • Mar 12, 2018

Photo of Professor Scott Shane — Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University students and recent alums will compete March 15 in the first Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition.

Students in entrepreneurship classes at Case decided which pitches moved forward to the competition. Case entrepreneurship professor Scott Shane says that business accelerators, angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for ideas from students.

With Credit Tight, Millennial Entrepreneurs Travel a Different Path

By Kellie Nock • Mar 5, 2018

Photo of CaseMD team — Kellie Nock / WKSU

New business creation in Ohio is at historic lows, according to a recent Kauffman Foundation study. With tight credit and increasing student debt, it’s especially hard for millennials to start a business. But in the next installment of Exploradio’s entrepreneurship series, WKSU intern Kellie Nock reports, some millennials are creating new opportunities.