TechLift offers lift

Oct. 8--What would you do if you had $23 million to help local entrepreneurs turn their bright ideas into an economic benefit for Northeast Ohio? NorTech, the region's top technology advocates, has scheduled a local meeting to explain part of their answer to that question. The team will be at the John S. Knight Center in Akron at 5 p.m. Oct. 16 to introduce TechLift, a new program that provides free highly specialized business coaching and resources to early stage companies. (Registration is required at http://www.techlift.org.) TechLift targets the sectors of advanced materials, biosciences, electronics, information technology and advanced energy.

NorTech is hiring an expert in each field to help companies with everything from fundraising and grant writing to strategic planning and talent searching. "These guys are the heart of what our service offering is," said the program's director, Chris Mather. "These are not economic development people. Their last gig was running a company. They've raised capital and made partnerships and they've dealt with the issues, so their credibility is very high." TechLift and its "entrepreneurs-in-residence" is just one way Northeast Ohio is using its share of the state's Third Frontier Project Entrepreneurial Signature Program. A $15 million grant awarded this year has been matched by $7.5 million in local commitments. Of that total, about $2 million will be spent on TechLift. Here's how the rest of the money will be used -- Pre-seed funding About $6 million has been set aside for "pre-seed funding" basically, technologies that have just emerged from the lab and in need of money to form a company. The nonprofit investing groups JumpStart and GLIDE Innovation Fund, and the private investing firms of Glengary and North Coast Angel Fund, each get a part of that pie to decide how to invest. If the efforts they select become successful, any return on those investments will be funneled to new start-ups or other economic development measures, Mather said. "The money does not go to investors," Mather said, answering concerns that some might have about private investors benefiting. "It's actually very creative, the way the state put this together." Of the $9 million that remains, most will go toward creating new programs in existing organizations. For instance, BioEnterprise a nonprofit that works to find money for growing bioscience companies in the region will be funded for a program called CEOs in Residence. Mather explained that new high-tech companies are often founded by scientists or innovators who have no practical business experience. Investors in such companies often encourage the hiring of chief executive officers who are skilled in strategic planning and raising capital. But it can be a challenge luring a quality CEO to the area for young companies at such a high-risk stage. "They want to know, if I come there and it doesn't work out, is there anything else there for me?" Mather said. The BioEnterprise program would bring in CEO candidates who would spend perhaps half a year coaching four or five start- up companies before deciding which one to head up. That increases the chances of finding a good fit while also reassuring the relocated executive that if it doesn't work out, there are other entrepreneurial opportunities in the area.

Help for incubators

An "entrepreneurial expert" has been hired for each of Northeast Ohio's five business incubators, including the Akron Global Business Accelerator.

The incubators each have a director, but they're so busy with day-to-day operations they have little time to work with individual tenants, most of which are early-stage companies in need of guidance, Mather said.

While the entrepreneur experts hired for the TechLift program have extensive backgrounds in their respective fields, there's something to be said for having someone with broad knowledge on site for general issues that need quick attention, Mather said.

The state's Entrepreneurial Signature Program funding is for a three-year period, but Mather said he's hopeful that once the benefits of the programs are demonstrated, funding will be discovered to continue the effort.

He noted that the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, based in Hudson, chipped in $150,000 to fund one of TechLift's entrepreneurs-in-residence, and that the grant is renewable.

"I think it's a small chance that this will be going away in three years," Mather said.

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com

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