Entrepreneurship : In The News

In a New York Times post titled “The Cure and Feeding of Small Business,” writer and economics professor at UMass explains that while big business is still able to garner generous grants and tax incentives by promising jobs within political boundaries, it often comes at a price to small business and other civic services.
 
Once such model that is working well to foster success for the smaller enterprise as well as create jobs for the community is the worker-owned cooperative, like those at Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland.
 
“Promotion of worker-owned cooperatives is a way to create entrepreneurs and jobs at the same time. The Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland represent a stellar example, recently called out by the Federal Reserve Board member Sarah Bloom Raskin as an effective model of local economic development.”
 
Check out the full story here.

In a Thumbtack.com survey titled “United States Small Business Friendliness,” the editors grade Cleveland an “A-“ in overall friendliness to small business. They also gave Cleveland an “A” in ease of hiring and an “A+” in training and networking programs.
 
“Starting a business is one of the greatest risks I have undertaken. I have the good fortune of starting that business in Ohio. The State gave me an entire website guiding me so that the odds of success are greater. I am not sure I can qualify starting a business as easy, but the support in my state made certain that it wasn't too painful,” shared a Cleveland-based marketing consultant.
 
Cleveland did have some areas for improvement despite its high overall grade. Regulations and tax code issues can sometimes be challenging for small business owners according to the findings.
 
Check out the complete survey here.

In an Eater.com feature titled “Noodlecat Chef-Owner Jonathon Sawyer on Cleveland, Expansion, and the Ramen Boom,” Amy McKeever talks to local chef Jonathon Sawyer regarding the one-year anniversary of the Noodlecat spot in Cleveland’s historic West Side Market.
 
In her lengthy interview she touches on all aspects of the satellite location, from opening to inspiration, to the difficulties of working in a cramped 45-square-foot space. Despite focus on Sawyer and Noodlecat, the West Side Market comes across as the star thanks to outstanding vendor relationships and supplying the ingredients used at both the stand and the brick-and-mortar restaurant downtown.
 
“I would say if anybody comes to Cleveland and doesn't go to the West Side Market, that would be an absolute shame,” Sawyer states.
 
We agree wholeheartedly.
 
Check out the full interview here.

In a New York Times feature titled “Riding Wave of Popularity, Craft Brewers ask Congress for a Tax Cut,” Andrew Siddons writes of brewers from across the nation gathering in Washington D.C. for their industry’s first conference. In addition to meeting to discuss their trade, plenty of lobbying took place as well.
 
“For every 31 gallons that we brew, $7 goes to Uncle Sam,” said Jeff Hancock, a co-founder of DC Brau. These small brewers feel they need a break.
 
Cleveland’s own Patrick Conway of Great Lakes Brewing Company was there as well.
 
“We are the victims of our own success,” said Patrick Conway, owner of the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland. Mr. Conway brought a delegation of 12 employees to Washington to network and publicize his brews with tap takeovers at local bars. “We’re always being courted by distributors,” he said. “It’s not our intention to sell in every state, but we are flattered.”
 
Enjoy the entire feature here.

In a New York Times feature titled “Locally Grown Gets Tricky in the Cold,” writer Dan Saltzstein discusses the difficulty chefs face when trying to keep their menus locally focused at a time of year when not a whole lot is being grown.

"Locally grown. Market-sourced. Farm to table: These phrases have become the mantras of the American menu, promising ingredients that are supremely fresh, in season and produced within a tight radius of the restaurant," writes Saltzstein. "But what can they possibly mean in the dead of winter, in northerly climes where farms are battened down and the earth is as hard as a raw cabbage?"

Cleveland’s Jonathon Sawyer takes the winter months in stride.

“We sort of look at winter the way an old-school chef looks at frugality,” said Jonathon Sawyer of the Greenhouse Tavern, in Cleveland. “We take more time with dishes because we have less to put on the plate.”

Saltzstein also mentions Sawyer’s “Sustainability Initiatives,” including the bottling of his own vinegar and pantry full of preserved items.

In a Huffington Post story titled “How Women Entrepreneurs Succeed in the Midwest,” Lynn-Ann Gries chronicles the emergence of high-profile startups and companies founded by women in the Midwest, especially Cleveland. 
 
Gries’ piece details everything from networking opportunities to female-focused financial support and resources to the availability of role models to encourage further growth and development.
 
In the Cleveland area, Laura Bennett, CEO and Founder of Embrace Pet Insurance, formed a mentoring community for female entrepreneurs leading high-growth-potential companies, called the Burning River Coffee Community. "I feel there is a place for a community to mentor women to build our numbers," Bennett says. "Women are no less driven, focused and capable of running high growth companies than men; there just aren't many examples to look to. The BRCC is another way to encourage and support women in building these companies."
 
Check out the complete informative and inspiring story here.

Cleveland-based Paladar restaurant is impressing the locals in South Florida, where a new outpost of the Latin-themed eatery recently opened.

In a Miami New Times article titled "Paladar: New Entry at Gulfstream Park Serves Up Winning Latin Fare," the food writer spoke fondly of the new restaurant, which is the fourth in the locally owned chain.

"Who would have thought that a respectable nuevo Latino restaurant would arrive in South Florida by way of Cleveland and Annapolis? Well, that's what's happened with the opening of Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar at The Village at Gulfstream Park. Paladar got its start in Cleveland in 2007 and opened in Annapolis three years later. A fourth location will be opening soon in Bethesda."

"Always on the lookout for new places to eat and drink, Short Order checked out Paladar and was impressed with the setting, ambiance, service and food."

Read the rest right here.

In an item titled, "This is What Clam Chowder Udon Looks Like," Dominique Zamora writes about Noodlecat for the popular blog Foodbeast.

“Earlier this week I had a chance to fly out to Cleveland, Ohio, for Certified Angus Beef’s 2012 Culinary Ideation and Trends Session," she begins. "The post for all that is coming soon, but while I was there, I also caught wind of at least one food item I never thought I would hear about, ever.”

“Clam. Chowder. Udon.”
 
Zamora is awestruck by the Noodlecat dish, a fusion creation that combines udon noodles, potatoes, celery, onions, and bacon in a creamy clam broth.

"This explosion of East meets . . . further . . . East comes from Cleveland-based restaurant Noodlecat, which opened in August 2011. Branded as a 'slurpalicious Japanese-American mash-up from Chef Jonathon Sawyer,' much of Noodlecat’s menu looks like what happens when a college student decides to go to culinary school and comes back to make the exact same foods he made before, only a million times better."
 
Read the full Foodbeast post here.

Downtown Cleveland... It's Here.

That's what the folks at Downtown Cleveland Alliance persuasively illustrate in their latest video release. Produced by Fusion Filmworks, the flashy 4-minute video shows off just some of our city's assets.

More than a campaign, Downtown Cleveland Alliance is about downtown businesses and people taking matters into their own hands to make positive things happen. And from the looks of things, it's working.

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, has been writing about "Rust Belt" startups as part of an ongoing series called "Startup Nation."

In a feature titled, "Helping Apartment Complexes Help You," he writes about Renter's Boom, a Cleveland startup that works with rental-management companies "to turn their social media pages into leasing hubs."
 
"They set up Facebook pages for these companies and help them build apps so that people can check out apartments, make appointments, and send referrals within the social network. They also work to help the companies integrate Google's various products that renters may use," Madrigal writes.
 
Read the rest here.

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, has been writing about "Rust Belt" startups as part of an ongoing series called "Startup Nation."

In a feature titled, "Bringing Innovation to the Funeral-Home Business (No, Really)," he writes about Cleveland-based eFuneral, which brings funeral home shopping into the digital age.

"The idea for the company did not originate in dreams of Instagram glory or joviality," he writes. "His cousin died, and when his family went to plan the funeral, they encountered some difficulty in selecting a funeral home. There were 12 places within two miles of where his cousin lived. How do you pick one?"

"For us, the big question wasn't, 'Where is there a funeral home?'" founder Mike Belsito was quoted. "It was, How are we supposed to know which of these is going to provide us good service? And what is it going to cost?'"

"We had more information on where to go to dinner, where we're spending 40 bucks, than we did for my cousin's funeral," he said.

Considering that funeral services are some of the highest ticket items someone pays for in their life after a house and a car, a modern tool for shopping seemed a great idea.

Read the rest of the news here.

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, has been writing about "Rust Belt" startups as part of an ongoing series called "Startup Nation."

In a feature titled, "A Space to Be an Entrepreneur and Not Feel Like You Have Leprosy Here in Cleveland," he writes about Shaker LaunchHouse, where an abandoned car dealership has been transformed into a "lively space for Cleveland's nerds and entrepreneurs alike."

"Run by native Clevelander Dar Caldwell, LaunchHouse takes a bunch of the weird and geeky things going on in the Bay and compresses them into one glorious space filled with entrepreneurs, developers, designers, and (I use this word lovingly) nerds," Madrigal writes.

Writing about some of the more eccentric "tenants," he notes, "I'm not sure I could explain to an economic development officer or even some venture capitalists why these guys are so important in the formation of new companies, why you need them drinking beer with the entrepreneurs, or why their love for the sheer thingness of things is so exhilarating. But I'll put it like this: these guys are the wizards, even if they aren't the kings or the knights. They're the soul of a tech scene, even if they may never sign a term sheet, trademark a name, or raise seed capital. And where they are, there is magic."

Read the rest of the news here.

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, has been writing about "Rust Belt" startups as part of an ongoing series called "Startup Nation."

In a feature titled, "A Framed First Dollar for the Internet Age," he writes about SparkBase, a Cleveland-based loyalty, gift, and reward card processor.

"SparkBase is a nice success story," he writes. "They've been hiring like crazy in Cleveland, particularly in the last year and a half and are up to 50 people working out of their new offices. They're one of several middleware vendors in the retail space that are emerging to collect and analyze retail data."

The title, by the way, is a reference to SparkBase's conference table, which instead of displaying the company's first dollar earned features the mother boards from their first servers.

Read the rest of the story here.

According to a report released by the Venture Capital Advisory Task Force based on data provided by investors and collected by tech-based development organizations BioEnterprise and JumpStart, Greater Cleveland companies attracted $961 million from venture capitalists and angel investors from 2007 to 2011.

That figure represents a 26-percent increase in dollars when compared to the previous five years.

“There is a dramatic change in the activity, the number of investable companies and the quality of the companies in the pipeline in Northeast Ohio from 10 years ago,” says Bill Trainor, co-founder and Managing Director of Mutual Capital Partners Funds I & II.

The bulk of the money went to companies in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare service, IT, and software.

“We’re only beginning to see the results of the public, private and philanthropic initiatives begun almost 10 years ago to accelerate the successes of startups in the state,” says Doug Weintraub, JumpStart’s chair and an active investor in the region. “Given that Northeast Ohio started ramping up activity to assist and support the creation and growth of tech companies in 2005 and 2006 -- and that the National Venture Capital Association estimates the average time from initial investment to a company’s exit is about nine years -- we can expect even more success stories in the coming years.”
 
Read the rest of the news here.

Food Network Magazine has crowned Barroco Grill's delicious Chorizo Arepa the top sandwich in all of Ohio. In a feature titled "50 States, 50 Sandwiches," the Lakewood eatery gets high praise for its Colombian street food.

"Arepas -- thick-stuffed corn tortillas -- have come to Ohio, and locals rave about this chorizo-stuffed one," reads the entry.

To see more of the winners, click here.