“Colleagues are a wonderful thing – but mentors, that’s where the real work gets done.” — Junot Diaz, professor at MIT
Today’s issue:
September 1, 2020
GAME CHANGERS
HCDC: Free market research for smaller companies 
Photo: HCDC
Leads are the lifeblood of any business, but many small- to medium-sized businesses don’t have the resources or research assets they need to fill their sales funnel with ease. HCDC, Inc. (i.e. - Hamilton County Development Co. Inc.) has a solution that makes growing your business easier: the Office of Innovation + Creativity.
Hamilton County companies with revenues of roughly $0.5 million to $50 million can apply for free technical assistance, thanks to a partnership with the National Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG) and funding from the county government.
Through the program, NCEG’s expert researchers devote 36 hours to exploring two to three key questions the participating company has about its sales and marketing efforts. The program, which began in 2018, is accepting applicants through September 18.
To learn more, Cincinnati Future spoke with Paul Fisher, Director of Innovation for HCDC’s Office of Innovation + Creativity.
What’s the profile of the companies you’re serving?
Fisher: Businesses looking for an extra set of hands to help them grow. Some have plateaued. Some are still growing, but they’re looking a year or two years out. Maybe they’ve plateaued on their base product, but they have two or three other products they’re thinking about, and they need help doing market research. Or maybe they’re thinking about expanding into other industries and need some help identifying which ones and compiling a list of qualified sales leads.
Why does the program focus on sales and marketing?
Fisher: Cincinnati has a wonderful startup ecosystem. There’s a strong collection of talented people, public and private organizations, and companies working together to fuel prosperity in our region. Cincy’s startup ecosystem does a great job at offering support to entrepreneurs along their journey. Leveraging marketing to provide a continuous source of new sales opportunities is an elemental need of any business. Businesses in our network routinely tell us that they need help identifying new sales leads.
Why focus on small- to medium-sized companies?
Fisher: It depends on the region, but they represent about 15% of the businesses, plus or minus, and they employ about 30% of the workers. When they grow, they add jobs disproportionately. That comes from research by the National Center for Economic Gardening.
What resources does NCEG provide?
Fisher: Market researchers with 15, 20, 25 years of experience. Plus, they have access to high-powered corporate databases, tools that [large] companies can afford more easily, like LexisNexis and Euromonitor, big market-research products that are paid sources.
How much time does the participating company have to commit?
Fisher: It only takes the actual company up to 12 hours. There’s an hour or so for an application and about two hours to do a discovery call with the market research group to home in on the top two to three sales and marketing questions they have and finalize a scope of work. The other nine hours are dedicated to reviewing core deliverables including market research reports, qualified sales lists, and digital analytics recommendations. Most of the time spent is focused on rolling up their sleeves and doing the work for the company.
Any idea what the dollar value of the service is?
Fisher: If you were to go and pay for this all yourself, it would cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 for the databases and then call it $100 to $200 an hour for the service. An engagement is probably worth $25K.
And participating companies spend how much?
Fisher: It doesn’t cost them anything.
For more information, and to read success stories from program alumni, visit https://hcdc.com/oic/. Share this story!
SoCap healthcare startup accelerator accepting applications There's an accelerator for that! If healthcare is your entrepreneurial focus, check this out: St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Northern Kentucky University have joined forces to help create the next leaders in health innovation.
Innovative breakthroughs in healthcare are solving some of the world’s most urgent challenges, whether it’s to improve quality of care, advance diagnostics and treatment, or enhance the patient and provider experience.
SoCap Accelerate is currently accepting applications for its first cohort—five healthcare-related startups to participate in an intensive five-week program. The program will help startups make connections with healthcare professionals in real scenarios to test, refine, and optimize their innovations in real time. Share this story!
Kable Academy brings classes to 1819 Innovation Hub The 1819 Innovation Hub, the heart of the innovation district at the UC, welcomes a new variety of students this month.
Cincinnati Bell is partnering with Kable Academy, an education startup providing cybersecurity and web development courses. 12 week full-time and 24 week part-time programs are available.
The partnership's core goal is closing the tech gap and fulfilling the estimated 3,500 tech job openings in Greater Cincinnati.
"It is critical that organizations partner to develop a pipeline of talent that will support the growing demand for skilled IT resources in Greater Cincinnati and beyond," Kevin Murray, senior vice president, and CIO at Cincinnati Bell told us. Share this story!
ON OUR RADAR 
Hit the accelerator Speaking of accelerators and resources to help budding entrepreneurs, below are just a few organizations that should be on your radar. They're certainly on our Cincinnati Innovation Radar.
Wait...there is a Cincinnati Innovation Radar? Yes! This rapidly growing database identifies the most innovative local organizations and the people behind them. We will continue to share additions and interesting trends. You can also explore the radar and add your company if it's not already included.
Just a few resources for emerging startups:
Click here to see details on 16 accelerators and other helpful startup programs. Share this story!
SPOTLIGHT
Cincy-based Gensuite makes Inc. 5000 list Cincinnati-based Gensuite has landed on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. The company offers a cloud-based software system that helps companies comply with environment, health, and safety regulations, as well as quality management.
Today the company serves 300 companies in 120 countries and has 400 employees worldwide.
In upcoming issues, we will spotlight the other Cincinnati companies that make the Inc. 5000 list for 2020. Share this story!
KNOW YOUR CITY 
Have you checked your "Cincy-Q" recently?
Click here to see answers.
TELL US ABOUT IT! Share stories, offer suggestions, or comment!
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