Collaboration is Key!  The start to a good collaboration is beginning with the end in mind. If two people or two organizations share similar goals and ways of achieving the goals, it could be a great opportunity for collaboration. Disclaimer: I am not a collaboration expert. But with that being said, the first ever joint meeting of the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund (NEOSVF) and the Akron Regional Change Angels (ARCHAngels) was a success and it did not disappoint! The six NEOSVF chapters (University of Akron, Kent State University, Walsh University, Notre Dame College, The College of Wooster, and Case Western Reserve University) came together with the ARCHAngels for a meeting where more than 200 people decided to join us for a portion of their Valentine’s Day celebration! Hiram College and the University of Mount Union also had a number of students and faculty attend the event. So, how did it work? Both organizations have a desire to help entrepreneurs: the ARCHAngels through connecting startups to a variety of resources in the community and NEOSVF through potential access to capital and interns. We smashed the ARCHAngels event and the NEOSVF deal flow presentations together for a great meeting. People from all backgrounds, professions, and many universities gathered to hear five, pre-selected startups pitch and respond to initial diligence questions. If you are excited about what is going on and want to get more engaged with either, contact NEOSVF Executive Director Dan Hampu at dan@neosvf.com or Gordon Schorr at schorr@uakron.edu. Valentine’s Day Pitching Five awesome startups did a great job presenting. The companies were: Projitech, which is creating the best new mobile application for the transportation project management industry; Turning Mode, which is accelerating health-tech and life sciences innovations through its Sentinel visualization and illumination product for operating rooms; Hyr Medical, which is working to solve a critical problem in the healthcare practitioner supply chain, where there massive shortages of physicians and nurses, through their online and transparent marketplace with no agency middle man; VetGuardian, which is creating the first true non-contact vital signs monitor for cats and dogs, measuring pulse and respiration rate in real-time using ultra-wideband Doppler radar; and SplashCPQ, which sells a complete order management system to independent manufacturer representatives and distributors who want to simplify their quote, payment, and order processes. PetraPower, which is leveraging the efficiency and versatility of solid oxide fuel cells to reduce fuel costs and environmental impact for the transportation and shipping industries, was also selected to advance but could not attend the event on February 14th. Coffee with Komae It is always fun catching up with startup founders. Audrey Wallace (CEO) and Amy Husted (COO), of Komae, are no exception. They sat down with us to discuss their progress since launching. Spoiler alert: it’s remarkable! Komae is applying the sharing economy in a safe way to babysitting. After only launching in 2016, they have had a lot of success. In northeast Ohio, they presented to the ARCHAngels, have been funded by NEOSVF, the GLIDE Innovation Fund, and private angels, and have won pitch competitions and participated in programs from the Midwest to the east coast including “Project Entrepreneur,” which was founded by Rent the Runway co-founders, Jennifer Hyman and Jenny Fleiss to ignite bold ideas by providing women access to tools, training, and networks needed to build scalable, economically impactful tenants. They are also tenants of an exciting, new innovation hub in Akron, Ohio, called, the “Bounce Innovation Hub.” This facility, its programming, and its team are sure to cause a major impact to the Akron region!  Networking As is customary with ARCHAngels events, there was a lot of beneficial networking. There was a healthy mix of students from all over northeast Ohio, entrepreneurs, investors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, commercialization experts, and many more. I had the opportunity to connect with people from all different backgrounds and look forward to connecting more with all of you in the future.  NEOSVF Funded Companies Have Been Up to a LOT!
UPCOMING EVENTS As we put on this meeting, we were contacted by quite a few organizations about upcoming events. They are below for those that are interested.
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS! But for the support of the organizations below, the ARCHAngels and NEOSVF collaborative meeting would not have been possible.
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