Greater Cleveland was once a thriving, prosperous community because entrepreneurial icons like B.F. Goodrich, Charles Brush, and Charles Diebold had innovative ideas, received support and funding from risk takers in the region, and grew those ideas into the region’s largest employers.
Beginning in the 1980s, however, the region lost tens of thousands of jobs and didn’t have companies growing to replace those jobs. Northeast Ohio was in desperate need of job and wealth creation.
The region’s civic, community, and philanthropic leaders came together in 2003 and provided the vision and leadership for a solution: a unique partnership between public and private entities charged with creating economic transformation in Northeast Ohio through the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
From this concept, JumpStart was born.
JumpStart accelerates entrepreneurial success.
Entrepreneurs are our nation’s job creators. We accelerate their successes.
We do this in a few ways. First, we directly invest in and assist entrepreneurs leading high growth companies in Greater Cleveland. We also grow and strengthen our region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem—the interconnected and diverse organizations that support entrepreneurial companies—by raising funds for other support organizations and managing a network of 20 incubators, accelerators, and investors. And, as Northeast Ohio’s ecosystem continues to transform, we are applying the experience and expertise we’ve gained through our work in Greater Cleveland to accelerate entrepreneurial success in other regions.
Learn more about our work with entrepreneurs and with ecosystems. Read more about our charitable purpose.
Our vision
JumpStart's vision is to increase the economic impact and sustainability of Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, while leveraging JumpStart’s experience and expertise to catalyze entrepreneurship nationally.