National Small Business Week Spotlight: Matt Villenauve and Labelmatch
Now in its 53rd year, National Small Business Week celebrates the positive impact entrepreneurs and small businesses have on the economy. In honor of this week, we’ll be profiling a group of local scaleup businesses that are connected to our work. These scaleups are established small businesses who have made it through the difficult startup
Five Questions With Rust Belt Riders Co-Founder Dan Brown
Every entrepreneur needs fertile soil and a thriving ecosystem to flourish. But it’s not just a metaphor for Rust Belt Riders—the business literally converts food waste to high quality compost that enriches the soil. Recently we sat down with co-founder Dan Brown to learn more about how his business took root. What inspired you to
How To Crowdfund For Your Venture
Over the last decade, online crowdfunding has changed the fundraising game, and small businesses are reaping the benefits. At its most basic, the concept of crowdfunding (raising small amounts of money from a large amount of people) can be broken down into two distinct categories—donation/reward-based and investment-based. Nonprofits and cause-centered organizations often use donation/reward-based crowdfunding, while
JumpStart Employee Spotlight: Jaclyn Sommers
JumpStart Market Research Analyst Jaclyn Sommers spends her time helping entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio gather and analyze good data in order to validate their assumptions about their products, services and target markets. Recently, we sat down with Jaclyn to ask her five questions about her life and work at JumpStart: How has JumpStart helped you
Five Questions With Studio Stick Founder Brandyn Armstrong
Brandyn Armstrong is not your average 24-year-old. In fact, the young inventor has the potential to turn the music industry upside down with his product, the Studio Stick, a portable recording studio coupled with a mobile app. Brandyn is also part of JumpStart’s Core City: Cleveland Impact program, an intensive business assistance program designed to
Marketing 101: Choosing The Right Website Content Management System
Your website isn’t just your presence on the internet. For many customers, your website is what shapes their first impression. As a result, it can go a long way in establishing (or diminishing) your credibility. Websites that are slow, unappealing, filled with poor content and unfriendly to mobile devices can sometimes be worse than no