Meet Our Northwest Ohio Impact Program’s Inaugural Cohort

We are excited to announce the first cohort of newly launched Northwest Ohio Impact Program. This 12-week business assistance program is designed to drive economic impact by helping individuals overcome obstacles to entrepreneurship through hands-on advising and industry-specific mentoring. Over the next three months, these five entrepreneurs will be learning and working together alongside JumpStart

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Consult 2 Code Takes Home The $10,000 Prize At Core City: Cleveland Fall Entrepreneur Showcase

On Wednesday, December 5, Core City: Cleveland Impact Program participant Angel Washington delivered the winning pitch for her business, Consult 2 Code, during the program’s culminating entrepreneur showcase—taking home the top prize of $10,000 to grow her business. Inspired to start her own company after working for years in the medical coding and billing field, Angel

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Five Questions With Jose Melendez, Executive Chef Of Melendez Catering Services, LLC

Melendez Catering Services was founded by the Melendez brothers, Omar and Jose, in 2010. Over the past eight years, Chef Jose has expanded his menu to feature more elaborate Caribbean-style modern cuisine by taking American classic dishes and reinventing them with a Latin touch. Jose is also a part of JumpStart’s Core City: Cleveland Impact Program, an

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Five Questions with Immaculate Cleaning Co. Founder, James Barnes

Founded in 2011, Immaculate Cleaning offers premier janitorial cleaning services designed for commercial buildings, government facilities, healthcare facilities, places of worship, schools and universities, retail locations and sports and entertainment venues. The company specializes in day porter services, general daily cleaning, floor and upholstery care, post-construction clean-up and event setup and takedown and takes pride

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Five Questions with Consult 2 Code, LLC Founder, Angel Washington

Consult 2 Code (C2C) provides fast and accurate medical billing, coding and practice management services to healthcare providers of all sizes, including hospitals, clinics, home health agencies and health departments. Angel Washington, who has more than two decades of experience in medical billing, coding and credentialing, founded C2C in 2008 to help her clients increase

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Five Questions with Mustard Seed Development Owner, Daryl Anderson

Founded in 2011, Mustard Seed Development is a community-based business that specializes in real estate development/construction on the near West Side of Cleveland. The company renovates quality, affordable housing for low income, refugee and immigrant families and also hires and trains refugees and immigrants in construction skills, empowering them to start their own businesses and/or

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Five Questions With Faithful Homes, LLC Founders, Karla & Carl Miller

Nearly two decades ago, Faithful Homes began by providing care for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities in need of respite care. Since then, the company has grown and now provides residential and homemaker personal care for these individuals, in addition to non-medical transportation and travel services, helping them become more involved in activities they

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From Light Bulb Moment To Industry Leader, Wireless Environment Illuminates Cleveland’s Culture Of Innovation

David Levine and Michael Recker were tired of the same old lighting fixtures: the kind with tangles of wires and a complicated installation process that required an electrician. So, they set out to create a simpler, more cost-effective solution: bright, efficient, wireless lighting that could be easily installed anywhere.   The Solution Wireless Environment launched

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Five Lessons I Learned Founding OnShift From My Cleveland Basement

More than a decade ago, I moved to Cleveland from San Francisco and started a brand new company called BAZMANsms. Today, the company I launched from my basement employs nearly 150 people, has thousands of customers across the U.S., has raised over $33 million in capital and is showing no signs of stopping. What’s that

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Three Ways to Win Over An Investor’s Industry Expert

As an entrepreneur, sooner or later you will find yourself pitching an investor who brings in their own industry expert to provide an objective assessment of your business. Regardless of the amount of time and effort you have invested in the relationship up to this point, this expert’s opinion can literally make or break your

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Market Validation: Are You Doing It Wrong?

When I started my first successful company I spent a great deal of time validating my belief that I had found a big problem, in a big market, with customers willing to spend money for the solution. Still, it took me almost two years to start seeing real traction and predictability in my revenue. It

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