Cincinnati will submit a bid Feb. 15 in an effort to land Venture For America's fifth iteration of its residential accelerator.
The 2011-born entity, founded by entrepreneur Andrew Yang, is a two-year program that looks to connect recent college graduates with startups in high-growth cities around the country.
Its accelerator component was created to provide its participants, or fellows, with the "time, space and support they need to turn their side projects into full-time ventures by the completion of the four-month program." Said four-month program — which is industry agnostic — looks to support early stage companies as they grow, through mentorship, workshops and other features. Participants will present their work at a pitch event, with a chance to receive funding from the VFA Seed Fund.
Previous cycles of the program had homes in Detroit and Philadelphia for two years each.
This year, VFA is looking to bring the accelerator to the state after Ohio Third Frontier provided the funding to do so, and Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus have submitted bids to be its newest home. The winner will be announced in early March.
“The Venture for America Accelerator program — it’s really a pre-accelerator program — will bring six or seven companies to an Ohio city and all those companies will be led by Venture for America alum,” said Venture for America CEO Amy Nelson. “Those alums are starting businesses in a wide variety of industries.”
So far, the accelerator program started in 2015, and alumni from the program have raised $10.2 million in seed money, as well as creating 63 jobs. The companies also tend to stay in the host cities, according to statistics provided by VFA. Seven of the 13 companies in Philadelphia took up residence. Four of the 12 companies stayed in Detroit
In order to get a bid VFA works with key ecosystem stakeholders. In Cincinnati, those stakeholders are Ron Meyers of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Commercialization at the University of Cincinnati; Eric Weissmann of Cintrifuse; P.G. Sittenfeld of the City of Cincinnati; Pete Brown of Main Street Ventures and Amanda Kranias of Haverford Ventures.
These stakeholders must work with VFA to find workspace for the companies, which must include about 12 desks, conference room and breakout rooms. Housing for the participants is also crucial, as VFA requires that the hosting city have venues capable to produce high-quality demo days. Lastly, the requirements include a diverse network of mentors, so that the fellows can receive high-quality guidance.
The Queen City ecosystem already boasts many requisite strengths, Kranias said.
“The fact that Cincinnati is not as populous as Cleveland or Columbus is a benefit to the startup community,” she continued. “It is easier to make connections and obtain access to corporate leaders. Even with a population of over 300,000, the Cincinnati business community maintains the small town attitude of lending a hand to your 'neighbor'. It is rare to find a community of professionals so willing to lend time and resources to young entrepreneurs.”
The city's diverse mix of big and small companies is also a benefit, Nelson said.
“I think the Cincinnati community is really strong because there’s this great mix of big cos, which everyone talks about, but it means those individuals have really strong connections be it in marketing, logistics or supply chain management,” she added.
“The last reason why Cincinnati is a good choice for the accelerator also boils down to the accelerator ecosystem and the infrastructure that exists here,” said VFA Cincinnati and Columbus Director Erika Pryor. “There are plenty of accelerators and I think that’s one thing that makes Cincinnati unique.”
