MORTAR, a Cincy-based entrepreneurship hub that focuses on "enabling under-served entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed," celebrated members of its 18th and 19th cohorts during the sixth annual Life is a P!+ch event and graduation June 11.
The founders of 10 startups, chosen by their cohort members, took to the Memorial Hall stage to present their work for a total of three minutes. Of those 10, two took home prizes: Alisha Stevenson of Ohana Health Coach, Inc., a health and wellness startup, won the People's Choice award; Alex Vonderhaar of Hidden Falls Media, a digital media agency, won the Judge's Choice award.
For both entrepreneurs, their work was born of serious life events that changed their perspectives.
A former police officer, Stevenson spoke to how she started Ohana after a colon cancer diagnosis. The subsequent strength she received from her "ohana" (the Hawaiian word for "family") helped her heal, and she wanted others to benefit from a unique health and wellness ohana of their own. Her business offers everything from nutrition information to workshops to events for seniors, focused on the tenets of "nutrition, hydration, attitude, lifestyle, and exercise" for building a healthy life.
As for Vonderhaar, he studied psychology and neuroscience at The Ohio State University.
“I never thought I would be in the entrepreneurial space,” he said. But it wasn't until a near-death experience and consistent over-performance at a job with limited growth potential that he realized he wanted to do more.
Enter the 2018-born Hidden Falls Media. Although Vonderhaar wrote that the "success path has been far from easy, and has come with mountains of challenges," the company boasted generating $15 million in ad spend return for its clients in 2018. The company, he added, is looking to more than double that number in 2019.
Vonderhaar and Stevenson were joined by other pitchers, like included Arian Green of Playvision Sports Analytics, a real-time basketball analytics platform; and Latesha James of Tastebud: Tantalizing Treats, a Cincinnati-based bakery.
“I’ve learned through MORTAR that the things you are not strong in, you seek help [with],” James said, adding that her goal after the MORTAR program is to build a dedicated website through which she can build her brand.
Green, in turn, illustrated how his platform allows a coach to go through game data while it's happening. This eliminates a team's need to examine game tape post-competition; players and coaches have already done the equivalent as they play.
University of Kentucky, Morehead State and Kent State currently work with Green, who is currently ramping up his marketing efforts to get to 50 teams. He's banking on the fact that he has no direct competitors for his software.
“Nobody can generate reports on the fly,” Green said.
The night concluded with a word from MORTAR co-founder Derrick Braziel.
“Our program is culturally sensitive and meets entrepreneurs where they are,” he said.
