Sean Parker is an entrepreneur at heart – he started his first business at age 13 – but he also has experience at some of the largest companies on the planet, including Nike and Procter & Gamble. He brings that to his new role at Main Street Ventures, a role he assumed in March.
Main Street Ventures has a long history in Cincinnati. Most recently, it was the parent organization overseeing the Brandery accelerator, but before that, it was created to help entrepreneurs navigate the dot-com boom in the late '90s.
Today, Main Street Ventures serves a unique niche in Cincinnati's entrepreneurship ecosystem: It awards grants to early-stage companies, which are often too young for traditional venture capital or bank financing. The organization has awarded more than $3 million in funding since 2018.
But in his new role, Parker is taking a look at how that money is best deployed, and who it best serves.
Unlike many funders, Main Street Ventures does not take ownership equity in the companies it awards grants to. Parker sees the value in that.
“Because I've been an entrepreneur, I think that there are these misconceptions where you ask an entrepreneur how they’re doing, they say great. You ask them how their business is doing and they say great, and if you’ve been in business, you know that it’s never great," Parker said on "Above the Fold," the podcast by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
"Even if you have a great day, you’re still thinking about the other things you need to address in order to grow and accelerate. One of the benefits of us not taking equity is that the companies and the founders are really honest with us, and they’re really comfortable telling us where there are areas they are struggling with, and we can actually … connect them with the support that will help them overcome that and grow.”
But Parker and his team are discussing whether there should be an equity component, so the organization can continue to award grants over time.
At the same time, there's been a shift in the kind of companies Main Street Ventures funds. When it was first formed, hot on the heels of running the Brandery, the focus was still on technology-based companies, the accelerator's bread and butter. But more and more, Main Street Ventures has been awarding grants to more, well, Main Street businesses – retailers and consumer goods makers.
“Personally, I think there’s a huge opportunity to ramp up the support in manufacturing and in retail, because if you think about the things that make our region great, we’re a town of makers, we’re a town of manufacturing, whether it’s CPG (consumer package goods) products or physical goods. We see a huge opportuntiy to support those groups, as well as supporting the tech side,” he said.
