17 Jul 2013
By flashstarts

Food for Thought with Todd Federman

Other
This week’s “Food for Thought” was with Todd Federman of North Coast Angel Fund. The North Coast Angel Fund is an angel group that is very prominent in our area and Todd is their executive director. He talked to us about the process of pitching to angel investors and what angel investors and venture capitalists want to hear. He also be shared the best practices for a pitch, which was very valuable to everyone in the office!
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17 Jul 2013
By flashstarts

Meet an Intern: Callie Bumba

Other
Position: Graphic design intern College: Cleveland Institute of Art, Class of 2014 Linkedin Profile My internship at FlashStarts has been great!  While there were several teams and interns at FlashStarts, I was part of a team called Anigraphic, a company with the goal of reimagining graphic storytelling. This startup offered a tool to bring graphic stories to life—a digital editor for artists and writers to enhance their art, imagery, and stories. My basic responsibilities were anything and everything art related. I illustrated an interactive graphic children’s book and helped design the company’s identity by creating a logo, business cards and other visuals…
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16 Jul 2013
By flashstarts

Serial Entrepreneur Charles Stack starts a downtown accelerator to help launch software companies

Other
Serial Entrepreneur Charles Stack starts a downtown accelerator to help launch software companiesSerial IT entrepreneur Charles Stack, who began mentoring college students five years ago after selling one of his companies, Flashline, to Oracle, just launched a new business accelerator downtown to help entrepreneurs, college students and recent graduates start software companies.
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16 Jul 2013
By flashstarts

Food for Thought with Robert Hatta

Other
Almost every week, FlashStarts hosts an event called “Food for Thought” where we’re provided with a free lunch and a chance to hear one of our expert mentors talk about an aspect of entrepreneurship. This week, our “Food for Thought” lunch event was with Robert Hatta. He has worked at Jumpstart as the Vice President of Entrepreneurial Talent, and is currently a partner at Hatch, LLC. At Jumpstart, he worked with portfolio company founders, CEOs, and executive teams on talent planning. He also provided strategic and transactional support for recruiting all levels of team members. Robert spoke to us about…
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11 Jun 2013
By flashstarts

Serial Entrepreneur Charles Stack starts a downtown accelerator to help launch software companies

News, Other
Front Page of the PD Business Tuesday Great coverage for FlashStarts teams on the front page of the Cleveland PD Tuesday Business Section. Stack said the students' ideas at FlashStarts vary greatly, from healthcare companies and one that offers independent films online to a company that plans to develop software for major corporations that will increase database performance by 10 times. Accelerator participants offered varying reasons for applying for the summer opportunity, but Stack believes he knows why they decided to spend the summer with him. "The reason they would come here is I have experience in taking an idea…
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23 Apr 2013
By flashstarts

Meet Flashstarts – Cleveland’s Newest Accelerator!

News, Other
Silicon Rust Belt Coverage "...Cleveland is a spectacular location: we have not one but four seasons, the greatest amount of fresh water on the planet, high-speed air travel, high-speed Internet, and a huge inventory of low- priced homes built in the 19 teens and 20’s with unmatched quality. Combine that with great people and great schools, why would anybody want to live anywhere else?” “The most fun time in a startup is in the very beginning. It’s like standing in the middle of a giant field surrounded by forest,” said Mr. Stack... “My thinking with FlashStarts was if one startup…
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04 Apr 2013
By flashstarts

Business Model Canvas for the Right-Brained

Other, Tools
We use the business model canvas as a tool in our accelerator. But, because we strongly encourage right-brained entrepreneurs, we wanted a slightly different version. Here is the standard left-brain version: And here is our new right-brain version: If the second one makes more sense to you, please apply to our accelerator right now.
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16 Mar 2013
By flashstarts

Entrepreneurs: Defer Your Student Loans Using SLIBRP

Other
Its not easy being an entrepreneur. Paying back student loans while founding a startup can be one too many things hanging over your head. Fortunately, there is an answer: The Student Loan Income Based Repayment Plan. (A great acronym: SLIBRP! Pronounced "sly burp") For example, if you owe $100,000 in student loans at 6.8% and you can live on $17,000 per year you can effectively defer all student loan payments until your startup takes off. Here is the official US Government site where you can learn more and calculate your numbers. SLIBRP One way of looking at this if you…
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05 Mar 2013
By flashstarts

Top Ten Reasons to Pick FlashStarts as Your Accelerator

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Why FlashStarts? Who doesn't love a top ten list? I had to leave off 23 other excellent reasons to select FlashStarts in order to fit the format. You can email me if you want the list of benefits that didn't fit on this list. Led by seasoned successful serial entrepreneurs Extensive Enterprise IT experience Access to numerous Healthcare organizations Iterative, educational application process Summer in Cleveland is beautiful Apprentice program for solo entrepreneurs For-profit DNA Intern guild (20 person) for technical services Agile software development methodology (11 years experience) Follow-on funding Applications open January 2014.
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31 Jan 2013
By flashstarts

Linkedin

Other, Tools
I just spent an hour updating my Linkedin profile. FlashStarts is the first business I have started where Linkedin has provided clear value. And that value is proving to be significant. FlashStarts, like most startup accelerators, is based on a network of mentors. Mentors provide advice, feedback, introductions, occasionally wisdom, and sometimes funding. Linkedin is ideally suited for this model. The underlying network model enables business connections across people, companies, and groups. We are already using Linkedin in a variety of ways: for mentor bios, applicant resumes, mentor group communications, team/mentor pairing, alpha customer introductions, and funding introductions. If you…
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