Author: flashstarts

This week at Flashstarts was an exciting and nerve-wracking one, for many reasons. Earlier in the week, interns received notice of their mid-summer bonus, which is awarded proportionally to each intern’s contributions. Later in the week, the first round of shark tanks began. Shark Tank   If you’re not familiar with the show of the same title, our shark tanks are when local investors come to our office to listen to our entrepreneurs’ pitches. When the pitch is over, they ask a multitude of challenging questions and offer both feedback and advice. This opportunity allows the teams to practice delivering pitches…

By: Rebeka Tannenbaum An internship at Flashstarts is an extremely unique experience. Where else are you going to be intimately working with 12 startups, completing projects that are both timely and valuable to the functioning of a business? From the reactions of my friends when I tell them that I’m working here, I can assure you that this isn’t a common occurrence. But, what often leads to more awe in my peers is when I tell them that we have two summer bonuses – one at the six-week mark and another at the end of the internship. Bonuses are a…

My Path From Liberal Arts Graduate to Software Developer The journey from liberal arts graduation to first job is a challenging one. I went into the job search without many technical skills, only a fear of working a 9 to 5 cubicle job that I hated. I took a gamble and decided to take an internship after graduating college. A good friend tipped me off about the Flashstarts internship program, and I realized immediately it was a good fit for me. Working with a startup to create something completely new that solves a challenging problem is an exhilarating experience. I…

Qwickly Shares its Higher Education Productivity Solution at BbWorld 2014 Qwickly, a 2014 Flashstarts Accelerator company, is attending BbWorld 2014, Blackboard's annual user conference. Qwickly is attending the conference with an important milestone: international sales. The Cleveland-based startup has over 175 clients and six hundred thousand users around the world, in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. Learn more in the press release below. [iframe src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/185432333/Press%20Releases%20-%20Website%20Hosting/Qwickly%20at%20BbWorld%20with%20Global%20Sales.pdf"]

Vestor Partners with JHB Hotel and Western National Capital Partners to Finance Le Méridien Hotel Vestor, a 2014 Flashstarts Accelerator company, announced its plans to finance the development of a Le Méridien Hotel in downtown Cleveland. Vestor is now raising $7 million for the project from investors through its crowdfund real estate platform. More details are in the press release below. [iframe src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/185432333/Press%20Releases%20-%20Website%20Hosting/Vestor's%20Cleveland%20Crowdfund%20Real%20Estate%20Project.pdf"]

With the announcement of the 2016 Republican National Convention coming to Cleveland, as well as the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers, there's a lot of excitement in our city-- and all of our teams are feeling it. The last two weeks, while exciting, have been busy, as our teams pass the halfway point of the summer program and get closer and closer to Demo Day. Food for Thought: Marketing Your Startup On A Shoestring Budget In last week’s Food for Thought, our teams and interns heard from Jason Therrien of thunder::tech on startup marketing. Though they've been working hard at…

When Sagar Rambhia and Ari Lewis attended high school together in Long Island, New York, all Sagar knew about Ari was that he was a 16-year-old kid who had made a 900% return investing in the stock market. When they formally met at the Future Business Leaders of America conference, they soon realized that they wanted to work together, and their resolve was solidified when Ari joined Sagar at Case Western Reserve University. Their joint passion for gaming and entrepreneurship led to the creation of Koalah, a platform for online cash-based skilled gaming for mobile. What attracted you to the…

Mango, one of our 2014 startup accelerator teams, launched a pilot program for their digital advertising platform to help colleges recruit international students. They filled up the five available spots for schools in their pilot program within 21 days. Read more in the press release below. [iframe src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/185432333/Press%20Releases%20-%20Website%20Hosting/Mango%20Pilot%20Program%20release.pdf"]

Our next team spotlight is KnotProfit, an online platform enabling couples to support charitable projects with their weddings. KnotProfit was founded by Kritika Kripakaran and Joshua Harris, who when setting off to plan their own nuptials, saw a clear need in the wedding industry-- couples were changing with the times, but the wedding industry was not. Inspired by their own experiences and perspectives, they set out to create a service that caters to today's engaged couple. What attracted you to the Flashstarts accelerator? We had heard about Flashstarts at a few networking events around town, but had our first formal…