From our first humble days with only one employee, through a very quick ramp up to a fully staffed office, and ending in third quarter 2009, Rocket Venture’s clients have received almost $28M in investment, grants, sales, licensing agreements, and joint development efforts. That’s not just a couple of “lucky” entrepreneurs – that number represents the success of twenty-six different early-stage companies! That doesn’t count any money from the State of Ohio, either, such as grants from the Alternative Energy Program. We only measure how much “New” money comes into these Ohio businesses. It also doesn’t include other deals in the works, which we expect will dramatically increase that total.
Why is this important and what should it mean to you? Well, if you are an entrepreneur with a technology idea, it means that we have a proven track record of success and you should talk to us to see if we can help you. If you are looking to relocate a business, it means that Northwest Ohio is on the upswing and will continue to be a great place to be based. If you are a tax-payer, it means that we have taken $5.5M of a Third Frontier bond issuance and leveraged a 5.1 return.
Even though these are great numbers, some of the impact on Northwest Ohio is a little tougher to see. We are accustomed to hearing about “new jobs” and large existing companies moving here from out of the area. We don’t often hear about or think about how companies get started and what needs to happen before an entrepreneur can even hire the first person. But that is what Ohio’s Third Frontier Entrepreneurial Signature Program is designed to do – help position companies for that initial step and continued growth. We are taking the lessons from the start of the glass industry in Toledo, the auto industry in Michigan, and more recently personal computer industry in Seattle in order to apply them here today. We are creating industries from small groups of related technologies. Those industries will take hold, grow, expand, and grow some more. It will take some time to see the full effects of our efforts today, but the point is that these numbers indicate we are on the right track.
Craig Ortega
Program Manager
Tags: Add new tag, Economic Development, Money, ODOD, Ohio, Starting a business, Strategy, Technology, Third Frontier