Design is more important than technology in most consumer applications.
As seed accelerators pop up across the country, entrepreneurs have to figure out the best program for their needs. Thanks to the work of the Kauffman Fellows Program, Tech Cocktail and the Kellogg School of Management, this task just got a bit easier. These groups partnered together to release their ranking of the Top 15 seed accelerator / incubator programs in the country (see below chart).
We’re excited that The Brandery landed in the top 10, despite being less than a year old. With the momentum going into our sophomore class in 2011, we think we’re be able to crack the top 5 next year!
A big thank you to everyone that has helped make The Brandery a reality as we put the Midwest and Cincinnati on the map as a great home to start-ups.
Applications are now live for the 2011 Brandery class. While the application deadline is June 1, 2011, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible in order to qualify for “early acceptance”. If you have any questions about the program, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]
Applications can be found at http://brandery.org/apply/
As a TechStars Network Member, Brandery Takes Part in White House Startup America Program
[CINCINNATI] – Jan. 31, 2011 – The Brandery is now a member of the TechStars Network, a newly launched White House-sponsored alliance of independently owned and operated startup accelerator programs from dozens of cities across the United States and around the world.
The TechStars Network is comprised of other startup accelerator programs similar to The Brandery that provide seed funding and mentorship to innovative entrepreneurs. The Brandery will collaborate with these organizations and learn best practices from the mentorship-driven model pioneered by TechStars, the leading startup accelerator program in the United States.
As a member of the TechStars Network, The Brandery will have access to a rich set of strategic resources including professional development and ongoing support to effectively lead and mentor innovative entrepreneurs in Cincinnati.
The TechStars Network is part of the Startup America initiative, launched today by President Obama. In partnership with the White House, the goal of the TechStars Network is to become an engine for job growth by ensuring that over the next four years, 5,000 experienced business leaders and investors will mentor and support 6,000 promising young entrepreneurs. The aim is to increase the success rate and sustainability of each program, and to ultimately create 25,000 new economy jobs by 2015.
“We are pleased to have The Brandery join the TechStars Network,” said David Cohen, founder and CEO of TechStars. “The TechStars Network signals and formalizes our support for credible mentorship-driven programs like The Brandery. We believe the proliferation of the mentorship-driven accelerator model is healthy for entrepreneurs. Through this network of independent organizations, we can help increase their impact dramatically and make entrepreneurial communities the real winners.”
Brandery co-founder David Knox said the network provides a terrific opportunity to expand the reach and resources of Cincinnati’s consumer-marketing-oriented accelerator.
“For our first class last summer, more than 70 companies applied from 15 states, and three of the six we accepted moved here from outside our region,” said Knox. “This network will offer visibility that will help us continue to provide Cincinnati with a net gain of entrepreneurs.”
Also, Knox said, “with TechStars Network’s rich set of strategic resources, we will build stronger companies faster.”
The application period for Brandery Class 2 begins April 1. More information will be available at www.brandery.org.
The Brandery joins a select group of invitation-only TechStars Network members in major cities across the United States and around the world. Today the network is open to all entrepreneurial thought leaders and organizations interested in building or enhancing mentorship-driven startup accelerator programs.
It is hard to believe that only 12 weeks ago, The Brandery was just getting started with our inaugural class of companies. Fast forward to today and we will be graduating 6 amazing start-ups at our first Demo Day on Thursday, November 18th. We have a sold-out crowd of 150 venture capitalists, investors and entrepreneurs joining us at the LPK Innovation Center for what should be a fun-filled and exciting morning.
The day will start off with a keynote by Ben Lerer, founder of Thrillist.com and Lerer Ventures. We then move onto the pitches as our 6 Brandery graduates take the stage to share their stories. Presenting on stage will be:
If you aren’t able to join us in Cincinnati, we will be live streaming the event over at uStream starting around 9 AM EST. We will also be taking the companies on a road show to be New York City (December 1st) and San Francisco (December 7th), so let us know if you’d want to meet any of them.
On October 21st, The Brandery companies participated in the Startup Expo at the CincyTech Annual Meeting at Duke Energy Convention Center, meeting prospective investors, other entrepreneurs and civic and business leaders. It was a great chance to showcase their progress at the program’s midpoint, as well as start to prep for Demo Day on November 18th.
The team at VenturePax also received some solid PR in this great article that recently appeared in Soapbox.
Above photo by Mark Bowen
On November 18th, The Brandery’s inaugural Demo Day will take place at the LPK Innovation Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. While space is limited, we do have a waiting list for anyone interested in attending. You can sign up for the waiting list here. If you have any questions or problems with the list, please contact Dave Knox at [email protected].
This week The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine released their rankings of the 25 top graduate and undergrad university programs for entrepreneurs. For the second year in a row, Greater Cincinnati had three schools who were in the Top 20 including:
#6. University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio
#11. Xavier University, Cincinnati
#20. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
These rankings continue to reaffirm why we think Cincinnati is the perfect home for The Brandery and the next generation of great start-ups. And on that note, a fun fact is that all 6 of the companies in The Brandery have founders who attended one of the schools who made the list.
Geoff Allen, founder of ZipList, Grab Networks and Echo360 recently visited The Brandery to share his “Mistakes, Learnings & Other Musings.” As always, Geoff over delivered with a stellar presentation to the companies. My personal favorite was to “Build companies on fundamentals because crazy, irrational values are anomalies.” Too often it is easy to get caught up in the valuations of investor darlings like Quora, Twitter and FourSquare, forgetting that these are the exception not the rule.
If you are interested in the day to day events at The Brandery, you should check out the newest blog from the guys at Giftiki. As part of our inaugural class, Giftiki is the classic entrepreneurial story. The two co-founders, Bryan Jowers and Justin Stanislaw, both quit their jobs and moved from Houston, Texas to Cincinnati, Ohio to be part of The Brandery. That’s an energy you just have to love.
Over on their blog, they are sharing what they learn as they go through the program. My favorite part so far came from their latest post in which they wrote:
As Justin said to me at the end of the day, “We’re gonna need a bigger Rolodex.”
Today we are excited to announce the selection of our five inaugural participants in The Brandery. They are:
The turnout in applications was amazing with 40% of applications coming from outside Greater Cincinnati…including 15 different states! Needless to say, getting down to our final 5 was just a little difficult.
These companies are going to have a jam packed schedule over the next 3 months. We’ll be updating you on their progress, including some great videos. And for anyone that happens to be in Cincinnati, please stop by and pay us a visit at Longworth Hall.
See the full press release below:
The 12-week program has accepted:
The companies based outside of Southwest Ohio are relocating for the program.
David Knox, co-founder of the Brandery, said 40 percent of the applications came from outside the region. “That’s a strong testament to Cincinnati’s reputation for consumer marketing and entrepreneurs’ desire to learn in this environment,” he said.
Knox and J.B. Kropp teamed up to launch The Brandery, a nonprofit organization that will package funding, mentoring and partnerships around local entrepreneurs to help grow consumer marketing businesses here.
The program will begin Aug. 30 and will include a structured curriculum that includes seed investment, industry leader mentors and access to top talent in the industry. It will be located at Longworth Hall in downtown Cincinnati.
More than 30 mentors will participate, ranging from local experts such as Bob Gilbreath, Bridge Worldwide’s chief marketing strategist and Pete Blackshaw, executive vice-president of Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services to high-profile entrepreneurs such as Wendy Lea, CEO of Silicon Valley startup Get Satisfaction. (Click here for a full list: http://brandery.org/mentors/)
Each company will receive a $20,000 grant in exchange for equity in the company. As part of their participation, each company also will receive brand identity guidance from leading agencies including LPK, Resource Interactive, Barefoot Proximity, Empower MediaMarketing and Ample.
The $20,000 company grants will come from CincyTech, a public-private venture development group that invests in high-tech startup companies. CincyTech is using its Imagining Grant funds, which are aimed at growing companies to the point where they are investable.
In addition to CincyTech and the five creative agencies, support is coming from the Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation, Queen City Angels, River Cities Capital and Xavier University’s Williams College of Business. In addition, in-kind support has come from Taft Stettinius and Hollister, Frost Brown Todd, Seek Research, River City Furniture, Towne Properties, 7/79 Ltd., and profitability.net.
