When Jeremy Amos and Matt Benton were working together at a bank a few years back, they constantly heard from potential investors about how difficult the college admissions process was for their children. They found that finding the right college was often confusing, complicated and even expensive.
 
So, in 2011, Amos and Benton came up with Upclique -- a free forum to connect students with the information they need to find the college that fits their needs, and allowing colleges to attract quality students. “We offer students a very detailed search tool that helps them narrow down their number of potential schools to a list that is manageable,” says Amos. “Once they have narrowed their list we provide them with all the necessary info they will need regarding the school to make a quality decision.”  
 
Amos describes Upclique as the FaceBook of academia. “Our main goal was to create a site where students, parents, college counselors and college personnel come together,” says Amos. “They can come to our site not knowing a thing about what to do or where to go and we can immediately help them from this point."
 
Since its official launch at the end of February, Upclique has recruited 180 colleges, 35 high schools and 150 students and parents. “We’ve had really great growth,” says Amos.
 
Upclique’s revenue comes from third party sponsors in academics. They recently received an investment from Ancora Advisors in Beachwood, and they are endorsed by the National Catholic College Admission Association, which represents more than 200 colleges across the country.
 
Amos and Benton recently hired a CTO, who contracts with four outside developers.

 
Source: Jeremy Amos
Writer: Karin Connelly

When Costas Mavromichaelis opened Constantino's Market in downtown Cleveland, he knew that he was an urban pioneer. Downtown residents and businesses had been crying out for a small, full-service grocery store for years, yet no entrepreneur had been willing to take the plunge.

Eight years later, Constantino's Market on W. 9th Street is still going strong, and Mavromichaelis is hoping for another shot in the arm when the Horseshoe Casino opens this year and the Medical Mart and Convention Center open next year. The growing demand for downtown apartments also bodes well, he says.

The entrepreneur is now set to open a 16,000-square-foot branch of Constantino's in University Circle. City leaders contacted him after failing to secure leases from Dave's Market or Heinen's. Mavromichaelis says that the urban market isn't an easy or simple place to do business, but that he's addressing unmet demand.

"This is an important and developing area of Cleveland, and the density of and demand for housing because of the university and hospitals make it attractive," he says. "There's been a lack of shopping amenities in University Circle, but that's changing, and the Uptown project will make the area even more attractive."

Mavromichaelis says the new Constantino's will be very similar to the downtown store, and will be geared towards young professionals, students, small families and empty nesters. It will offer a full selection of groceries as well as a salad and hot foods bar, prepared foods, pizza and an impressive wine selection.

To make the deal work, the developer, MRN Ltd., leased the space to Case Western Reserve University, who in turn subleased it to Mavromichaelis. Uptown is a large, new retail and apartment development along Euclid Avenue in University Circle. The new Constantino's will be located at E. 115th and Euclid.

Mavromichaelis has also recruited his daughter and son-in-law, Anna Mavromichaelis and Andrew Revy, to move from Chicago to Cleveland to work in the business. His daughter has helped him to run the business and open new locations, while Revy will soon manage the University Circle location.

"My daughter was working as an accountant in Chicago, but she grew up in the business, coming to the Clifton store from the time she was seven or eight years old," says Mavromichaelis. "I guess she never got it out of her system."


Source: Costas Mavromichaelis
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Moving counter to the assertion that Print is Dead!, two local optimists have just launched a new print magazine. Edible Cleveland is a new print quarterly that focuses on the local food scene -- not just restaurants and chefs, but also farmers, history, tradition and lore. FW's Erin O'Brien brakes bread with publishers Noelle Celeste and Jon Benedict.

A trio of local entrepreneurs have recently opened Peace, Love and Little Donuts, a hippie-themed, gourmet donut shop in Kamm's Corners. The purple walls of the 40-seat venue are lined with Cleveland concert posters from the 60s through the 80s.

Now, donuts get a bad rap in today's health-conscious foodie scene. Yet founder Patrick Campbell says he's got that covered. The hot, fresh donuts are made right in the shop, and the coffee comes from Caruso's in Brecksville. And even if they're not exactly healthy, well, who can resist a maple and bacon donut?

Peace, Love and Little Donuts offers three different types of donuts. The "groovy" donuts are plain or sprinkled with powdered sugar or cinnamon. "Far out" donuts are frosted with chocolate, maple syrup or other goodies. "And the Funkadelic is where it gets really interesting," explains Campbell, who also owns P.J. McIntyre's Pub. "We've got a strawberry cheesecake, samoa and s'mores donut."

Peace, Love and Little Donuts also boasts a state-of-the-art espresso and latte machine that reportedly cost $10,000. "Coffee is the new pint," quips Campbell.

Campbell and his partners, Pete Campbell and James Crawford, first discovered the donut franchise on a visit to Pittsburgh last year. They were walking around the popular neighborhood The Strip and were overcome by a delicious odor.

"We just followed the smell," says Campbell. "And lo and behold, we found this small, 300 square foot, unique coffee shop. They were making fresh donuts right there in front of you, and there was a line out the door."


Source: Patrick Campbell
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Having birthed 25-plus new businesses within the past few years, Ohio City is on a roll. Leaders here hope to continue that progress this year as they launch the second round of the Small Business Development Grant Competition, an initiative that aided at least five new retail businesses in 2011.

The competition, which is being managed by Ohio City Inc. and funded by Charter One Growing Communities, offers grants of $5,000 to $20,000 to retail businesses that open or expand in the Market District along W. 25th or Lorain. Entrepreneurs can use the funds for rent payments of no more than one year, purchase of equipment for business operations or interior build out.

Community leaders are focusing solely on retail ventures this year, having overseen a boom of new restaurants and small boutique shops in 2011.

"The Charter One Growing Communities initiative has catalyzed tremendous growth in the Market District," said Eric Wobser, Director of Ohio City Inc., in a release. "We are very excited to launch year two of the competition."

Applicants can download the RFP from OCI's website and submit it along with a short essay and business plan. They'd better hurry, though -- according to Wobser, there are only five vacant storefronts remaining in the Market District.

Community leaders are also hoping that the Market District's considerable momentum will spill over onto Lorain Ave. Within the past two years, the down-on-its-heels main street that has begun to flicker with new life. OCI has created a community planning effort, Launch Lorain, to chart its future.


Source: Eric Wobser
Writer: Lee Chilcote

After developing their idea for an online funeral services resource at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business’ 10-Xelerator last summer, Mike Belsito and Bryan Chaikin have proved eFuneral to be a successful endeavor.
 
Originally called FunerAlly, the company was founded in June 2011. Belsito and Chaikin changed to name to eFuneral when they went live in February. The company provides an online platform for families to quickly find, compare and select a funeral provider.  “eFuneral is a simple way for our customer base to understand it is technology focused,” explains Belsito. “One of the things we underestimated is how difficult it would be to create a brand name.”
 
After some tweaking to make sure eFuneral is easily found through search engines like Google, business has boomed. Sixty-five funeral homes in Northeast and Central Ohio are now listed on the site. “We want to make sure that when others turn to the web to find funeral services they find eFuneral,” says Belsito. “Dozens of inquiries immediately came through, from pre-planning to immediate needs.”
 
Offline, groups like Hospice and religious organizations have partnered with eFuneral. The service is free for users. Revenue is earned through marketing fees and premium memberships that funeral homes purchase.
 
eFuneral is doing well. The company now has four employees. The company is still on a learning curve, but Belsito and Chaikin are eager learners. “Our goal is to prove the model we built and the business we built and learn as much from our customers as we can,” Belsito says. “Year one is about learning as much as we can so we can scale up nationally.”
 

Source: Mike Belsito
Writer: Karin Connelly

Blame it on the recession or chalk it up to a generation of people who prefer vinyl records to MP3s, but the trend toward creative entrepreneurship is real and rising. People value authenticity, and that often comes in the form of a handmade object with pedigree and a good story to boot. These folks have all traded in their "day jobs" to pursue their passion of making things by hand.

With cranes in the sky and construction workers swarming everywhere, downtown Cleveland is witnessing an impressive construction boom. Yet beneath the clouds of dust, a not-so-subtle changing of the guard is also taking place, as baby boomers retire and young people step into leadership posts.

The generational handing off of the baton appeared to be in display last week at the annual "State of Downtown" address, an event that is sponsored by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. The sold out crowd included a diverse, intergenerational group of business and nonprofit leaders.

To further enhance downtown Cleveland's vibrancy, civic and business leaders must engage young people from across different sectors to make it a better, more innovative place, said Lee Fisher, President of CEOs for Cities and a panelist at the City Club forum. "Cross-sector, cross-generational urban leaders are the greatest area of growth in cities, but we don't always walk the walk," he said. "It's not enough to have talent; we must also harness it and connect it."

Jeffrey Finkel, CEO of the International Economic Development Council, bemoaned the lack of corporate leadership in downtown Cleveland, yet said this is unsurprising given today's economy. He cited Eaton leaving downtown for the suburbs as one example. "You need to look at family-owned, growing companies for leadership," he said. "When they hire a Harvard MBA, you've lost."

Joe Marinucci, President of DCA, suggested the need to look beyond corporate leaders to young entrepreneurs. "Look at new businesses such as Nexus Cafe, Hodge's and Cleveland Pickle," he said. "These are homegrown entrepreneurs."


Source: Lee Fisher, Joe Marinucci, Jeffrey Finkel
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Every time a young person leaves Northeast Ohio for another part of the country, Greater Cleveland loses 120 percent of their salary in actual economic value, says Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

That's why he recently created the Next Generation Council, a group that is intended to stem brain drain by giving young people a voice in helping the county attract and retain young talent in the region.

Recently, FitzGerald selected 15 council members from a diverse pool of 125 applicants between the ages of 20 and 35. The group began meeting last month and is working to develop a strategic plan.

“The Next Generation Council will provide an opportunity for my administration to get input from young professionals on how the county can develop the right conditions to engage the creative class,” said FitzGerald in a news release. “We are lucky to have such a diverse group to begin this important initiative.”

She adds, "My aim is to help identify or establish pathways to boost the engagement of young professionals in the public sector, ensuring our voices are consistently represented at the highest level."

Each member of the council serves two years. The group is part of a broader effort by FitzGerald to make Cuyahoga County "a more inclusive and competitive region."


Source: Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Small business owners are often the very first to turn the lights on in the morning and the last to leave at night. So when an owner doesn't show up for work until midmorning, that's typically something his or her employees take notice of right away. They may gossip and joke that the boss is out playing hooky.

"They'll look around and wonder where the boss is," says Ginny Hridel, Product Manager of Health Insurance and Wellness Programs with the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE). "Taking an hour and a half a week is not something owners are used to."

Yet, dedicating such time to health and wellness is what's expected of participants in Wellness Tracks, a COSE program that's geared towards helping Cleveland's small business owners become healthier. Throughout the 12-week program, owners learn how to integrate nutrition and wellness into their lives. The result, says Hridel, impacts not only the owners' fitness levels but also their companies' bottom line.

"Think about the sustainability of small businesses," she says. "If the owner gets sick, there's a big impact on the business. If they're able to stay healthy, they can focus on the business and be more productive. There are so many wellness programs for big companies, but it's harder to achieve for small businesses."

To that end, COSE set up its program to make it easy and affordable for small business owners to participate. The program requires a manageable chunk of time and is free for anyone covered by COSE's Medical Mutual plan. Owners not covered by that plan can still attend Wellness Tracks for a small fee.

"There are so many individual success stories," says Hridel. "This is not just about pounds lost but about the business owner making a personal transformation."

In the past two years, Wellness Tracks has graduated more than 300 individuals. The next program kicks off April 19th and classes start the week of April 23rd.


Source: Ginny Hridel
Writer: Lee Chilcote

It was exciting enough for Ruk and Leela, Butanese refugees who settled in Cleveland a few years ago without knowing a soul, to press their garage opener and watch the door magically lift open. So imagine their surprise and joy when they found a shiny new tricycle also waiting inside for their toddler son.

Thanks to the Cuyahoga Land Bank's Discover Home program, a new partnership with the International Services Center, this immigrant couple will soon become proud homeowners. The Land Bank partnered with the ISC to renovate a three bedroom home on Hopkins Ave. in Lakewood and sign a lease-purchase agreement with this young family.

"We're helping to repopulate the city with immigrants, and they're contributing to the neighborhood, just as my relatives did when they came here from Greece," says Gus Frangos, President of the Land Bank. "We have such a surplus of vacant properties that we need to collaborate with everyone that we can."

The yellow, cottage-like house feels like "some kind" of home, adds Ruk Rai. He now works at ParkOhio and his wife works at Mold Masters. The couple spent 18 years in a refugee camp after they were forced from their country following a violent revolution because of their Nepali ancestry. They eventually won the immigrant "lottery" and became one of 40,000-75,000 refugees who are allowed into the U.S. each year. They resettled in Cleveland because of the ISC.

"The program came out of a need," says Karen Wishner, Executive Director of the ISC. "It was a way to solve two problems -- vacant properties and people in need of housing."

The house, which was previously bank owned, was renovated using a $20,000 grant from Fannie Mae. An additional $20,000 was invested by the ISC, and donations and sweat equity from the new owners covered the rest. The Land Bank and ISC hope to renovate 5-7 more dwellings like this by the end of the year.

The Land Bank is also pioneering additional partnerships, including efforts to work with veterans' groups and disability organizations. "The nonprofits bring the capacity and possibly the funding, and we have the properties," says Frangos.


Source: Gus Frangos, Rook, Karen Wishner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

In this installment of Fresh Water Video, local entrepreneurs discuss the benefits of doing business in Northeast Ohio. In the video are Doug Hardman of SparkBase, Brian Deagan of Knotice, and Dan McCafferty of Revere Data.

Noted Cleveland bookseller Richard Gildenmeister, who first began selling books at Higbees in 1955, opened Richard Gildenmeister at Shaker Square in the 1970s and worked at Joseph-Beth Booksellers until two years ago, is returning to Shaker Square to open a pop up store in a vacant storefront and sell off his private collection.

"We all have dreams and nightmares," says Gildenmeister, who turns 80 this year. "Well, one night I had a dream with all these books moving around in my brain. I woke up and thought, 'Maybe this is a message. I've lived in this apartment 42 years and haven't thrown a scrap away. It's time to get moving.'"

Gildenmeister, who lives in a three-bedroom suite on North Moreland by Shaker Square, soon got on the phone with Peter Rubin, CEO of the Coral Company, which owns Shaker Square. He readily agreed to lease Gildenmeister a vacant space beside Dewey's Coffee Shop, jumping at the chance to bring the beloved bookseller back to the Square, even just for a few weeks.

The near-octogenerian bookseller, whose sale starts April 18th and lasts until the books are all sold, has a collection of 2,000+ volumes that he's held onto for many years. They include signed editions, coffee table books, Cleveland books and poetry, all of which will be sold at deeply discounted rates in this final sale.

Although Gildenmeister is generally gloomy about the future of large bookstores, he believes we are entering a new era in which smaller, independent bookstores will thrive. "The city had a lot of independent bookstores in 1955, and one by one they were knocked off, and then came the big guys. Now they're getting knocked off. I believe many more independent stores will open in niche markets."

Although witnessing the closure of Joseph-Beth was no fun, Gildenmeister says he "never regretted a moment of his career and had a blast." As someone who organized thousands of book signings, Cleveland's book czar hobnobbed with the likes of Lauren Bacall, Barbara Walters and James Baldwin in his time.

Through it all, Shaker Square has remained his home. "I fell in love with Shaker Square when I was a small child. I saw the lights when I was nine years old at Christmastime. Although I live by myself, I never feel alone and always feel connected. When I open my windows, I see the neighborhood going by."


Source: Richard Gildenmeister
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The founders of a Cleveland technology startup company have joined together with the Cleveland chapter of Kids Against Hunger to present "Celebrating Sustainability and Entrepreneurship," an event aimed at promoting sustainable social enterprises. All event proceeds will go towards providing nutritious meals to local families in need.

"The Cleveland chapter of Kids Against Hunger was founded by a Case Western Reserve University freshman named Aditya Rengaswamy," says Michael Giammo with Lorktech, a company that was founded by CWRU graduates. Lorktech is developing an electronic shelf label that does not require a battery for use in stores. "We're very excited about sustainability and entrepreneurship, so we said, 'Why not use the energy of our startup company to spark this charity event?'"

The event takes place on Monday, April 2nd at Thwing Ballroom on the CWRU campus. Each ticket costs $40 and purchases 200 meals for kids, Giammo says.

Speakers include Jenita McGowan, Chief of Sustainability for the City of Cleveland; Cathy Belk, Chief Relationship Officer at Jumpstart; Ian Charnas, Operations Manager at think[box]; Stephanie Corbett, Sustainability Manager at CWRU; and representatives of Lorktech and Kids Against Hunger.

"We wanted to create a company-wide culture of social entrepreneurship," says Giammo of Lorktech's decision to spearhead the event. "It's part of our business model."


Source: Michael Giammo
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Cleveland Plus Marketing Alliance is celebrating its fifth birthday promoting Northeast Ohio as a vigorous regional entity. Like any proud parent, Cleveland Plus executive director Rick Batyko is eager to show off the campaign's accomplishments over its first five years of life. Fresh Water writer Douglas J. Guth spoke with Batyko about the campaign's successful past as well as the Wadsworth native's hopes for the region's future.