Outside The Valley 102

Dec 13, 2013

In many rustbelt cities across the country, the old auburn flakes of rust are slowly but surely starting to give ground to a new type of growth rising up ... tech startups!

That might be what we're seeing now in the Dayton, OH area. Dayton is one of the old-line hard-core manufacturing cities. It's a member of the rust belt hall of fame. Over the decades lots of jobs have been lost. And the population has steadily declined.

But in the midst of this, little seeds are being planted here and there to start growing a new tech startup crop in the Dayton region. Yea it's small right now. Maybe barely visible. But it's there for sure. It's gaining momentum. And maybe one day soon it will form into a real sustainable movement that launches many tech startup ideas into high-growth ventures.

One sign of that took place on November 4th, 2013. An event called Ventreprenure Marketplace was held in downtown Dayton. At this event I held discussions with 5 regional tech players. Unfortunately, because of the background noise, only 3 were salvageable.

But those three are a good representation. 

• Lincoln Berry III leads Grab Vision Group, a company developing a solution for the holy grail of TV commerce - shopping directly from within a TV show
• Pat Newcomb is the director of a local Small Business Development Center (SBDC). She works with entrepreneurs to get their ideas into focus and to eventually launch them.
• Michael Klein represents Accelerant, the VC arm of a local economic development agency. He's seeking great ideas to fund.

Together their perspectives represent a good cross-section of what's happening in the Dayton region now ... and what the future may hold.

Yep, it looks like the rust belt is starting to rise again!