Scaling Up in Northeast Ohio
As part of our mission to champion the entrepreneurial spirit, the Foundation works to support companies in “scaleup” mode. Scaleups are typically more established companies seeking to accelerate their growth. Read on to learn more about the Foundation’s two scaleup initiatives.
Scalerator NEO
Scalerator NEO is a regional, cohort-based educational support program for companies with revenue between $5 million and $15 million that are seeking to scale their operations and increase revenue.
Scalerator NEO is currently recruiting for its third cohort, which begins in April and will take place at Baldwin Wallace University. The seven-month program, developed by renowned scaleup expert Dan Isenberg, focuses on leveraging the “Three C’s,” Customers, Cash, and Capacity, to help companies scale. Taught by an internationally-recognized team from Babson College and other top universities, the program consists of faculty-led workshops and peer-to-peer exercises. While data collection is still underway, companies from Scalerator NEO’s second cohort reported revenue growth of roughly 30% in 2018.
This program is free to the participating companies thanks to the Fasenmyer Fund at Burton D. Morgan Foundation and direct Foundation support. Companies across all industry sectors are eligible to apply, but companies in direct competition will not be accepted into the same cohort.
With multiple companies already selected across Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage, Lorain, and Stark counties from industries such as IT, construction, manufacturing, and others, there are only a few spots left.
To apply or refer a company to Scalerator NEO, please go to www.scaleratorneo.org
Choose Growth Akron
Choose Growth Akron is a social media campaign launched last fall in coordination with AMP Strategy to promote and publicize the growth stories of scaleups around Akron. The campaign aims to instill a culture of business growth in Akron by engaging a network of story-sharing partners and creating a strong community cadence of growth stories.
Choose Growth Akron identifies and broadcasts growth stories across Akron from well-known household names to up-and-coming innovators. The campaign has been embraced by the greater Akron community, with collaboration from the City of Akron and the Elevate Akron project. In the last four months, the hashtag #ChooseGrowthAkron has racked up nearly half a million impressions on social media.
Know of a growth story that deserves recognition? Share it on social media using #ChooseGrowthAkron. Stories need not be extraordinary or unusual, but they should be recent, metric-driven if possible, and name a specific Akron-based company or brand.