Growing Startups in Ohio for 180+ Years

Nearly 1,500 FounderCon attendees converged in Greater Cincinnati October 17 through 19, creating new energy in the region.

During the three-day event, entrepreneurs filled the streets, neighborhoods and meeting places throughout the Queen City, networking at local coffee shops, tweeting their experiences and helping people see Greater Cincinnati through fresh eyes.

Wi-Fi availability, cool vibes in the region, and a welcoming community were some of the reasons that founders and big company representatives gave such positive reviews of the city after spending just a few days here.

I can’t say I’m surprised. The Greater Cincinnati region has been supporting entrepreneurs in the state for more than 180 years. Our heritage of innovation starts with William Procter and James Gamble, who transformed a soap-and-candle business into a Fortune® 50 company that now operates in 70 countries.

We are a community that builds ideas and goes big in all we do. The region is where Barney Kroger invested his $327 life savings to open his first grocery store. Last year, that company sold more than $109 billion in products.

Greater Cincinnati and the state of Ohio are alive with companies nurtured in incubators and accelerators like the Brandery, CincyTech and Cintrifuse. The business community is supported by nine Fortune® 100 companies and exceptional talent coming from our 200+ higher education institutions statewide.

The state of Ohio offers statups, scale-ups and corporate partners the resources needed to grow, and we put those resources at entrepreneurs’ fingertips.

We spent some time with the founders and big companies participating in FounderCon 2016 to hear more about their thoughts on the Information Technology industry and their experiences in Greater Cincinnati. Here’s what they had to say.