Featured Portfolio Company
Zethus Software and Cumulus
Zethus Software was established by two technical software engineers initially focused on grid/cloud computing. With the assistance of YBI, it attracted a successful local technology entrepreneur with ties to the Silicon Valley to lead the company and refocus on a unique, proprietary and secure document management and storage solution that enables the cost effective administration of documents, security, and data storage. Their brainchild, cumulus: :DM combines features that are currently not available or are only found in separate, expensive and large-scale products. Its underlying technology is termed cumulus: :Quorum that innately and efficiently permits these features to coherently exist.
Syncro Receives Grants from U.S. Department of Defense
Syncro has developed a unique magnetic feeding tube which can be guided through the pyloric sphincter and eliminates the need for fluoroscopy, endoscope, or medications. For the Gabriel Feeding Tube, the company has received grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and the State of Ohio's Third Frontier Program to assist in product refinement and commercialization.
Online Television That is Good For the Environment
Serial entrepreneur Craig Zamary is pursuing his passion for the environment with the creation of GreenEnergyTV.com. This online television channel is dedicated to educating viewers about the environment by promoting green, alternative and renewable energy options. The target audience includes businesses, educational institutions, organizations, and individuals for sharing innovative ideas for the use of cleaner and alternative energy options. Besides uploading and watching videos, viewers can shop for green products, search for green careers and catch the latest headlines.
News
YBI Featured in Inc. Magazine
Turn left onto the city's main drag, West Federal Street, and then, eventually, you see something weird: a newish green awning, printed with shiny metal lettering. Youngstown Business Incubator, it says.
The YBI houses seven start-ups and gives the newer ones free rent, free utilities, and free Wi-Fi and phone service. It also gives guidance to nine companies that sit off-campus in greater Youngstown as they develop tech products.
CEO Mike Broderick is still grateful for the jump-start Cossler gave him. "We probably got $250,000 or $300,000 worth of help from the incubator," Broderick says. "We didn't have to worry about infrastructure. We could focus on the product -- and that accelerated the process. Jim Cossler has a Rolodex of thousands of people, and he made introductions for us. We've been very cognizant of that."
In 2007, when Turning needed to expand, it considered moving its headquarters to the suburbs of Youngstown. The city imposes a 2.75 percent income tax on everyone who works within its boundaries, and parking downtown can be a hassle for Turning's largely suburban work force. "But we took an informal poll, and 95 percent of our workers said they liked working downtown," says Broderick. "There's an energy, a hope."
Read more in the May issue of Inc. magazine.
Check out this link, too:
YBI's Technology Forward 2009 supplement
Top Blog Picks from the Chief Evangelist
Jim Cossler scours the universe for bleeding edge tech blogs - so you don't have to!