At YBI, you don’t have to grow it alone

Youngstown Business Incubator connects entrepreneurs with the tools, support and funding sources to cultivate their ideas into thriving businesses.

a perfect starting point

Our friends over at Techstars are pretty legit. And so is this toolkit they've put together. Before you do anything else, check it out. Any roadblocks or questions you have along the way? Well, that's why we're here!

click here for the techstars Toolkit

Resources, Assistance, & opportunities

Youngstown Business Incubator provides added value to portfolio companies and clients by connecting entrepreneurs with the tools, support and resources to cultivate their ideas into thriving businesses.

Jumpstart Entrepreneurs Toolkit

From in-depth guides on creating financial forecasts and pitching investors, to templates for customer discovery and go-to-market strategy, you’ll find useful entrepreneurial materials available for download here.

Y Combinator Has some great advice

Y Combinator provides seed funding for startups. Seed funding is the earliest stage of venture funding. It pays your expenses while you’re getting started. In addition, they post some really awesome, YBI Approved content on their YouTube channel on various topics. It's worth your time, trust us.

Everyone gets a mentor

We assign each client an entrepreneur-in-residence, or EIR, to assist them in developing their pitch deck, raising funds, hiring key team members, and setting and achieving milestones critical to their success.

A network of resources who share your goals

YBI, as part of the Northeast Ohio Entrepreneurial Signature Program (NEO ESP) funded by the Ohio Third Frontier Program, has access to a network of incubators, accelerators and funding organizations. These organizations are all after the same goal - growing your idea, creating jobs and creating wealth in our communities.

Pitch deck development & Ugly baby sessions

Let’s face it, no one will ever come out and tell you your baby (your big idea) is ugly. Put you down in front of a room of experts and complete strangers? There is where your real, honest feedback is. And we're here help you get that feedback. We can expertly assist you in developing fundable pitch deck presentations and getting you the feedback you need and deserve.

Market verification studies

Going through this process will allow you to see if there is a market for your idea, and to identify your target market, by getting unbiased information from the customer. If interested in having YBI conduct a market verification study for your business, please contact Gianna at gserra@ybi.org.

In-house technical expertise

Developers, designers and engineers, oh my! We’ve got them all. We have a little black book of trusted software, web and app developers, graphic and interactive designers, and engineers to fit any of your projects.

Bookkeeping and accounting

YBI’s in-house accountant offers basic bookkeeping and accounting support to its clients at a low cost, if not free.

Marketing

YBI has an in-house marketing and communications director who can assist your company with developing a marketing strategy, and make introductions to local marketing firms to help with your brand presence.

Intros to movers and shakers

Our extensive internal and external networks allow us to make high-level introductions to customers and investors.

(UI/UX) user interface/user experience testing

We will arrange volunteer focus groups to test a company’s website and the experience they had during the process. You bring the interface, we bring the users.

Student worker assistance

YBI portfolio companies can apply for partially or fully subsidized student workers based on their location and level of engagement with the YBI. This program is project-based, funding dependent, available only to clients in good standing, and not guaranteed to any client. For more information, please contact gserra@ybi.org .

HubSpot for startups

As are a “HubSpot for Startups” incubator, we’ve partnered with HubSpot to offer a 90 percent scholarship on their marketing and sales tools.

Microsoft BizSpark partner

YBI has access to codes for its startup entities to become BizSpark clients, which allows them to access Microsoft programs, OS downloads, tools for software development and so much more.

LeadFeeder

LeadFeeder is a software that utilizes Google Analytics to show you what prospects and customers do on your website so you can feed high-quality leads to your sales team. It also integrates to your CRM and email marketing tools to increase your sales intelligence.

funding opportunities

We work with you to make sure you're ready, and then the rest is up to you. There's numerous funding sources avaiable to you.

a little light reading for you...

We take it upon ourselves to curate the best content for you have at your discretion. Below is our continuously updated library of articles and blogs to deliver the best startup wisdom out there.