Rich Wetzel, CEO and Co-Founder of Freshmade 3D, is a result of the 3D Printing entrepreneurial ecosystem currently growing in the Youngstown area. A graduate of Youngstown State University, Rich spent the summer of his senior year interning at MakerBot and soon began working at the Youngstown Business Incubator in 2014 as the Additive Manufacturing Business Coordinator. Read more
On June 26, 2017, the Youngstown Business Incubator was awarded a grant from Burton D. Morgan Foundation for the development of a commercialization program for additive manufacturing technologies. Through a partnership with America Makes and Team NEO, outreach was conducted to downselect potential assets for commercialization. Once assets were identified, they were put through a 3 phase program; the Deloitte Commercialization Tool, a Path to Market Assessment, and selection of a Student Team. Read more
In early 2017, the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) began their Israeli-YBI collaborative, an initiative designed to attract Israeli companies to northeast Ohio, specifically the YBI’s downtown Youngstown campus. Since that time, the program has really proven its necessity for companies seeking a larger market. Numerous companies have shown interest in the program and Northeast Ohio’s offerings, but one has already acted upon it. Read more
Tips from the Chief Evangelist
Startup advice from Youngstown Business Incubator & Huntington Bank Entrepreneur in Residence Jim Cossler. One of the biggest problems we see with entrepreneurs – especially first-time entrepreneurs – is that they invest a lot of time and money in building a new product or new solution without really doing any market validation whatsoever. Read more