Entrepreneurship: Growing Companies

811 Elm St.
Cincinnati, OH

207 Woodward St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202

10451 Buxton Lane
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242

1435 Main Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

3721 Harrison Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45211

1342 Main St
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, OH

Morrow, Ohio

Mason, Ohio

Cincinnati, OH

1009 Sargent Street
Cincinnati, OH 45203

2946 Markbreit Avenue
Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Mason, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Chill Shaved Ice, which launched at Findlay Market in summer 2011, has become the first food vendor incorporated into Krohn Conservatory's annual Butterfly Show this spring.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Madcap Puppets, established in 1981, has been bringing quality theater and hearty laughs to children across the Midwest for over 30 years. Through creative puppetry and playwriting, Madcap aims to inspire and foster positive thinking in young audiences.

3316 Glenmore Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45211

While Brian Hock trained for the Louisville Ironman in 2010, he had an idea for a way to stay hydrated along the way. That idea evolved into Simple Hydration, a start-up company with an innovative product that is being manufactured in the US.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Five months ago, David Johnson and his wife Estelle McNair started a branding company together. Today, Johnson-McNair is beginning to gain traction and serve clients all over the country.

602 Main Street
Suite 2
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Coffee Emporium has been open since 1973, but current owners Tony Tausch and Eileen Schwab purchased the Hyde Park-based business in 1996. Since then, Tausch has expanded the company and now provides coffee for dozens of cafes around the area, as well as six of his own.
 

110 E. Central Parkway
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Four long-time friends and a bar in Chicago created the impetus for what is now a business that operates nine bars in the Cincinnati area, with plans for more soon.

941 Pavillion Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Using pure ingredients and plenty of passion, Queen City Cookies owner Peggy Shannon continues to build a sweet and savory empire, one gorgeous bite at a time. From specialty cookie sales in local shops to her own storefront in Findlay Market, Shannon continues to expand her reach. Now her cookies are available at Whole Foods in Rookwood and online through Sur la Table, with more outlets on the way.

Cincinnati, Ohio

After performing with national touring bands for a dozen years, Brian Penick decided he could lend a hand to local bands trying to break into regional and national markets. So Penick created the Counter Rhythm Group in October 2010. In one year, the CRG has worked with six bands on seven album releases and countless tours and shows. It all starts with artist development and promotion.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Daniel Cross started A Step Ahead Physical Therapy in 2006 to fill a need in the community. The company started with four therapists and only a couple of clients, but now 13 therapists serve more than 300 children a year.

2865 Chancellor Drive Suite 105
Crestview Hills, Kentucky 41017

From cutting, to design and through to the manufacturing of custom jewelry, Koop Diamond Cutters does it all from the fourth floor of the Queen City Building in downtown Cincinnati. Cincinnati native Clarence Koop started the business in 1966, and soon after, his son Butch began designing jewelry pieces on an order-by-order basis. Now in its third generation of family ownership, Koop now has a full manufacturing plant and sales center to provide customers with a complete, in-house shopping experience.

214 East Eight Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

At first, Jean-Francois Flechet, the city's ambitious waffle entrepreneur, served only waffles in a shared space in Findlay Market. Now, the Taste of Belgium franchise serves crepes, brownies, calzones and espresso drinks in spaces near and far, including a new full-service bistro on Vine Street slated to open before the end of the year.

1801 Race St # 9
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Two sisters have set out to create the perfect no-cream ice cream. They experimented with different bases and came out with some textures that were barely passable. But they kept at it, and with a dedication to using only natural ingredients and lots of time and effort, eventually, Phro*ZEN was born.

Cincinnati, OH

Based in the Hamilton County Business Center in Norwood, JYSproductions has resources like those found in New York or L.A. But Cincinnati offers greater visibility because the film production field is less crowded.

1776 Mentor Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45212

Framester merges event photography, social networking and just plain fun into one package.

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

MarketVision Research sets itself apart through its signature data-driven, quantitative analysis, and its thoughtful, qualitative analysis that helps companies understand what drives the decisions of their own customers.

10300 Alliance Road
Cincinnati, OH 45242

Etegent Technologies carefully mines data for miltary and aviation industries, extracting valuable information and needed knowledge to help companies improve and grow.

1775 Mentor Ave., Suite 302
Cincinnati, OH 45212

Eco Engineering has built its own fast-growing company by helping others save money through innovative energy efficient lighting systems.

11815 Highway Drive, Suite 600
Cincinnati, OH 45241-2065

With his new product, B2Bee founder Scott Miller isn't trying to take over the competitive world of online invoicing. But he is out to snag the corner of it he knows best by targeting entrepreneurs, small business owners and solo service providers.

1775 Mentor Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45212

800-869-9989
1216 Central Parkway
Cincinnati, OH 45202

When she was a child, Melinda Kirk was bitten by a dog. As a young adult, however, she was bitten figuratively when she and her partner obtained two Weimaraners. Her passion for pups pushed her to build a unique, specialty pet food business that sources organic ingredients and uses local producers.

Covington, KY

Dominion Liquid Technologies has grown from a small startup company manufacturing coffee flavored syrups to one that develops and produces energy shots, pancake syrups, cocktail mixes, barbeques and hot sauces - all made right here in Cincinnati.

3965 Virginia Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45227

The Women's Book is more than just a book. It's a multi-media directory of local resources for women in print and on the web, and a one-stop-shop to help readers find what's going on for and by women in their communities.

Cincinnati, OH

Great Plains converts camelina, an oilseed crop similar to canola and in the same family as the mustard seed, into a biodiesel fuel that can be used in cars, trucks and jets.

1 Enfield Street
Cincinnati, OH 45218

Two friends and experienced graphic designers - one on Cincinnati, one in L.A. -  are turning their passions into unique and fun paper products catching the eyes of mothers and hostesses in the Queen City and beyond.

877-344-4011
Cincinnati , OH

A local woman's experience transitioning from apartment living to home ownership lead to the creation of a virtual sharing site where people offer and look for thousands of items for short-term use.

Cincinnati, OH

While such trailblazers as Amazon.com and eBay have provided consumers with an easy and efficient means of online purchasing, Cincinnati technology firm Vinimaya is providing the same for its Fortune 500 clients thanks to their patented search and catalog management technology for e-procurement.

888-618-8634
45555 Lake Forest Drive
Cincinanti, OH 45242

For 56 percent of Americans, the “best part of waking up” is still the soothing aroma of a fresh pot of roasted coffee, and Seven Hills Coffee of Cincinnati can take credit for getting many of us off to that same good start each morning. 

513-489-5220
11094 Deerfield Road
Cincinnati, OH 45242

Launched in 2009, ProHuntersJournal.com is a virtual "Field and Stream meets Facebook" that connects readers with the great outdoors and raises funds to support wildlife conservation efforts. 

(513) 484-5658
1141 Delta Ave.
Cincinanti, OH 45208

After years of making her own soaps and lotions at home, Robin Feltner turned a well-honed hobby into an eco-chic bath and body company that relies on high-quality, natural ingredients.

(513) 368-7045
274 Francisridge Drive
Cincinanti, OH 45238

No, your weekly Soapbox is not getting into the beauty care industry. However, two sisters chose a great name when they started their own premium, natural soap company after designing soap at home to battle dry skin problems. They now have two shop locations and travel to festivals around Greater Cincinnati selling their bath and body products.

(513) 321-6300
2724 Erie Ave
Hyde Park , OH 45208

1-800-260-2776
3736 Regent Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45213

Encompass Workplace Solutions, a business spin off of the non-profit Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, offers the corporate world a proactive solution for helping employees improve their mental health.

(513) 354-7024
1501 Madison Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45206

A Cincinnati area family with a love of healthy food has created a line of frozen and refrigerated gourmet vegan foods that mix flavor, nutrition and whole ingredients.

513-272-6555
6216 Madison Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45227

Nature's Garden delivered is a 21st Century spin on the food co-op movement, delivering fresh organic fruits and vegetable to doors across greater Cincinnati.

513-232-FOOD
Cincinnati, OH

Local businesses who want a big bang on the Internet look to Blue Kaboom.

513-542-5200
118 William Howard Taft Rd. Suite b1
Cincinnati, OH 45219

For young adults looking for sports and fun, Cincinnati Sports Leagues offers plenty. The ball got rolling in the summer of 2001; today, about 30,000 Cincinnatians attend a CSL event each year.

513-533-9FUN
P.O. Box 8421
Cincinnati, OH 45208

Vine Street Interactive web firm moves from basement to Gateway Quarter

(513) 322-5073
1150 Vine Street #15
Cincinnati, OH 45202

The Wolf Group is a one-of-a-kind business that started out in the founder and president’s home in the late 1980s. Today the business is home to a 17,000 sq. ft. facility in Blue Ash where dozens of trained palates taste, as well as touch, smell and test a host of food, personal care and other products for companies who want to make them better.

(513) 891-9100
10860 Kenwood Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45241

Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine was founded in 1996 by a team of doctors looking to provide top-notch, sports-related medical care. Today, the Sharonville-based company has offices also in Cincinnati and Batesville, Ind., and is planning a major expansion and renovation project for late 2009.

513-354-3700
500 E-Business Way
Sharonville, OH 45241

In only a few short years Cincy Chic grew from an online women’s lifestyle publication to a way of life for a collection of Cincinnati's most hip, professional women.

(513) 721-2445
116-118 E. 13th St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202

London Computer Systems’ responsive solution to a property management problem has turned it into a multi-million dollar, high growth business.

513-583-1482
1007 Cottonwood Dr.
Loveland, OH 45140

Mindbox Studios started in 2005 as a web design company created to fund other web-based business projects of founder and CEO, Joshua Johnson and his creative, entrepreneurial partners.

(513) 729-7003
2645 Erie Ave. Ste 41
Cincinnati, Ohio 45208

Girlfriendolgy gives new meaning to the phrase "tech support" with a web site based on celebrating female friendships

3780 Aylesboro Avenue
Cincinnati, OH,

Reading resident Jeff Spelman had the idea to  create a fun card game that would help his sons improve their math skills. After spending 20 years working in sports and media, Spelman naturally incorporated sports into Quick Count, a strategic football themed card game for two players. 

513-259-8514
425 Walnut Street Suite 2112
Cincinnati, OH 45202

A company started in Cincinnati in 1896, Hill and Griffith, started a 21st century company to handle the task of getting products from one place to another securely and on time.  HG Logistics, started in 2006, expects revenue to nearly double this year and is planning to expand employment.

1-800-543-0425
1085 Summer Street
Cincinnati, OH 45204

Kristin McLane helped start CIMx 13 years ago, and today is the majority shareholder, making the firm one of the few woman-owned businesses in the aerospace and defense sector.  The company's manufacturing software is used by major defense contractors, including GE, Boeing and Honeywell.

513-248-7700
1001 Ford Circle
Milford, Ohio 45150

NuVo Technologies has a long history of innovation in music, from instruments to amplifiers.  NuVo's niche is custom, high-end digital sound distributed throughout the home and it's continued a tradition of innovation through its engineering and manufacturing of multi-room audio systems.

866-796-4904
3015 Kustom Drive
Hebron, Ky. 41048

Freeman Schwabe is an advanced manufacturing firm with its roots planted firmly in the Cincinnati machine-making tradition.  With a history dating to the 19th century, the company was purchased in a management-led buyout in 2006 and since then, its growth has been exponential. 

513-947-2888
4064 Clough Woods Drive
Batavia, Ohio 45103

Seeing a void in online training products specifically designed for schools, Brian Taylor and partner Greg Estep, with backgrounds in online publishing and information technology, started Scenario Learning and its SafeSchools suite of online training courses in 2001. The firm has grown to serve 1,500 districts in all 50 states and internationally and employment has grown to 12 people.

1-800-434-0154
7434 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45236

ThermalTech Engineering was into "green" building before it was hot, but the results of its work are usually not easily visible.  But that doesn't mean its expertise is not critical to sustainable, environmentally sound construction. ThermalTech handles the "mechanics" that go in to green building -- the mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering that is essential to conserving energy and resources.

513-561-2271
5721 Dragon Way
Cincinnati, Ohio 45227

Two years ago, Fabienne Christenson had an idea to become a perfumer and began working toward that goal out of her studio at the Pendleton Art Center. In that short time, her company, Possets, has grown to be an international supplier of fragrance, with customers around the globe, selling to two retail outlets in the United Kingdom and eight in the United States.

1310 Pendleton St.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

UC chemistry professor Estel Sprague and research associate Robert Voorhees formed MeasureNet Technology in 1998 to market the technology they and co-worker Paul McKenzie developed.  The company was the result of a research project the three conducted to come up with a PC networking concept to allow students in a lab to electronically collect and store data. 

1-866-396-6765
4242 Airport Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226

Mason-based Intelligrated, one of the region's fastest-growing companies, doesn't build warehouses, but supplies just about everything that goes inside of them, from computer software to conveyor systems and other material handling equipment.

513-701-7300
7901 Innovation Way
Mason, Ohio 45040

DomainIt was founded in Cincinnati in 1996 by Paul Goldstone as one of the first domain name search interfaces and shopping carts.

1-866-296-2355
9525 Kenwood Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242

The sharing of online content -- photos, videos, articles and music -- has gotten easier with ShareThis, a Cincinnati-based firm. ShareThis has developed a tool that allows those online to share content with the click of a button.

6934 Miami Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45243

Founded in 1998 and incorporated in 2002, Electronic Art is an interactive agency specializing in kiosks, digital signage and related online services.

513-321-1771
118 William Howard Taft Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45219

In 1999, entrepreneurs Randy Wilhelm and Rob Reinders co-founded Thinkronize, and the company quickly became a leader in the digital delivery of K-12 educational content. The founders held a belief that technology can transform education, and Thinkronize was first to market with its standards-based educational search engine, called netTrekker.d.i.

513-731-4090
15 Triangle Park Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio 45246

Cincinnati-based Cincom is one of the oldest software businesses around.  Several earlier companies helped invent the industry, but Cincom proved it could make money. Today, it has about 30 locations around the world and generates about 40 percent of its revenue in Europe, about 40 percent in the U.S., and 20 percent in the rest of the world, employing about 850.

513-612-2769
55 Merchant St.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45246

From one employee and one $350,000 project in the company’s first year, Megen Construction has grown to employ 57, posting revenue of more than $40 million. The firm, owned by a native of Nigeria, has been involved in many high-profile Greater Cincinnati projects, including the Fountain Square revitalization, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum and Great American Ball Park.

513-742-9191
11130 Ashburn Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45240

Started in 2000, Cincinnati-based SparkPeople now claims 3.1 million unique visitors to its site, and says it is the one the most-visited health and medical sites, behind only WebMD, AOL Body and Weight Watchers.

513-241-6470
4392 Marburg Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45209

Four alums of Cincinnati TV station WKRC-TV (Channel 12) came together a few years ago and formed I & Eye Productions, a production studio that develops radio and television commercials, corporate videos and other multimedia and has quickly become one of the fastest-growing private companies in Greater Cincinnati.  

513-271-5909
5545 Madison Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45227

AtriCure has developed less invasive and less technically challenging technologies for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, a heart ailment that afflicts more than 2 million in the U.S. alone. The use of its surgical devices in other surgeries led to record revenue and growth in 2007.

513-755-4100
6033 Schumacher Park Drive
West Chester, Ohio 45069

Candace Kendle started Kendle International as a small, private start-up in 1981.  Today, the firm employs about 3,000, is traded on the Nasdaq exchange, and does business in 90 countries.

513-381-5550
441 Vine St.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

In 1994, Jeff Eberlein and Tony Magliano purchased a six-employee graphic design shop and christened it “Strata-G Communications.” Over the last fourteen years they have grown the business to its current ranking as one of Cincinnati’s largest advertising agencies, with more than 60 employees, topped by 20 percent growth in 2007.

513-381-8855
250 W. Court St., Suite 400
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Marketing the Pursuit of Happiness is what happens at Barefoot Inc., an agency that works on making consumers passionate about brands and products. Cincinnati-based Barefoot has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies,

making it on to the magazine’s inaugural Inc. 5000 list.
 

513-861-3668
700 W. Pete Rose Way
Cincinnati, Ohio 45203

Screaming Bob's goal is to make the digital experience richer and more entertaining by adding high-quality voice and sound. The company just in the last year has delivered voice and sound for the Web sites of some major consumer brands: Cheer, Pepto-Bismol, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Evenflo and Sprint. They expect only growth as more consumer brands explore the possibilities of digital media. 

513-241-7732
602 Main St., Suite 222
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

 Big Fat Brain creates original content for the Web that aims to make the interactive experience richer, more creative and more entertaining for clients and consumer brands. They've found a way to take some pretty dull stuff and make it very funny -- and that's why their clients are smiling.

859-491-4201
128 W. Pike St.
Covington, Ky. 41011