HCBC and Biostart bring Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture Program to SW Ohio

The Hamilton County Business Center and BioStart incubators have teamed up to bring the world renowned Kauffman FastTrac TechVenture Program to Southwest Ohio’s tech-focused entrepreneurs.Sponsored by the The Kauffman Foundation, TechVenture is a hands-on business development program geared toward scientists, inventors, engineers and IT developers. Through this program southwest Ohio innovators who want to commercialize a new technology or grow an existing tech business can get the specialized help they need.  More than 300,000 entrepreneurs across the globe have participated in FastTrac. The 8-week TechVenture program is open to 10 people. “Our new program combines elements of all our programming, including business incubation, to allow us to assist the start up of an additional 10 innovative ventures here in southwest Ohio.  By providing a quality hands-on, interactive business planning process with the connectivity provided by HCBC and BioStart, the participants will receive the attention to detail needed to launch a successful venture,” said Patrick Longo, HCBC Director.   At the program’s end entrepreneurs will have a chance to win one of three early-stage funding prizes of $5,000, $3,000 or $1,000 through a business plan competition.”The Program believes that the participants will need to show their mettle by competing with each other to win one of the 3 cash prizes.  The Program’s business plan competition will allow the clients to receive quality constructive feedback from a variety of capital and service providers in the area,” Longo said. .It costs $250 to participate, down from the usual $895 price due to a State of Ohio Edison Technology Supplemental Grant awarded to BioStart and HCBC. The program starts Oct. 19, and classes are from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.Each week local subject experts will discuss business development and management topics, including: Entering and Capturing the Market Financial Considerations Entrepreneurship and Building Your Team Protecting Your Intellectual Property Identifying Funding and Working With Investors Cash Management and OperationsProfessional business coaches and mentors will also work one-one with each company to develop the topics in the company’s business plan.  Interested? Apply here.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Patrick Longo, HCBC Director You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiawrites