Two Chicago startup companies are moving to Cincinnati, drawn by the resources of the CincyTech accelerator and consumer branding incubator The Brandery. Both companies -
turboBOTZ, an online game retail platform and mobile coupon company
Samplesaint - announced their moves just days apart.
Vincent Chou has the mind of an entrepreneur mixed with the mentality of a gamer. His new company turboBOTZ takes an entrepreneurial approach to a common gamers' problem: efficiently buying and selling games at the best price possible.
"I've been a gamer since I was about five, and that never left me," Chou said with a chuckle.
That's why he created turboBOTZ, an online platform/community network where gamers can buy and sell games. Chou co-founded the company with Pratap Shergill.
"Basically they have the ability to manage the games that they own, as well as to buy, sell and trade their games," said Chou, who's worked as a management consultant.
He came up with idea after becoming frustrated with selling his own games to stores where he'd get pennies on the dollar for what he spent on them.
"I found out I wasn't the only person who felt this way, and then I went to business school with this concept," Chou said.
The concept eventually made it to the finals of the 2010
New Venture Challenge business competition at the University of Chicago. The partners then took the idea to Chicago's
Excelerate Labs incubator, but program operators thought it was a better fit for The Brandery.
turboBOTZ was
part of The Brandery's first class, and now CincyTech is investing $250,000 in the company, which must move here within 90 days as part of the investment.
The second company, Samplesaint, aims to make the emerging mobile phone coupon trend easier for both consumers and retailers with technology that allows coupons to be more easily scanned. Generally digital coupons must be printed or retailers must manually enter coupon codes from a phone.
"I am looking forward to becoming more active in the terrific consumer marketing industry in Cincinnati," said company founder and CEO Lawrence Griffith, a Cincinnati native. "With companies such as Procter, Kroger, Macy's and dunnhumby, it is a hub of expertise about the consumer mindset. Samplesaint looks forward to finding its place in that ecosystem."
Samplesaint's technology also includes access to a database that ties to the retailer's point-of-service, allowing identification, redemption and expiration date of coupons to be immediately determined.
Griffith says the company plans to hire about 10 people this year.
CincyTech is investing $250,000 in the company, which also has 90 days to move here. Samplesaint is the first African-American owned company in which CincyTech has invested.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Sources: Vincent Chou, co-founder turboBOTZ
You can follow Feoshia on Twitter
@feoshiawrites
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