The Brandery, the Cincinnati-based nonprofit organization that helps accelerate startups in technology-based consumer experiences, announced last week that it will work together with enterprise software company
SAP to provide startups with unique access to innovation and thought leadership.
As a first step in the collaboration, The Brandery hosted at its
Over-the-Rhine facility the SAP Startup Forum November 4–5. The forum was designed for Cincinnati startup founders whose companies are leveraging big data and real-time and predictive analytics, and included presentations from thought leaders, networking opportunities and breakout sessions.
“Our focus is giving our startups the resources that will give them a competitive advantage,” says Mike Bott, General Manager of The Brandery. “When SAP, which is known for work with big corporate databases and systems, told us that they were interested in working with startups and had free tools and training they could offer, we thought we’d be remiss not to offer that to our startups.”
For SAP, this collaboration is part of a larger vision called the
SAP Start-Up Focus Program, which was launched in celebration of their 40
th year. The program works with startup communities across the globe and helps them adopt and develop new applications on SAP HANA, a powerful new in-memory computing platform typically only available to larger corporate clients.
“SAP has a strong commitment to help startup companies globally,” says Shawn Reynolds, Global Vice President in marketing at SAP. “We are bringing resources, innovation and access to funding for startups so they can leverage SAP technologies to accelerate growth and their opportunity to do business with some of the world’s largest brands.” Reynolds, a fixture in the entrepreneurial scene in Cincinnati, is not only a mentor to The Brandery, but was also a founding member of Main Street Ventures, a now-defunct Cincinnati-based startup incubator that pre-dated The Brandery by almost 10 years.
“This collaboration is different because there is a hands-on aspect,” Bott says. “SAP made an effort to have a two-day forum in our facility and really put some manpower into it. It’s an ongoing thing for us to look at how we can continue to engage our partners in a deeper and more meaningful way. We’re bringing in world-class entrepreneurs, and we want the community to jump at the chance to work with them.”
By Mike Sarason
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