Want to start a business? Stark County has an entrepreneur-in-residence available to help

Tyson White has wanted to make and sell fresh pasta for at least a decade.

This year, the Louisville resident is making it happen with help from the Cleveland-based JumpStart Inc. and Stark County's entrepreneur-in-residence, Dan Brown.

Brown had co-founded Rust Belt Riders composting service in 2014 and previously used JumpStart's small business services. He was once "in the shoes of a lot of the clients that I’m now serving.”

"A lot of what I try to do is really just listen and be a conduit to these folks to help them understand what’s important, to ignore that which is not, and to cut through some of the red tape," he said.

JumpStart, which focuses on helping entrepreneurs, already had established entrepreneur-in-residence positions but one dedicated to Stark County was created last year through the efforts of Mark Samolczyk, president of the Stark Community Foundation, and Ray Hexamer, president of the Stark Economic Development Board.

Samolczyk, who has been a JumpStart board member for more than seven years, said the local agencies have worked with JumpStart on a variety of economic activities in about the same time frame. They asked JumpStart for an entrepreneur-in-residence to assist small businesses and entrepreneurs in Stark County and secured about $500,000 a year for three years from private sponsors, the main one being Huntington Bank.

"And the rest is history," Samolczyk said.

Stark's own entrepreneur-in-residence

Brown started on Aug. 1, 2023, and has met with at least 50 people in the early stages of starting a business or who want assistance with evolving their small business. Of those, he met with about 25 clients for five or more hours, and five recently participated in the Small Business Impact Program.

The JumpStart program is a 12-week business accelerator, Brown said, which grants $1,000 to the accepted participants and $2,500 to those who make it to the end. The program, which is held in Cleveland and Stark County, culminates in a pitch competition where a panel of judges award one contestant $10,000.

Program graduates who continue to meet with an adviser once a month for a year are eligible for JumpStart loans. Applications for the program are available at jumpstartinc.org.

“We like to see that they’ve been in business for at least 12 months, ideally 24 to 36 months just so we have some level of financial history from which to work," Brown said.

Early-stage entrepreneurs

White contacted JumpStart late last year about his idea for a pasta-producing business. He was connected with Brown, and they meet about every two weeks to discuss plans. Brown has given him exercises, such as customer research and projecting 10% or 15% business growth with a spreadsheet.

“He just kind of walked me through the process and kind of opened my eyes to things that someone who hasn’t started a business wouldn’t see, so it's been very helpful," White said.

He now has a tax identification number, an agreement with Stark Fresh to lease space in their commercial kitchen, and a business name ― Top Flight Pasta, which references White's aviation background as a pilot. He ordered equipment this month, has scheduled an inspection by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and is working with a Canton packaging company.

White said he hopes to launch by mid-June and maintain contact with Brown.

“He’s a wealth of information in the startup business, and I hope to use him throughout my growth," he said.

Thom Jones of Dover connected with Brown in early February and said his insight has been invaluable. He and his co-founders have experience developing technology but none have started a business. They are in the JumpStart Ventures program and attempting to raise money for Equal Edge U ― an application that would help with communication and skill-building among college students with disabilities.

"Students with disabilities, they can be 15 to 20% of an overall college’s total number of students," Jones said, adding that research shows their graduation rates typically fall behind their peers by nearly 20%.

Initially, the plan was to develop a case management system for colleges to manage students' accommodations. After the founders participated in the University of Akron's I-Corps program at Brown's suggestion, they learned there was a need to improve communication between colleges and students with disabilities. The I-Corps program focused on customer discovery, and Jones said they interviewed at least 21 colleges in seven weeks.

“That to me was just absolutely an incredible experience because it really allowed us to pivot from what the business we thought or the product we thought we were going to develop and build into what we are now developing," he said.

Brown, who soon will move from the Stark Economic Development Board offices into leased space at the Hall of Fame Village's Center for Excellence, said he's available to work with any entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs. The best way to contact him is through JumpStart's small business assistance online application.

"I'm seeing all business types, all industries sort of looking for guidance and resources and support, and so it keeps me on my toes and it's been a lot of fun so far," Brown said.

Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark's entrepreneur-in-residence aids new, existing small businesses