Venture Capital Finding Its Way to Ohio, Midwest (Cincinnati: 2014, loan)

[wrightflyer]

Great article by USAToday on venture capital firms beginning to focus on the Midwest, especially Ohio. I think the founder of Roadtrippers in Cincinnati put it best that Ohio does have a lot of talent and business (mostly in the 3-C cities) but they lack the big consumer side brand names. Lots of B2B and non-consumer tech happens here. Exceptions can be found in non-start ups like P&G and Nestle, but as said, those aren't start ups, aka small businesses.

VC firm goes to Midwest for next big thing in tech

After reading the article, any thoughts on venture capital being a needed shot in the arm to the state?

[SWOH]

Everybody wants venture capital to come to their region, and I am sure Ohio is included. I think what is key is making sure that our VC resources are properly marketed.

For instance, is there a website in this state dedicated solely to providing small businesses access to loan applications, investor contact info, etc? If it was a perfect world, small businesses would just have to fill out an application, attach their promotional literature, and any interested venture capitalists would contact.

A lot of times, invest/not invest decisions can at least be roughly sorted out by calculating the Net Present Value of these companies and comparing that rate to the expected rate of return on current investments. And a lot of those decisions can be sorted out through a simple application with the state.