- Dan Brown is Stark County’s resident entrepreneur.
- He said he met with at least 50 people in the early stages of starting his business.
- Brown is available to work with any entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur.
For at least a decade, Tyson White has wanted to make and sell fresh pasta.
This year, the Louisville resident is making it happen with help from Cleveland-based Jumpstart Inc. and Stark County resident entrepreneur Dan Brown.
Brown co-founded Rust Belt Riders composting services in 2014 and previously worked for JumpStart small business services, and he once “was in the shoes of a lot of the clients I now serve.”
“A lot of what I try to do is just listen and be a conduit to help them understand what’s important, ignore what’s not and cut through the red tape,” he said.
Jumpstart, which focuses on supporting entrepreneurs, already had an established Entrepreneur-in-Residence position, but thanks to the efforts of Stark Community Foundation Chairman Mark Samolczyk and Stark Economic Chairman Ray Hexamer, Stark The county-specific position was created last year. Development Committee.
Samolczyk, who has served on Jumpstart’s board of directors for more than seven years, said the local agency has worked with Jumpstart on a variety of economic initiatives for roughly the same amount of time. They asked Jumpstart to provide a resident entrepreneur to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Stark County, and secured about $500,000 a year for three years from private sponsors, led by Huntington Bank.
“And the rest is history,” Samolczyk said.
Stark’s own entrepreneurial residence
Mr. Brown began his work on August 1, 2023 and has met with at least 50 people who are in the early stages of starting a business or need help developing their small business. Of those, he has about 25 clients with whom he has met for more than five hours, and five recently participated in the Small Business Impact Program.
The Jumpstart program is a 12-week business accelerator in which successful applicants will receive $1,000 and those who stay until the end will receive $2,500, Brown said. The program, held in Cleveland and Stark County, culminates with a pitch competition where a panel of judges awards one participant her $10,000 prize.
Graduates of the program who continue to meet with an advisor once a month for one year are eligible for a JumpStart loan. You can apply for the program at jumpstartinc.org.
“We want to make sure they’ve been in business for at least 12 months, ideally 24 to 36 months, so that we have some financial history to work with,” Brown said.
Early Stage Entrepreneurs
White approached Jumpstart late last year about the idea for a pasta production business. He has a connection with Brown and they meet about every two weeks to discuss plans. Mr. Brown gave him exercises such as predicting his 10% or 15% business growth using customer surveys and spreadsheets.
“He was really helpful in walking me through the process and opening my eyes to things that someone who’s never started a business wouldn’t realize,” White said.
He now has a tax ID number, a deal with Stark Fresh to lease space in a commercial kitchen, and a company name called Top Flight Pasta, a nod to White’s aviation career as a pilot. He ordered the equipment this month, scheduled an inspection by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and is working with a packaging company in Canton.
White said he hopes to launch by mid-June and stay in contact with Brown.
“He has a wealth of information in start-up business, so I would like to use him in my development,” he said.
Tom Jones of Dover connected with Brown in early February and said his insights have 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 are trying to raise funding for Equal Edge U, an application that helps college students with disabilities communicate and build skills.
“Students with disabilities may make up 15 to 20 percent of the total student population across a university,” Jones said, adding that studies have shown their graduation rates typically lag behind other students by nearly 20 percentage points.
The original plan was to develop a case management system for universities to manage student accommodation. After the founders joined Brown’s I-Corps program at the University of Akron at his suggestion, they knew there was a need to improve communication between the university and students with disabilities. The I-Corps program focuses on customer discovery, and Jones said he interviewed with at least 21 colleges in seven weeks.
“That was a really great experience for me because it allowed us to pivot from the business we were thinking about and the product we were thinking about developing and build what we are currently developing. ” he said.
Brown, who will soon relocate from his Stark Economic Development Commission offices to rented space at the Center for Excellence in Hall of Fame Village, said he is open to any entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs to help. The best way to contact Mr. Brown is through Jumpstart’s online small business application.
“Every sector, every industry is looking for guidance, resources and support, so it keeps me on my toes and so far it’s been a lot of fun,” Brown said.
Contact Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com.
