From Potholes to Possibilities: LIVE from StartUpCincy Week

I did not know about Flywheel. I practice as an attorney and have often worked with startups. So predating Startup Cincy, predating Flywheel, there there was a concern locally that the folks who– the interested entrepreneurs were leaving town to find that ecosystem. To see what what exists today is just so exciting, so incredible, and it we we need to continue making those connections between the city and and any other government agencies out there and the ecosystem that we have.

Socially driven entrepreneurs are individuals who establish and manage businesses with the dual objective of generating financial returns and creating a positive social or environmental impact, the double bottom line. They address societal challenges to improve the well-being of communities and the planet, and they work for a positive return on investment. Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub has been working with social entrepreneurs since 2011. 80% of the entrepreneurs that have participated in one of Flywheel's accelerators are still operating. In the last three years, our social entrepreneurs have created 350 jobs in Greater Cincinnati.

Let me tell you a bit more about social entrepreneurs, and then we'll talk with our panel of guests about why they are so important to a community. Social entrepreneurs are driven by a strong sense of purpose and passion around a societal problem they aim to solve through their business venture. They demonstrate that economic viability and social responsibility can be intertwined. They develop innovative solutions to complex social issues, often adopting approaches that differ from traditional methods. They are a growing force for positive change, inspiring a new generation of conscious leaders and innovative problem solvers.

Social entrepreneurs address a wide range of issues, poverty, inequality, education, health care, environmental sustainability, and potholes! Their passion and commitment to the solutions benefits the community. That's how we connect the dots. Hi. I'm Joan Kaup, host of On the Fly!, podcast produced by Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, where we shine a spotlight on social entrepreneurs and the people who surround them.

This episode is recorded live at StartUp Cincy Week in Cincinnati, Ohio. Flywheel operates at the intersection of civic, corporate, and social impact sectors, bridging these spaces to accelerate innovation for good. Today, we have representatives from each of these sectors to discuss the value and place of social entrepreneurship in the community. With us at the microphone are Cincinnati city council member, Evan Nolan, who spearheaded our recent Innovation Hub called Pave the Way to address potholes. More about that soon.

Good morning, Evan.

Good morning, Joan.

Jenny Powell is chief marketing officer for First Financial Bank and one of Flywheel's certified coaches. Hi, Jenny.

Hi, Joan. Good morning.

Samuel Baker is program director for Flywheel and works closely with our numerous founders and coaches. Welcome, Samuel.

Hello, Joan.

Each of you play a role in embracing social enterprise for the benefit benefit of community. Thank you for joining us and sharing your experience and insights. Startup Cincy Week is all about emerging entrepreneurs and startup enterprises. So, Samuel, let's start with you. At Flywheel, we often talk about how we work to create social impact.

The social impact is our product. It's our reason to be, and that is what we do and create through entrepreneurship. Kick off our conversation with some information about Flywheel's impact in Cincinnati.

Absolutely. So we do it through two ways. The first being our accelerators where we are supporting founders that are having incredible impact on our city and doing it in areas that our city is prioritizing right now. So for example, food insecurity and food deserts is a it's a huge priority for our city right now. We have a founder called Last Mile Food Rescue, who, as of December 2024, has rescued 11,000,000 pounds of food and delivered 9,000,000 meals to people experiencing food insecurity, which is incredible.

It is astounding. Yes.

You know, you think about housing. That's a big issue for our city right now. And we have a founder who is actually working on upcycling cargo shipping containers to create modular housing to provide affordable housing options. That's Kémo with ModFab, which is incredible. You think about energy, energy conservation, alternative energies.

We have a founder called Sunflower Fuels that's creating biofuel and using a plant called miscanthus to, you know, create an alternative form of of energy. We also have a a founder called Exonator that's creating a super battery. It we we're supporting founders that are doing real work in this in the city in attacking these priorities with an entrepreneurial mindset using that startup innovation as a force for good, which is, you know, what we like to say. On top of that, we have our innovation labs, and this is where we tackle specific city priorities. You know?

So for example, we just did one about potholes that actually countered a lot of attention and energy, which was awesome. We had 68 applicants for that and whittled that down to six finalists. And so, you know, that's a opportunity where we bring in solvers, you know, data engineers, computer scientists, entrepreneurs, residents that just have an idea to come through and try and tackle these city priorities head on. Another example of that would be our housing stabilization hackathon. And I'm happy to talk about those more because they're such an exciting part of what I get to do.

But, you know, when we talk about impact with social enterprises, typically, we we focus on the, you know, social impact of them, but there's also a financial impact. You know, you mentioned that we've, you know, we've helped startups who are employing around 350 people right now. That's incredible. Like, job creation is a financial impact that our startups are having. They've raised or or gained $5,100,000 in revenue between 2022 and 2024, $4,800,000 of follow on investment.

And so that that's economic impact that's being felt by our city. It's being provided by these social entrepreneurs, these entrepreneurs that, you know, have a purpose that they're trying to create in the world, but they can also generate a dollar too. So

And isn't it great just to rub shoulders with them and share that energy?

Oh my gosh. It's one of the joys of my life.

Absolutely. Even as a coach, I mean, it's one of the joys of being a coach. I mean, you talk about a Last Mile Food Rescue, and I think, yeah, baby. I remember working with her. That's one of mine.

Jenny, you're another coach, so I know you get that excitement. And you're a very busy woman. You're the chief marketing officer at First Financial Bank. You're an adjunct professor at Xavier University, and still you find time to coach. Thank you.

But first, before we get into all that, a question that I know a lot of our listeners are listening to hear. What are the financial vehicles and small business loan options that First Financial has available to them?

Well, I think you know? And and, Samuel, you couldn't have said it better. I think the bank's opportunity to work with Flywheel is really to help fill that very beginning of the ecosystem. So, you know, the bank exists to help communities thrive is our vision. And it starts with helping everyone thrive, whether they're individual consumers or businesses.

And a lot of times, it's really difficult, right, to get funding if what you have is an idea and you don't have assets, and you don't necessarily have experience, and you're trying to build out your idea. And so our opportunity to really help fund through things like Flywheel, the ecosystem to help those businesses get off the ground is just really an opportunity for us to help have a really strong business community from people who are nurturing businesses all the way up to, obviously, the Fortune 500 companies, in the city that we also work with. So it's it's part of really multiple things that First Financial does, funding organizations, funding, venture funds for those same organizations to tap into after they've been coached by an organization like Flywheel. We have lots of coworking space ourselves. We are reimagining many of our branches so that certainly they can service folks from a banking perspective, but they're available to businesses, nonprofits, and individuals who just need a place to get a cup of coffee and hang out with free Wi Fi.

And we also really pride ourselves in having bankers who support clients. So our small business bankers do a lot of individual coaching with folks who are trying to figure out answer that exact that question. I mean, whether it's how does an SBA loan work? How do you get funding? You know, should I fund this business on my credit card? What, you know, what are the risks associated with that? So we really encourage our bankers to work with, I think, many of the same folks that Flywheel works with on an individual basis too.

Yes. You do. And, oh, by the way, you sponsored this podcast. So thanks for all of that.

You're welcome.

So what drew you to Flywheel? I think you and I have both been in the trenches here for about ten years. How did all of that begin for you?

So like so many things, somebody asks you to do something. And I was the chief marketing officer at another big bank here in the city, and I thought, you know what? I wanna do something different. And the bank had been really good to me, so I had the option to look for some things that I thought I always wanted to teach. And that's how I became an adjunct professor in Xavier's executive management program.

So I also said, you know, yes to lunches and things that I hadn't done for a long time. So one of the former, executive directors at Flywheel, Bill Tucker, said, let's have coffee. And we had coffee, and he said, just try it. And I'm like, I don't know, Bill. I mean, he's like, you're a lifelong marketer.

You'll be able to help these folks. And I did not know what Flywheel did. So he's like, just so I was a coach in the first cohort, and it is super I would encourage you to become a coach at Flywheel. It is very personally fulfilling. So you're paired with three or four other folks who have different areas of expertise.

I have my accounting friends, my investment friends, my data friends, and then I'm the marketing person. Right? And you really I think Samuel said it well. It is so beneficial to you personally because you learn so much about this idea that this individual has that they're so passionate about. And you learn a lot about all kinds of different things, And they are really thirsty for your expertise, so you also get a chance to share your expertise with them.

It is fun. It is fun and rewarding. Thank you. Thank you. Alright.

Well, Evan, council member Nolan, you're on the hot seat now. Congratulations. You brought pave the way to Flywheel, and we wanna hear all about it. How did that come to happen? Why did you come to Flywheel for that?

What did you want out of it? Did you did you get that, what you were looking for? What was the big, takeaway? Just go for it.

Lots lots of questions there. Happy to unpack, how how we got to this point. So for those folks who live in Cincinnati, we experienced quite the winter storm event last year. And when events like that happen, the city is put in a position to pave or or or clear plow roads and and move snow in in ways with with staff that we don't have available to do that every day. We don't have city staff plowing streets every day of the year.

It wouldn't make sense to have those folks available. And so we we we try to be as nimble and flexible as we can. We move folks around to to to do that work. But when it happens and when it's a once in a every ten year event, it reveals some things to us. And so one thing that that came out of that was how we plow the roads is is maybe not the most efficient, and we've invested in in technology and updates to fleet to make that happen.

Something else that that came out of that winter storm event was an incredible number of potholes. In in years past, we've had 12 to 15,000 potholes that needed to be filled. This past year, we've had 42,000 potholes. Wow. So, again and and and potholes are can can be seasonal in nature as a result of the vicious freeze thaw cycle that we see coming out of our winters.

And so we don't always have the staff at the right times doing that work, and so it's a need at the city to to find better ways to identify and fill potholes. And so coming out of this winter was which was particularly bad, we got lots of emails. We got lots of phone calls about all the potholes that needed to be fixed. And if you're not aware of the 311- Cincy app, please download that on your phone. If you see a pothole, make sure you're safe if if you're driving.

Pull over or or or when you come to to a stop, and make sure you you log in that pothole. But it it can be challenging for the city to rely on its residents to report where potholes are. And so we got to thinking about, you know, is is there a better way to do this? And I I started floating that idea with lots of different people, including a friend of mine, Susan Ingmire, who is on the board at Flywheel, and she said, you have to meet Donna Zaring. There's an opportunity here.

We got together for for coffee and had an incredible conversation that I think all of us came away from feeling very excited about about the opportunity. You know, the the city has the funding to do the work that it needs to do. It doesn't often have the funding to think about what it needs to be doing in the future or going forward or what it can be doing better. I think we as a city, especially with the Office of Data and Performance Analytics, are getting to that point where we are thinking more about how we could be doing things better. And so it was it was so exciting to partner with Flywheel because I didn't I didn't know where to go next.

I didn't know who to turn to to to invite folks in and and put on an an innovation lab like this. So it was a great experience. We came away with some some really cool ideas. I think at least three different teams that participated have found ways to engage with the city. I think we learned yeah.

Very exciting. We we learned about some tech some technology and equipment that is out there that other cities are using that we are not currently using. So there's an opportunity to invest there, to maybe put cameras on some of the city vehicles.

Yeah. I loved that idea. I was like, duh. Why didn't I think of that? Right?

Right. Right. And and those cameras can identify the potholes where they exist, so we're not relying on residents to eventually, report those. And, you know, as a resident who reports potholes myself, I am typically reporting the ones that are the deepest and and most dangerous. Those are the ones that ultimately are much more expensive to fill.

And so if we can identify them much earlier, we can repair them and and put the roads in much better condition. So the camera technology would would help allow us to do that. So that that was one great idea that that came out of the Innovation Lab. We also had a couple of solvers that were presenting new ways to look at the data that we have available. I think it it helps the city stretch our brains in terms of we have this information available.

What can we do with it? And I know the office of performance and data analytics has engaged in in follow-up conversations with some of those folks. I think some of those solvers, it would be great if we could find a way to bring them on to city staff or engage with the the city in a more meaningful way. But then ultimately, the the winner of the the lab that that won the the $5,000 prize really brought new data to to the table. We all have cell phones.

We all have our phones in our pockets and and in our in our cars or or while we're riding our bikes. And every time we hit a pothole, that phone is registering that. It has an accelerometer. It has a GPS. It is it it has the information inside of it where recognizing where potholes are.

And so the idea was, can we tap into that information? It's not data the city already has. Can we find a way to get that information to the city without requiring residents to do any of the reporting or without requiring residents to sign up for any new apps or or do anything extra to take advantage of that information.

Oh, that's interesting. And I want to mention that the $5,000 prize was given by Tire Discounters who sponsored the event. And the guy from Tire Discounters, he kept saying to the audience, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Y'all been asking me, why do we want to fill the potholes? Look. We all drive over them, and we all live in the same community. What's good for all of us is good for higher discounters too. He was very fun, so that was a very gracious gift.

I often think of sharpening the saw. We've been so busy cutting down those trees that sometimes we don't stop and breathe and sharpen the saw to gather new ideas, which will make the job go faster and easier when we get back to it. So thank you for taking the time to stop and gather some information. It was a fun evening of pitches. And I have to admit, I'm sitting there, and they're, like, going way over my head.

I mean, those guys are brilliant. And yeah. So hooray. Hooray for all of that.

Isn't it really a nice testament to our city? Because I think there's a lot of cities where that kind of true sort of civic, private, interested, smart people coming together to do things don't happen because they're big. They're complex. They're you know? So, I mean, I think that's a real testament to our our greater region and our community because we work hard to do those kind of things and create an ecosystem where it happens.

I totally agree with you. I mean, I had a conversation yesterday about how our environment, our Cincinnati region is so receptive to innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. And quite honestly, just like you at Xavier, we have lots of colleges here with fabulous entrepreneurship programs, and they help. They help all of us. They train us to think like entrepreneurs.

And when the city starts to think like an entrepreneur, they're so much more receptive to ideas that are not the norm that, you know, are thinking outside the box. So, Evan, what advice would you give to other municipalities and other groups collectively? What other sticky wickets could we tackle to brainstorm some positive solutions for the city? Evan, I'll start with you.

Well, Joan, to stick with your analogy, to seek out the saw sharpeners. We don't have the sharpeners at the city. And, frankly, for a a very modest investment, I feel like we got a great return. I think we're gonna see tremendous savings at the city. We're gonna see great improvements in service delivery.

And so you gotta take the time and and seek out those folks. I I did not know about Flywheel. I practice as an attorney and have been practicing in in town for a while and have often worked with startups. So predating Startup Cincy, predating Flywheel, there there was a concern locally that the folks who the interested entrepreneurs were leaving town to find that ecosystem. When I was in the SeaChange program, we actually did a project called Destination Innovate where we tried to make some of the connections between the local universities and what was a blossoming start up scene with Centrifuge and at the time Brandry had had just started.

And so to see what what exists today is just so exciting, so incredible. And it we we need to continue making those connections between the city and and any other government agencies out there and the ecosystem that we have.

Well said. And you can feel good that you are a part of it through SeaChange. So hooray for that too. Thanks. What else?

What other things do you think we ought to brainstorm and tackle for this city? Anything come to mind, or are we just about perfect?

I I think that sustainability is the is the focus. And I think, specifically, the sustainability is a little bit of a buzzword right now. I wanna specifically zero in on circularity. How do we use materials to the fullest extent before discarding them?

Okay.

And I think that there are some really awesome initiatives around that, local organizations that are really championing that, you know, conservation of of materials, you know, Sew Valley, Recycle Reuse.

They were one of mine.

Yeah. I I wanna see that, you know, come to the forefront even more. And I think that that there's tons of opportunities in that of new ways that we can think about how do we how do we utilize this? How do we take advantage of this material and view it as an asset, not something that, we have to figure out how to discard and and get rid of? So that that's what I'm thinking.

That's broad. Yeah. It's big. And there's there's a lot of possibilities under that umbrella.

I think there's just also a real opportunity to tap into, again, what I think is sort of inherent in our region because there's great things happening in Covington and in Newport and certainly in Cincinnati. And I and I think it's really there's an awareness opportunity for folks to understand it is a really complete ecosystem. I mean, I you know, I'm I'm thrilled to be part of the First Financial organization because there's so much focus on really looking both very traditionally, you know, certainly providing banking services, but really providing talent and treasure to help, all parts of the city, really thrive. So whether and, you know, our specific focus is housing job creation, but really nurturing businesses is also part of what we wanna do. And it is really rewarding personally and then from a corporate perspective to to nurture businesses.

And I think what we need to do is just create more awareness for those easy opportunities. I think Flywheel presents some easy opportunities, and it has the added value of I mean, enormous feel good. Right? Because you are helping someone who truly in their core mission has a true social part of their organization. So I feel like podcasts like this, but also how can we help as a city, as a business community, you know, to help this network, really strong network of of nonprofit organizations who are at the, you know, foundation of helping our city.

How do we really help create more awareness, but how do we really help encourage and create connections? Because the human volunteer power need is also huge, and that's easy. Right?

It is huge. And when you think of what percentage of people in our country are employed by small businesses. Right?

Right.

Huge. It's about half, maybe more. What percentage of our GDP comes from small businesses? Again, it's about half. I mean, we call them small businesses, but they are big players.

So don't underestimate them. Evan, were you going to, add to that?

You know, with the success of the Pave the Way Innovation Lab, I I have started thinking about other issues, the city faces. And, I you know, we we get so many complaints about potholes. I I just started thinking about where else have residents or what else have residents reached out about. You know, one thing we hear a lot about are the vacant properties. We have we have some beautiful aging housing stock, and and we see in in certain parts of town some of that housing stock falling into disrepair.

We see vacant a lot of vacant buildings. There's a lot of vacant buildings, I think more than 2,000. And the city is is moving in the right direction, I think, in terms of gathering the data. We adopted a new vacant building registry that will require property owners to to register those vacant buildings. But then what happens next?

I think I think that's the question we all have. We we have a desperate need to add to our housing stock, and we have all these vacant buildings. And I and I think tapping into to folks that can can think a little more creatively about how to get there. And then the other thing that comes to mind is is top of mind for a lot of folks, which is public safety. And some of the public safety issues we've we have seen in our city recently.

You know, we we've seen lots of great development happening in downtown and in our Over The Rhine District. And so that's where people are going to hang out, including a lot of our our teenage residents. And there are a few folks in in that crowd that have have caused some issues that have created some some narrative and perception problems. And I I I would I would love for people smarter than me to think about why that is the case. Why why are teenagers are, you know, seeking to hang out downtown these days?

And, you know, I know different options for for teenagers out in the neighborhoods have aren't as prevalent as they once were. But how do we sort of wrap our heads around, that issue? It's something that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

Well, we can have sleepless nights focusing on those for a while.

We have already. Yes.

This has been a delight delightful conversation. Thank you for sharing your time and talent. What did I not ask that you thought or you wished I would ask? Something that you wanted to say that I haven't given you the chance to say it. Now is the time.

So there was a question around kind of a personal story for kind of how we think or why we think it's important to invest in social enterprises and how we think that's an investment in our community. And as I was thinking about that, a particular story came to mind of Andrew Bliss. He, in his business, has created a calcium bicarbonate that's sourced from eggshells that can be used as a plastic filler. It can reduce virgin plastic in a plastic object, up to 50%. Absolutely.

I I told him once. I told him, I I'm like, you're gonna rule the world. Remember me.

Yeah. For all of you investors listening, the name of the company is Eco Shell.

Andrew Bliss. I can make an introduction. But the cool thing about him that really impacted me was his story. So he had spent twenty one years in Taiwan working over there, building his business, and recently came home to be closer to family. And he was from the Cincinnati area, and he was trying to think about where he wanted to base his business.

So Toronto was on the the list. I think Chicago was on the list. And he starts looking around to see, you know what? I'm home. Why don't I see, like, what's going on here?

And he stumbled across the the ecosystem and and stumbled across Flywheel and decided to go through our accelerator just to give it a shot. And he came through, and I remember having a conversation with him afterwards. And he was like, man, I think I wanna stay here. And I was like, oh, wow. Really?

He's like, yeah. He was like, the level of community, the level of people willing to go, you know, the extra mile, the level of the connections here. I've been able to move very quickly and very fast here because of the way the ecosystem is set up and the the environment of having, you know, all of our universities that are extremely entrepreneurial and thinking, having corporates that are willing to take a chance on small businesses and having banks that are willing to to fund and, of course, the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well, which Fly was a part of. He was like, I'm why would I go to Toronto? Why would I go to Chicago?

I'm gonna stay in Cincinnati. And for me, as someone who is, like, the biggest fan of Cincinnati I I love Cincinnati. Grew up here. Probably will never leave. It was like, oh, yeah.

It was just a reminder to me. Like, oh, yeah. We've we've got what we need.

We've got it.

We've got it. And so I I wanted to share that and and not only to shout out Andrew, but also to, you know, just bring that to the forefront that Cincinnati is is doing something that is incredible. We are making ourselves a hub and a home for these founders and not just the venture backable tech founders, but also the founders that are pursuing that double bottom line that are trying to have, you know, a very tangible impact on these social issues. And I'm happy that, you know, I get a chance to rub shoulders with these guys, and women that are are absolutely killing it.

We're gonna have Andrew on our podcast in just a few weeks, so stay tuned. Thank you for the story, and thank you to all the startups for bringing this all together. And thank you, Evan, for the leadership and what the city creates, an environment where young people, brilliant people, can come back.

Yeah. I mean, that Samuel story really resonated with me as as someone who who grew up here and and moved away for for school and and my first job and the opportunity to come back here. And it's just it's such a collaborative ecosystem that we have here. I mean, when you look at this pave the way innovation lab that we did, you know, the partnership between the city, Flywheel, First Financial, Tire Discounters, just folks from lots of different places coming together that I think naturally wouldn't do that in in a less collaborative environment. And it's it's so great to see the partnerships and and see the startup community thrive as a result of how many people are open to doing that.

I mean, you know, Jenny taking time out of her busy schedule to be a coach. I mean, you don't see that in in other cities when people are so focused on their on their own career and less interested in in the community. So very much appreciate being a part of it and and happy to see the city engage with others on that.

And thank you.

I'm more than happy to, you know, help. And I would just encourage anyone from business businesses to get involved, certainly individuals to get involved. It is a testament to our we have everything that all the big cities, the Torontos of the world have, but it is much easier, well said, Samuel, to navigate that. But I would just say don't think about it.

Don't listen to something like this and say maybe someday go to Flywheel's website and raise your hand and get involved as a business. As you know, if you have an idea, get involved, participate in a cohort. And it's certainly if you're an individual, I guarantee you have something to share. And I would on behalf of Flywheel, I would say we would welcome everybody's input because it is certainly a collective impact. So, you know, do it now. Don't wait.

Do it now. That is a great way to wrap up. Thank you. Thank you very much for sharing your time with us here at StartUp Cincy Week. Before we turn off the mics, I just want to remind our listeners, we also have a podcast about Sew Valley and their remarkable story.

Go to our podcast library to find awesome, inspiring stories. On the Fly! is produced by Joey Scarillo with music by Ben Hammer. This episode is recorded live at StartUp Cincy Week in Cincinnati, Ohio, courtesy of StartUp Cincy Week.