CS:: Entrepreneurial Services

Emerging companies like yours may have terrific ideas, but not necessarily all of the tools in place to help you to grow and prosper. MAGNET’s Entrepreneurial Assistance Program, helps you adopt a realistic business mind set about your opportunities and guides you through each phase of your development.

Our Incubation Program provides a comprehensive package of business assistance services to support the growth of technology-oriented companies, whether you are:

• An aspiring entrepreneur with a great idea
• The leader of an early-stage business hoping to grow
• An experienced “serial” entrepreneur looking to replicate your previous success.

Our managerial services and facility amenities (office, lab space, and more), along with access to our experienced product development engineering team and other programs, can significantly shorten your time to market – one of the most crucial elements of success for any business.  By providing you with timely support and access to entrepreneur-friendly resources, our incubation services allow you to focus on building your business – not on finding/maintaining your physical space or qualifying support resources.

The combination of our incubation services with your drive gives you the best chance for long-term success. We expect our client companies to graduate into the community, create jobs, commercialize critical new technologies, and revitalize our regional economy. Our services include:

Management:

• Concept evaluation and critique
• Business plan review
• Marketing plan development
• Competitive analysis
• Links to business support specialists
• Links to financial resources
• Strategic planning
• Financial planning
• Access to technologies and know-how
• Technology transfer assistance
• Intellectual property protection
• Linkage to MAGNET’s Product Development and other services

Business Review:

• Present to a group of highly qualified individuals from various business disciplines including many successful entrepreneurs
• Have your business concepts reviewed along with challenges and opportunities identified by the presenting company
• A significant portion of the review consists of discussion and suggestions to help the entrepreneur as he or she moves forward in building a successful company
• The committee reviews topics such as business model, marketing plan and strategy, finances and capital acquisition, product manufacturing and distribution, organizational capability, operations, and administrative consideration
• Taking a “best practices” approach, the team helps companies become profitable and sustainable by focusing on business and operational issues.

Networking

We bring entrepreneurs together to discuss critical business issues and to network.  Our Roundtable participants select topics for discussion and bring in highly-qualified guest speakers for presentations and interactive discussions.

Product Development

On a fee-for-service basis, you have easy access to our highly-skilled individuals experienced in:

• Ideation
• Concept evaluation and realization
• Design engineering and prototyping
• Market testing, validation, and product roll-out

Our Product Development division was named a Center for Excellence in Product Innovation by the Ohio Department of Development. MAGNET also administers the Cuyahoga County New Product Development and Entrepreneurship Loan Fund, which awards substantial low interest loans to companies with great new product ideas, who are willing to manufacture their product in Cuyahoga County for at least 7 years.

The MIC Incubator Offices and Laboratories

When you’re housed in the 85,000 sq. ft. MAGNET Innovation Center (MIC), you’ll have access to high-quality space and facility amenities targeted to keep costs affordable and allow your business to focus its limited cash and time on its priorities.  These amenities include:

• High quality office, manufacturing, and lab space
• Flexible lease terms
• Office furniture / Shared office equipment
• 24 hour access
• Security services / Secured parking
• Utilities and janitorial services
• Kitchens and eating facilities
• Conference rooms with presentation equipment
• High-speed internet access / Discounted telephone rates

Another advantage of locating to an incubator facility is the opportunity to interact with other companies in various stages of development. In addition to formal interactions between tenants such as meetings, courses and seminars, there are many opportunities for informal interactions.  This networking can connect you to potential business opportunities, provide the ability to learn from one another, reinforce success strategies identified in formal sessions, and reduce the feeling of isolation common to young companies.

See a list of our current incubator tenants and past graduates.

For more information, contact:

Wayne Zeman - Vice President, Venture Development
216-432-4197

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