30 entrepreneurs to stop at Youngstown Business Incubator

Staff report

Youngstown

The Youngstown Business Incubator will be one of two Ohio stops for the Ohio Startup Bus, a bus traveling with 30 Ohio entrepreneurs to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.

At 9:30 a.m. today, the bus will visit YBI at the Semple Building, 234 W. Federal St.

Each year, 10 buses are awarded to various cities in the U.S. and Mexico through a competitive-bidding process. This year, Cincinnati was selected, as were 30 developers, designers and businesspeople to board the bus.

Those selected will present their ideas to a panel of YBI experts who will help them refine their pitch through interactive- coaching sessions.

The team will spend three days brainstorming ideas, building prototypes and pitching their concepts at stops on their way to Austin. The best ideas selected will compete against nine other buses going to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival.

“As few as five years ago, I doubt YBI would have been considered for a stop by a program so highly competitive and regarded as the Startup Bus,” said Barb Ewing, chief operating officer of YBI. “The fact that we are one of only two Ohio stops, and one that is in the opposite direction from the national competition, speaks volumes about the very high regard that YBI is held in nationally.”

For information about YBI or the Startup Bus, contact Rose Shaffer at 330-599-4583, or email at rshaffer@ybi.org.