When
UpTech, Northern Kentucky’s accelerator organization, first emerged in 2013, it was on a five-year timeline.
As the brainchild of several Northern Kentucky institutions — including Northern Kentucky University, Vision 2015 (now
Skyward),
Northern Kentucky Tri-ED and
ezone — UpTech set out to invest in 50 startups over five years. Today, the accelerator’s success and growing momentum has confirmed that UpTech will be around for much longer than that.
Initially, UpTech’s mission was to establish an informatics cluster in the Northern Kentucky area. With NKU’s
College of Applied Informatics so close by, leaders hoped to utilize that local talent by reaching out to those skilled in handling large amounts of consumer and industry data. As an accelerator, UpTech looked to provide the tools its graduates would need to establish their own data-driven companies in the area.
Today, UpTech’s focus on Northern Kentucky remains, with shades of gray. With the accelerator's fourth class of startups set to enter the Pike Street building in September, UpTech is redefining its focus in the hopes of establishing a more regional and national presence in the informatics world.
UpTech triumphs
Since 2013, UpTech has seen three classes graduate from its program. Since their graduation, three UpTech alums have shined particularly bright.
Tixers, a digital ticket exchange service, was acquired by Florida mobile sports platform OneUp Sports this past April. Ohio native and Xavier University alum Alex Burkhart founded the company to fill a void in the sports fan market, with users able to swap unusable tickets in exchange for credit for future events.
The original team, which includes sports startup veterans Terek Kamil and Derek Shewmon, was a part of UpTech’s second class of startups.
Citilogics, a member of the accelerator’s initial class of startups, also shows particular promise. By using data to optimize water management, the company has already brought the City of Denver on board as a client.
Finally,
Hello Parent, which created an app to improve parent-to-parent communication, has also received significant recognition. Their recent selection as 84.51’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence offers them a path for progression from concept to business growth.
Changing of the guard
In June, UpTech’s longtime Program Director, Amanda Greenwell, stepped down from her multi-functional role. During her time at the accelerator, Greenwell saw 22 companies pass through the program and raised nearly $1.5 million in startup investment. With her involvement, the program truly picked up steam and produced significant success stories.
Replacing Greenwell is JB Woodruff, commercialization director at ezone and UpTech’s first
Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Before stepping in as interim director, Woodruff met with each of the UpTech startups for one hour per week to act as a mentor and guide through the business development process. As a resource for everything from graphic design, branding and marketing to web development and business strategy, he held the role of a motivator for these growing companies.
His new title, however, allows the Cincinnati native to do much more than motivate.
“We’re looking for a bigger push to solidify the informatics element (of UpTech) and create a niche for ourselves,” Woodruff says.
To do so, Woodruff hopes reestablish a standing relationship with NKU's College of Informatics. He also plans to provide mentors for the new class of startups by creating partnerships with area corporations.
As the new program director, he also hopes to expand the accelerator’s reach beyond Northern Kentucky.
“We want to have roots in Kentucky,” Woodruff says, “but we also recognize that you have to become a national player to be a successful accelerator.”
UpTech’s new class
To meet that goal, UpTech is currently recruiting its fourth class from across the country and the world. The accelerator received 77 applications from all over the United States as well as Chile, Thailand, Spain and Italy. They’ve narrowed down the pool to 16 or 17 startups with the goal of keeping 10 or fewer.
“We’re looking for investable companies, ones that have the right team in place,” Woodruff says. “We’re also striving for a full house to really get the vibe going.”
Woodruff hopes to use his new position to address two primary obstacles he saw in past UpTech classes: time commitment and skill sets.
“In order to make a startup work, a 100 percent time commitment has to be made,” he says. “In the past, a lot of our founders were working other jobs and the commitment was not really there. We want folks basically living at UpTech so that they can do everything in their power to drive success in their business.”
The key to finding that drive is necessity, Woodruff says. When choosing UpTech’s new class, the selection team will look for a full-time commitment from at least one team member.
Woodruff is also concerned with the lack of technical skills. In the past, UpTech didn’t require that a startup have a team member with tech skills, instead depending on help from students from the College of Applied Informatics. Woodruff is now pushing to make tech skills a hard requirement for admission into the UpTech program.
“We want to help build the students’ skills, not depend on them,” he says.
Update: The members of UpTech's fourth class were announced on Aug. 18, with their six-month program scheduled to begin in early September.
This class of startups will have access to multiple mentorship opportunities. Investors like Brad Zapp of
Connetic Ventures already have weekly appointments with UpTech startups, and previous UpTech grads will be available to offer their unfiltered advice as well.