Ten early-stage Ohio founders will step up to pitch investors, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders at a summer showcase inside Cleveland's Warren E. Anderson MidTown Collaboration Center on Aug. 27, presenting startups that range from AI-driven construction risk tools to a senior-care navigation platform. The event runs from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with general registration opening at 1:30 p.m. following investor-only sessions.
The showcase caps off a run through JumpStart's Trailblazer Software Accelerator, a program that supports pre-seed and seed-stage Ohio founders at no cost and requires no equity in return, according to cleveland.com. Participants work with JumpStart's services team to refine their products, validate markets, and prepare to scale, per the same report. The ten presenting founders are addressing problems across behavioral health, senior care, construction, wholesale distribution, and hospitality.
Gerald Hetrick will present CentSight, while Jeremiah Woods pitches Construction Risk AI. Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons are behind LTCareNav, a senior-care navigation venture, and Nida Aslam and Jaden Walton will present Motiv. Rounding out the lineup are George Granchi of Velocity AI Partners, Matt Vann of Greenlight Grocery, Sudhanshu Patki and Nitin Karande of Dwarpaal Inc., Dan Mizener and David Boone Jr. of Ordermatic, Jonathan Hooper and Colin Hooper of Velora, and Wenyi Zhu of Kuddo Health.
A Fireside Chat on Building Billion-Dollar Companies
Beyond the pitches, the showcase features a fireside chat titled “Building the Next Billion-Dollar Company in Ohio,” moderated by Kris Beck, senior vice president of strategic operations at Veroot. Panelist Bill Priemer served as president and CEO of Westlake-headquartered Hyland Software from 2013 until his retirement in May 2024, a run in which he guided the enterprise content management firm past $1 billion in annual revenue and 4,000 global employees, according to PR Newswire. Priemer had joined Hyland back in 1997, when the company had just 30 employees and $7 million in revenue.
The other panelist, Kevin von Keyserling, co-founded cybersecurity unicorn Keyfactor and now serves as CEO of ReadySet Surgical, a healthcare supply chain startup that relocated its headquarters to Cleveland in 2023 after receiving Series A funding led by JumpStart's NEXT Fund, as reported by NEOtrans. The company's move from Cincinnati to Downtown Cleveland stands as a direct example of JumpStart's regional investment strategy translating into local jobs and headquarters relocations.
A Venue Built to Bridge Two Cleveland Neighborhoods
The showcase takes place at 1974 E. 66th St., inside a building that opened in May 2025 and was officially named in April 2026 to honor Warren E. Anderson, president and CEO of The Anderson-DuBose Company, according to the Cleveland Foundation. The Cleveland Foundation built the center specifically to bridge Downtown Cleveland and University Circle, positioning it as a civic anchor for the city's innovation efforts. It is a fitting setting for an event JumpStart says has grown considerably since 2017, when the organization expected nearly 1,500 attendees at a similar startup scale-up networking event in Gordon Square.
Momentum Behind the Trailblazer Program
The showcase arrives amid a period of expansion for JumpStart's broader accelerator network. The Trailblazer Accelerators program, backed primarily by the Ohio Third Frontier initiative and the U.S. Economic Development Administration, has awarded $11.84 million in non-dilutive funding to 79 early-stage startups since launching around 2024, according to JumpStart Inc. Those non-dilutive grants let founders purchase vetted third-party legal, engineering, and financial services without giving up ownership stakes. As of June 2026, companies that have gone through the Trailblazer program have collectively raised more than $40 million in follow-on capital and generated over $10 million in revenue.
JumpStart's reach extends well beyond this one cohort. A July 2026 report from the organization found that tech startups and small businesses supported by JumpStart and its 16 regional Entrepreneurial Services Provider partners generated an estimated $1.9 billion in economic activity across Ohio in 2025, an 11% jump over the prior year, per Business Journal Daily. Since 2010, startups aided by JumpStart and its regional collaborators have generated a cumulative $16.9 billion in economic output for the state, with supported tech startups sustaining 9,236 Ohio jobs in 2025 alone.
JumpStart's own history as a venture investor stretches back to 2004, when it began deploying capital that has since gone into 140 companies across $140 million under management, generating more than $2 billion in portfolio exit value, according to Impact Cleveland. That track record includes the $1.4 billion sale of CoverMyMeds to McKesson, a deal often cited as one of Northeast Ohio's biggest tech exits. JumpStart operates both these zero-equity accelerators and separate seed-to-Series-A venture funds.
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, which is sponsoring the summer showcase, has partnered with JumpStart since 2013 on initiatives including the Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program and regional microgrant programs for Northeast Ohio founders, according to the Burton D. Morgan Foundation. Big Kitty Labs is also providing support for the event. JumpStart's Kaleigh Gallagher said some founders in this cohort are bringing AI to previously unreached problems, while others are tackling data-heavy industries that have lacked good tools.
The showcase is open to investors, entrepreneurs, and corporate and civic leaders, and attendees can register at jumpstartinc.org/event/trailblazer-summer-showcase-software. It comes as JumpStart operates under new leadership: Lorne Novick was officially appointed CEO in August 2026 after serving as interim chief during an extensive executive search, taking the helm during a period of expanding regional small-business and tech programming.
