STARTUP SUCCESS Alumni entrepreneurs share tricks of the startup trade By Colleen Weinkam It’s no secret the Cincinnati region has become a hotbed for startup activity. It’s home to The Brandery, a nationally ranked startup accelerator; HCDC, a nationally recognized startup incubator; CincyTech, one of the Midwest’s leading seed-stage investors; Queen City Angels, the longestrunning organized angel investor group in the region; and the relatively new OCEAN, the country’s first independent, faith-based accelerator. In July 2013, Entrepreneur magazine featured Cincinnati as an “unexpected hub for tech startups,” noting that while the Silicon Valley might see the most venture capital, startups there don’t receive the same support from large firms that new, homegrown companies in Cincinnati do. And, just last year, The Huffington Post told Cincinnati to “take a bow” for its “claim to a growing and vibrant startup ecosystem.” That startup mentality is important considering how entrepreneurship plays a vital role in the growth of the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small companies have accounted for 40 percent of net new jobs created over the past two decades. To learn more about Cincinnati’s startup scene, Mount News sat down with several alumni entrepreneurs to reveal their stories, discover what drives them and even uncover some tricks of the trade.
T H E M AR K E T I N G M A STE RS Donna Eby ’81 and Lisa Sanger ’83 met while they played in the orchestra at the Mount—Eby on the trombone and Sanger playing baritone—and also worked together on the Student Government Association—Eby as treasurer and vice president and Sanger as class officer and SGA representative. In 1988, they went into business together, co-founding Sanger & Eby, a design and marketing firm that later expanded to include Web design and mobile app development. “We wanted to control our future and our growth,” Eby says. “Owning your own business gives you freedom and autonomy, and there is unlimited potential to what you can accomplish.” Today, the business employs 16 people and works for several high-profile clients, including Macy’s, 20th Century Fox, Ethicon, Fifth Third Bank, Atrium Medical Center and the Mount. Q: How did you fill an unmet need in the industry when you started Sanger & Eby? Eby: When we started 28 years ago, pure design firms were relatively new (compared to traditional advertising agencies). We felt we could provide a fresh, strategic approach to communication challenges. Ad agencies were focused on advertising campaigns using multiple platforms, including newspaper, magazine, radio and TV components. Although design was certainly part of their offering, it was not the focus. Design studios (at the time) were focused
on print—creating corporate identity/branding, annual reports, collateral—and, essentially, creating print pieces that evoked emotion and told the story in a more engaging and creative way. Q: How have you managed to stay relevant? What are you doing today that you weren’t doing when you first started S&E? Sanger: To stay relevant, we must continue to learn, especially in our ever-changing field. We are constantly evaluating new technology and methodologies and adapting as appropriate for our services and client needs. We started as a print design firm in 1988 and now offer content strategy, user experience and user interaction, Web and application development, search engine optimization, motion graphics and social media. As this digital landscape we live in gets more cluttered and our clients’ needs change, we continue to innovate and evolve our expertise so that our solutions are ones that bring a significant ROI to our clients. Relevancy is not just about the tools or methods that you use in our business because they are everchanging. It is about having the insight into the behaviors of the consumer, the on-point strategy to engage, the foresight of what is next on the horizon and the ability to leverage each for the most effective message and delivery. sangereby.com