Alayah Harris - The Recipe Book
Aniruddhan Ramesh and Joe Kucheria Panjikaran - PhizzIO
Tatem Lindner - Silux
READY TO LAUNCH
Meet the founders of Main Street Ventures’ 2024 Launch It: Cincy Program
Great businesses begin with an entrepreneur who has an idea for which they can find the support – both financial and philosophically – necessary to launch it. Now, Main Street Ventures (MSV) is helping the next generation of entrepreneurs take another step in their journey via Launch It: Cincy.
The Launch It: Cincy Program kicks off with a pitch competition that awards three university undergraduate companies a unique prize package valued at $28,000+ (including a $10,000 grant). The program is designed to empower them to spend the summer experiencing the region, learning from experts and building their businesses as they spend the summer living, working and exploring Cincinnati. They have access to office space, mentoring, finance support and other resources to help grow their business ideas.
Get to know this year’s Launch It: Cincy cohort and keep an eye on their businesses as they learn, grow and join the startup ecosystem.
NAME: Alayah Harris – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alayah-harris-504682222/
COMPANY: The Recipe Book
COLLEGE and MAJOR: University of Dayton / Harris is a senior working toward earning a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Management.
FACT OF NOTE: “The Recipe Book” name is derived from the children’s cookbooks Harris and her sister would attempt to cook from in their youth.
THE IDEA (In 100 words or less): An app that seeks to create a “safe space” for everyone from new chefs to those just discovering the kitchen, The Recipe Book helps people learn the basics of cooking. Additionally, the app helps people to connect, share recipes and answer questions. Harris hopes to also eventually offer her app as part of a meal plan option at universities in alignment with her goal of “students helping students.”
Q: What inspired your company?
Harris: I grew up in the kitchen, but I kind of lost that once I got to college. The Recipe Book resonates in connecting with people around you that are in the same spot that you are (regarding cooking skills), but you might be too afraid to ask or open up about it. Also, putting more chefs in the kitchen, as I discovered, is best. Community is the best way to cook.
I moved away from home (for college), then I started getting a little bit homesick – and I'll never tell my mother that – but I discovered that being in the kitchen made me feel closer to home. It was actually helping me mentally get some work done, even if I would just go bake some cupcakes. It helped my mindset enough to feel like, “Okay, I can go handle another day.”
Q: What insight did you gain from being part of the Launch It: Cincy experience?
Harris: The value was really rooted in being there and being hands-on with Abby (Ober) and the team. That was something I wouldn’t be able to get virtually that helped root me in terms of my confidence that ‘I can do this’ and that it was given to me for a reason. Even if you feel like you don't belong in the room – I feel like the imposter syndrome has taken over a lot of times for me – just go for it. You never really know what can happen until you try.
Q: What advice do you have for other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Harris: Even if you feel like it's not fancy – just go for it. That’s what I did, and I’m here now even though I never thought I would be after dropping out of the business major. I said, ‘OK, there’s no more business for me,’ but here I am starting an entire business on my own.
Q: What’s next for you?
Harris: I'm actually starting a food blog on Instagram trying to raise that community up. I'm in development of my app right now. It's a long road, but I'm developing that, and I'll have two versions: one for regular consumers in your day-to-day communities, but also a meal plan option for universities.
NAME: Aniruddhan Ramesh and Joe Kucheria Panjikaran – https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniruddhan-ramesh-7854a0221/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/joekuncheria/
COMPANY: PhizzIO
COLLEGE and MAJOR: University of Cincinnati / Both are pre-juniors, Ramesh majoring in computer science; Kucheria Panjikaran majoring in mechanical engineering.
FACT OF NOTE: Both born in India and raised in Abu Dhabi, Ramesh and Panjikaran did not meet until both were living in the same dormitory at UC.
THE IDEA (In 100 words or less): PhizzIO is a software solution that caters to physical therapy centers to enhance treatment accessibility and adherence for their patients. By leveraging advanced technology, PhizzIO tracks the patient’s movements and provides them with audible feedback to help correct their posture and maximize treatment effectiveness.
Using an active feedback loop and progress tracking, PhizzIO ensures seamless communication with the patient and physical therapists, providing the latter with data to make critical treatment decisions.
Q: What inspired your company?
Ramesh: The inception of the idea started at UC. We were at this competition called Startup Weekend that was hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship. Joe and I just happened to walk by and we saw a lot of cool startup ideas that people were working on, but we didn't really connect with any of these ideas ... We went inside a room and started talking about what problems we would try to solve in case we ended up participating in the competition.
Joe had torn his ACL while playing soccer at Nippert Stadium at UC. He was going through rigorous physical therapy and finding it hard to adhere to his exercises because all he was given to perform them at home – which was a large part of his treatment – was a piece of paper and next to no other form of instruction. He was finding this really hard. Since I was from a computer science background, I was talking about how advances in computer vision allow you to map patients and their bodies to see how they're moving, their posture and more.
Q: What insight did you gain from being part of the Launch It: Cincy experience?
Ramesh: Launch It: Cincy was great for us and a much-needed program, honestly. Being engineers, we're only focused on the tech. We just want to get done with a project or a product, but that's not how business works. You need to think about product market fit like how to run a sustainable business. An important way you do that is by talking to people, successful founders and entrepreneurs who have been in your shoes.
Launch It: Cincy has been great in terms of providing valuable connections through sessions where we've talked to several founders and entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who have been in the place we are right now. They can give us the much-needed guidance. Moreover, they also have a lot of lunch and learn events and workshops which really provide us good insights on things like how storytelling works and how to pitch your idea in front of others. I really love the financial modeling side of things where our mentor, Kevin Mackey from 1000Zebras, really taught us a lot ... It’s all just been an insightful experience.
Q: What advice do you have for other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Ramesh: The advice that we personally got, and that really resonated with us and also something that I'd like to share with other entrepreneurs, is just believe in what you're doing. You may not see results right away but trust the process and not the end result, because even if it doesn't succeed, you still learn so much along the way; it's definitely not going to go for waste.
Stick to the process. Don't even think about what it's going to look like at the end. Just make sure that every second that you put into whatever you're working on is good. It's really worked for us in terms of the product that we're building over here.
Q: What’s next for you?
Ramesh: It’s uncertain because we’re international students. The U.S. (for us) is very uncertain after graduation because there are a lot of visa restrictions that come along with that. We’re trying to figure things out as we go along. I will say the U.S. definitely has a lot of support for international founders and immigrant founders.
We’re just trying to find out ways in which we can use all those benefits that the U.S. government provides and trying to stay realistic in terms of what we can achieve with the visa restrictions and resources we have right now. We’ve received a lot of legal support not just from Launch It: Cincy, but also the UC Law Clinic who are giving us a lot of insights ... We're keeping all of those in mind as we move along, so we are better prepared for any situation that may come.
NAME: Tatem Lindner – www.linkedin.com/in/tatem-lindner/
COMPANY: Silux (https://www.siluxrings.com/)
COLLEGE and MAJOR: Miami University at Oxford, Ohio / Lindner graduated in spring 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and co-major in Entrepreneurship.
FACT OF NOTE: Lindner was originally a pre-med student before changing majors just shy of graduating
THE IDEA (In 100 words or less): Silux is a designer silicone ring company for women who cannot wear metal rings due to health problems, weight fluctuations and/or workplace safety issues. These rings look like a standard metal one, but they are made from a flexible material that works with your body and against machinery. Silux has over 70K followers on TikTok (@siluxrings) and is launching soon.
Q: What inspired your company?
Lindner: I was once a pharmacy technician – That's how I got myself through college. My pharmacist, who was pregnant at the time, was counting finasteride. Finasteride increases testosterone production within the body; if you're pregnant with a boy baby and you touch the medication even once, it can cause deformities within the child.
When you count it, there are strict protocols and procedures, such as wearing gloves, wiping down the tray, etc. But that day, her engagement ring popped her glove and she was worried that she had actually touched the medication. That day, I went home and I researched if there were any alternatives for engagement rings.
I came across silicone rings, and I was going to buy one for her, but they weren’t feminine enough for my taste nor hers – I couldn't imagine her wearing them. After that, I decided to try to create my own and I did that out of food-safe silicone in my kitchen. From there, I posted it on TikTok and now we have 70,000 followers. A lot of other people had the exact same issue as she did so it's cool – I built a community.
Q: What insight did you gain from being part of the Launch It: Cincy experience?
Lindner: It was really cool. They hooked me up with a bunch of different mentors; from there, I could ask a bunch of questions. I spoke with people who are already in retailers as well as those who created their own retail stores and been very successful in e-commerce.
It was really cool to be able to speak to people in different areas there. On top of that, it was really nice to be able to learn from other people in my cohort. The two groups I was with, they didn't have a product in my area of consumer product goods (CPG), but I was still learning a lot from them. It’s nice to get some insights from somebody who's not living in your industry.
Q: What advice do you have for other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Lindner: Oh, goodness! Just put yourself out there to be honest, because when I first started this journey, I think there was a lot of self-doubt, ‘Can I negotiate well enough? Can I get into Launch It: Cincy?’ It's a matter of if you're willing to take the bet and put yourself out there and feel rejection.
But triumph also comes out of that, so you’ve got to risk putting yourself out there because one connection can lead to another. Suddenly, you're in manufacturing and you're about to launch your own business. I can't speak for beyond that, but I can speak to where I am.
Q: What’s next for you?
Lindner: I'm going full-time with Silux. I have not yet determined the exact date of my launch, but I'm aiming for Oct. 20, which is when I’m running a marathon in Columbus. I want to launch by running a marathon in a prom dress. That’s to signify that you can do crazy things as a woman while still feeling beautiful – that's what I want my rings to also stand for.
I'm hoping that by posting on social media and getting more people to see the journey that we're on that we can create a really great launch with a very nice message. From there, who knows? Maybe it'll snowball and you'll see me diving or biking or doing a bunch of different things wearing these rings and still feeling beautiful while doing it, hopefully inspiring other people.
I love rings and I always have. Growing up, my great-grandma had given me a ring and my grandma had given me one, too. Sadly, one of them was stolen and the other one I lost. I'm very big on sentimental jewelry, but I really learned in that moment that if you're bringing sentimental jewelry everywhere, the chance you're going to lose it or have it stolen is much higher.
These rings aren't (perhaps) what you're going to wear every day, but it is going to be there for you and the moment that you need it, whether you're working out, working, traveling, etc. I want these to show up for you the way that your sentiment will.
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