OCEAN Startup Accelerator Announces Demo Day April 29
Event includes global tech speakers, showcase of startups
CINCINNATI, April 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- OCEAN, the nation's first faith-based startup accelerator, announced today details for its Demo Day on April 29 at 1 p.m. at Crossroads Church. Two global business leaders will speak to the OCEAN startup class and Demo Day attendees: Songza co-founder Elias Roman, a recent Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient who sold his successful music app to Google in 2014 for a reported $38 million; and Colleen Arnold, who as the senior vice president of IBM is responsible for all $100 billion of IBM's annual revenue worldwide.
OCEAN Demo Day is an opportunity for its 10 startup companies to showcase their ideas, ranging from a hardware company that produces water filtration systems to companies using cloud-based infrastructure or apps that serve unmet needs in the market. OCEAN's participating companies were selected from 150 applicants from around the nation and world, with 50% of the applicants coming from outside Cincinnati and 20% coming from outside the U.S.
"Through my role at IBM I've seen the impact that businesses can have on a global scale," said Colleen Arnold. "That's why I'm honored to share my journey as part of OCEAN Accelerator's first DEMO Day. OCEAN's unique role that takes entrepreneurs through a business and faith journey will enable its startups to thrive and make ripples throughout the world."
OCEAN's Demo Day will serve as the kickoff for Cincinnati's Innovation XChange business conference. During the event, each startup will demonstrate its ideas to potential investors and the general public, and Arnold and Roman will share their success stories for all attendees.
"Being part of Innovation XChange is a reflection of OCEAN's involvement in #StartupCincy, the city's rich ecosystem of support for startups," said Genine Fallon, executive director of OCEAN. "Building a startup company can be isolating, but OCEAN provides a team experience for participants as well as access to the thriving startup community in Cincinnati."
In addition to coworking, in-kind resources and business mentoring, OCEAN provides faith mentors so that startup founders can build their faith while building their business. OCEAN does not discriminate based on applicants' faith, but teams submitted to a 6-month faith exploration as part of their experience.
"For many industries, the last decade has seen great decreases in the cost of starting a business and time it takes to get to market," said Roman, who now serves as senior product manager at Google Play Music. "The enormous value of advice shared by trusted advisors, accelerators or incubators, however, has stayed constant. I benefitted tremendously from that advice when I co-founded Songza, and am thrilled to share whatever learnings I can at the 2015 DEMO day."
For more information or to register for Demo Day, visit oceanaccelerator.com/demoday.
Contact: Natalie Hastings
513.376.2728
[email protected]
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150416/199218
SOURCE OCEAN
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