Building Cincinnati's startup ecosystem since 2013

Cintrifuse chairs StartupCincy, a coalition of entrepreneurs and the organizations that serve them, with a mission to provide resources and support for all Cincinnati entrepreneurs. The region has more than 390 startups, 9 Fortune 500 headquarters, and a growing network of accelerators, coworking spaces, and investor groups.

With a wide top of the funnel and a large variety of entrepreneurs entering the ecosystem at different stages, Cintrifuse needed a way to connect every founder with the right support without the team having to touch each one individually. In partnership with EcoMap, they built the StartupCincy Digital Front Door.

Before EcoMap, routing was manual

Before implementing EcoMap, Cintrifuse was sharing resources through newsletters, manual collection, and in-person meetings. Routing entrepreneurs to the right organizations happened one at a time. The team had tried other platforms, but none met their needs.

Kate Hursh-Wogenstahl, Director of Marketing and Communications, said, "EcoMap has allowed us to serve founders more at scale. Our team alone cannot touch each one of them, even as much as we wish we could. EcoMap allows us to route them to the people that are best able to serve them, so they can get that warm welcome to the ecosystem that they deserve without having to float through organizations that may not be the best fit for their needs."

The challenge is a common one for entrepreneurship support organizations. The ecosystem has the resources. The team has the knowledge. But without a system, that knowledge only travels as fast as the staff who hold it.

The StartupCincy Digital Front Door

The StartupCincy Resource Hub, which the team calls their Digital Front Door, now includes more than 200 resources from over 60 support organizations across the Cincinnati region. The hub is powered by EcoMap Discover and lives at startupcincy.com/resources.

The hub includes a Resource Compass that helps founders search and filter programs, accelerators, and funding opportunities tailored to their stage and needs. An Ecosystem Calendar consolidates events from across the region. An Ecosystem Passport gives founders free access to coworking spaces, maker studios, and innovation hubs. A Startup Job Board connects talent with hiring startups. And a Dealroom integration tracks venture activity, showcasing top startups, funding rounds, and investment opportunities.

The filtering capability has been the most valuable feature for the team. Entrepreneurs can narrow down what they're looking for, find the right resource quickly, and access it without sifting through options that aren't the right fit.

Built for the whole ecosystem, not just Cintrifuse

One of the intentional decisions behind the Digital Front Door was making it a resource for the entire ecosystem, not just Cintrifuse's own programs. The hub includes resources from dozens of partner organizations, and Cintrifuse sees those partners as co-owners of the system.

Kate described the thinking behind that approach. "We put this out there for the good of our ecosystem, not just for us. Our team alone is not able to serve every type of entrepreneur. But there are a lot of organizations out there that can. The organizations that are good at helping early-stage companies are now positioned in a way that hopefully we have some reciprocity, and everybody is using the system and making it better across the ecosystem."

Founders can enter Cincinnati's startup ecosystem from many different points. Some come through Cintrifuse. Some come through an accelerator, a university, or a community organization. The Digital Front Door gives all of those entry points access to the same comprehensive view of what's available.

Early in the partnership, measuring what matters

Cintrifuse has been working with EcoMap for about a year. The team is measuring return on investment by tracking the number of entrepreneurs they're able to reach and how often those entrepreneurs engage with the hub. They're still establishing benchmarks, which Kate acknowledged openly.

That transparency is worth noting. Rather than claiming impact they can't yet verify, Cintrifuse is building the measurement foundation alongside the infrastructure. The data that EcoMap Discover provides on how entrepreneurs engage with resources will help inform those benchmarks over time.

A warm welcome at any hour, from any entry point

What Cintrifuse has built with StartupCincy's Digital Front Door is an ecosystem-level tool, not an organizational one. The hub doesn't just serve Cintrifuse's founders. It serves Cincinnati's founders, regardless of where they enter or what stage they're at.

That approach positions Cintrifuse and the StartupCincy coalition as the connective layer for the region's entrepreneurship support. When the right resource is easier to find, founders move faster, support organizations can focus on the work they do best, and the ecosystem gets stronger as a whole.

Learn more about Cintrifuse at https://cintrifuse.com.

Explore the StartupCincy Digital Front Door at https://startupcincy.com/resources.