Business & Tech

Startup Bus Proves Helpful to North Canton Resident, Community

North Canton resident gets on a bus to Texas and comes back with ideas to help the community

Who knew a 48-hour bus trip to Austin, TX, could be so productive?

North Canton resident Scott Meier and Main Street Stark owner Jeff “SKI” Kinsey headed to South by Southwest Conference with about 25 other entrepreneurs from the area. Together, they all worked to pitch ideas for start-up, technology-based businesses in the area.

More than 1,500 people applied to get a seat on the bus, and only 150 were chosen to board six buses across the country.

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“Essentially everybody on the bus pitched their idea, we took the top ones and self-organized into teams,” Meier said. “I was drawn to Help Near Me by a friend of mine because we want to do something that makes a difference.”

Help Near Me is a software application designed in two parts: one for organizations and the other for individuals.

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“It’s going to help organizations find an inexpensive way to solicit donations, versus giving it all away to Visa or PayPal,” Meier said. “They can solicit events and publish information on existing social networks such as Twitter or Facebook.”

The individual aspect of the application is location-based and will be downloadable for smartphones, Meier said.

“Let’s say you’re new to North Canton and someone approaches you and needs some type of resource,” Meier said. “You can use your mobile app and our database will have resources available for you to tell that person where to go. That will also work for people looking for volunteer opportunities.”

Meier expects the program to launch in the next 60 days. It will be tested locally and then he hopes it will spread nationwide.

Unfortunately, the angel investors at SXSW didn't choose to fund Meier or Kinsey's ideas. But that didn't slow them down.

“(The other entrepreneurs) were an unbelievable group of talented people,” Meier said of his new friends. “I’m amazed at the skill sets that were there and the conversation has not ended. We’re a part of the Startup Bus fraternity now.”

Meier is the owner and founder of Scribblewerks. Check out pictures from the trip on his blog.

Kinsey said he went onto the bus knowing that starting a company takes time, but he had no idea one could be successfully created in 48 hours. He is the owner of Main Street Stark, soon to be Main Street Startup, which is a small business incubator for start-ups.

“Main Street Stark help start up other businesses and we’re pretty good at doing it in 90 days,” Kinsey said. “To create and start up a business in 48 hours is amazing.”

Kinsey enjoyed networking with the other entrepreneurs and was excited to be a part of the small number of people chosen for the ride.

“The only person I knew before this adventure was Scott,” Kinsey said. “Our main focus at Main Street Stark is creating jobs and now I know 23 other people who are excited about creating jobs.”

Eventually Kinsey wants Main Street Stark to become nationally know, which is why the name will change to Main Street Startup.

“We need an incubator for the guy or gal who thinks a million bucks is still a lot of money,” Kinsey said. “We need to launch businesses and enterprises right here in Stark County. If you want to create jobs, you have to turn to small businesses.”

He added, “Some people are under the impression that it takes a year or five years to launch a business, but it takes as long as it takes. After 20 years of experience, I’ve learned that it’s really the people that matter. You have to be passionate and you have to think outside the box.”

Learn more about how you can become a successful entrepreneur by visiting Kinsey’s site and read more about his trip on his blog. Or stay up-to-date by following him on Twitter.


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