A Lake County-based startup is working to make night driving safer for motorcycle riders.
The company founded by Robert Schindler and Joe Krizmanich is developing a night vision system that will be mounted onto the bikes —either on the handlebars or the windshield—so drivers can glance at it and see what is up ahead.
Schindler said at a Lake County Commissioners meeting in February that they are hoping to have the device in production by that time next.
Helping with the creation is a $25,000 innovation grant from Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise. Helping to get the pair to the grant was the small business accelerator LakeStart.
LakeStart was founded just about two years ago. Its official name is the officially named The Raymond C. Kralovic Center for Entrepreneurship after the late STERIS founder.
Eight volunteer mentors help clients with finance, business law, marketing, sales, general management, leadership, capital acquisition, manufacturing and patents.
LakeStart’s Kip Marlow said the organization helps different people in different ways.
“We just guided (Schindler),” Marlow said. “He knew what he was going to do, but we would push him, saying ‘ok when are you going to get this done by?’ Stuff like that. Then he says he needs money so we got him to the innovation fund.”
Marlow said they’ve had about 100 people sign up with LakeStart and they are in regular contact with about 40 mentees.
Among those who have worked with LakeStart are Kim Reed and Cheryl Barkey of the Willoughby-based Gait Lab. They’ve created an alternative for traditional braces for those who have gait deficits including footslap, footdrop, tendonitis and other foot and ankle orthopedic and neurological conditions. Marlow said LakeStart has helped them with marketing and the patent process.
Larry Lamphier, the vice president of LakeStart’s board, said most of their mentees need general guidance more than anything else.
“Some of them will have specific needs, ‘I really need help doing this or this,’ but most of them are ‘I’m going to start this company, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where to go, what things don’t I need to worry about?’” Lamphier said.
With Melanie Melaragno, creator of Shore Shelf—a beach accessory that keeps essentials (drink, phone, book, suntan lotion, etc.) in one place, within reach and off the ground—Lamphier help her put together to do list.
In 2017, Shore Shelf won the U.S. Domestic Gold Medal for the new product invention in the outdoor category at the Inventions & New Product Education X-Perience (INPEX) in Pittsburgh.
Marlow said he wants to double the number of mentees actively involved with the organization.
“If we can get that to 80—and there will be growing pains, we’ll need more mentors—we’ll create a lot of jobs and a lot of value for people with ideas and that’s what I want to do,” he said.
LakeStart is based out of Willoughby City Hall and Marlow said they are working on opening a second location at Lake Erie College in Painesville. Lamphier will run that office.
“It will be nice to have a west end and east end office,” Lamphier said.
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