Kickstart Ohio Program
Get ready to ignite your ideas at Kickstart Ohio! This isn’t just another conference — it’s a three-day powerhouse of inspiration, action, and connection. Headlining the stage is Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, bringing his legendary vision and insights to Ohio. From game-changing keynotes to hands-on workshops and expert-led seminars, every session is designed to fuel your growth and fast-track your success. You’ll rub shoulders with top innovators, industry disruptors, and bold entrepreneurs who are redefining what’s possible. At Kickstart Ohio, you’ll find the full lineup of talent and opportunities waiting for you — and trust us, you don’t want to miss your chance to be part of Ohio’s most electrifying entrepreneurial event of the year.
Check out the schedule below and build your ultimate Kickstart Ohio experience! With just a click, add the sessions that inspire you most straight to your calendar and make sure you don’t miss a moment.
Why do some well-funded startups lose to teams working on shoestring budgets in a garage? Because every technology decision is a business decision first, and business success depends on understanding and solving real customer problems.
In this talk, we’ll explore how starting with problems instead of solutions leads to products that truly meet customer needs. You’ll also learn why iterative, real-world feedback is vital for building quality products and the framework that software developers use to achieve this.
Learn how to turn opinions into evidence. This session discusses why early market validation matters and gives you a simple, repeatable process to collect concept feedback from the audiences that matter most. We’ll cover how to identify and target key audiences, pick the right method (qualitative vs. quantitative), craft effective questions, and analyze results with potential decision-makers in mind. You’ll leave with practical tools you can use today, and a framework that will serve you throughout your career as an entrepreneur.
Are we truly prepared to sustain transformation, or are we just hoping the technology will do the work?
The hard truth? Technology doesn’t transform organizations; people do. Studies show that up to 70% of technology initiatives underperform or fail, not because of the systems themselves, but because teams aren’t adequately prepared to adopt and sustain the change. The result? Wasted investment, fractured workflows, employee burnout, and ultimately, stalled progress.
In this practical session, change strategist Shara Hutchinson will unpack what it really takes to lead technology-enabled transformation in environments under pressure. Through real-world examples, data-driven insights, and her proven change readiness framework, attendees will discover how to align people, process, and purpose and connect successful adoption to measurable improvements in performance, engagement, and ROI.
Key Learning Objectives:
• Uncover why so many technology initiatives fail and how this impacts performance and business outcomes.
• Learn a practical, people-centered framework to assess and build readiness before and during digital rollouts.
• Understand how to spot and address resistance, burnout, and change fatigue across teams and departments.
• Discover how to align leadership, communication, and culture to drive lasting adoption and accountability.
• Explore proven strategies to connect technology adoption with measurable improvements in efficiency, engagement, and ROI.
Scott will share how to brand up and be counted so your voice, vision, and venture stand out.
This is your chance to learn how successful brands earn attention, build trust, and create impact—and how you can do the same.
This is the PEOPLE-focused workshop where I share simple tools to establish and reinforce the concepts of Right People In The Right Seat.
We’re thrilled to feature Dr. Keith Newton in a presentation on how AI can help produce and polish animation sequences.
“We’ll explore character creation, scene design, voice synthesis, and animation workflows that blend AI tools with traditional storytelling. Attendees will gain practical insight into speeding production while preserving creative vision.”
This session reveals the five cognitive levels of teaming with AI. Most people only use Levels 1-3 and never discover that Levels 4-5 exist. Each of the top two levels activates an unusual (some would say impossible) frame of activated nodes for the AI to use while processing.
When humans use the wrong frames (mental models) in a situation, it can have disastrous results. NASA lost $125 million on the Mars Climate Orbiter because nobody asked one question about frames: What system of measurement units are we using in our exchanges of information? The metric and US Customary systems of units are incompatible frames. Smart people. Preventable mistake.
Most expensive mistakes do not come from lack of information. They come from analyzing situations through the wrong frame. And most people do not know AI can help them question their frame and find their blind spots. They just need to learn how to use AI to do it.
Humans use mental frames to process incoming information. One word can activate an inappropriate frame that has drastic consequences. In a Social Security Administration project, the project lead wanted to use the word parent on an online form to be used by millions of people. I pushed for wording that activated a larger frame, one that included non-biological parents, grandparents legally raising grandchildren, and court-appointed advocates. Using only the word 'parent' excluded them from submitting the online form.
An AI builds its processing frame (its highly probable nodes) from the words in your prompts. Thus the AI typically adopts your current point of view unless you explicitly define the frame the AI is to use.
The Problem. AI has been trained to agree with you. The technical term is sycophancy. When you ask an AI for advice, it reinforces your current thinking, your mental frame for whatever you are prompting. Research shows a 58-62% sycophancy rate, which means that AI sacrifices truth to be agreeable.
The Solution: You can overcome sycophancy. I use five levels of interacting with AI. I choose the level that gives me what I want for my current conversation. For example, you will see a screenshot where interacting at Level 5 caused the AI to tell me I was solving the wrong problem. It was correct!
Standard Modes (What everyone does)
- Level 1: Tool (one prompt, no refinement)
- Level 2: Assistant (delegated tasks with refinements)
- Level 3: Collaborator (AI contributes beyond prompted specifications)
Breakthrough Modes (What most people miss):
- Level 4: Thinking Partner (co-creates to achieve your stated goal)
- Level 5: Thinking Disruptor (challenges your assumptions and reveals your blind spots)
Levels 1-3 work within whatever frame you provide. Level 4 focuses on efficiently and effectively achieving your stated goal. Level 5 questions whether your frame matches reality.
You will see examples comparing how different AI systems respond to the same prompt at Level 5. Some AI systems excel at challenging assumptions. Others fail to understand how to do mutual challenges.
You will learn the specific prompt template that unlocks Levels 4 and 5. This allows you to test the capabilities of any AI you use, and to decide when you want to apply a specific level.
Note: My workshop session dives deeper into how to use AI at level 5 to analyze situations and make better decisions.
Manny and Ibrahim will discuss the challenges of creating a startup and relationships with investors.
John and Derrick will discuss the challenges of founding startups on a global scale.
When I scaled my first company from solopreneur to five employees plus consultants, two people coming on board received equity compensation packages. Soon after that, one of their spouses, who had not understood the requirements of receiving equity, caused her husband to withdraw. That threw me into both the finding clients rainmaker role and my technical expert role. So by attrition I took the company back to solopreneurship.
All the information was available. I just did not know what questions to ask.
That is when I started creating what I now call REFRAME. It is a systematic method for mapping situations BEFORE making decisions. It applies to all types of personal and business decisions, such as creating a new employee position, starting a project, or selling your company.
For 25+ years, I used and improved my questioning process while consulting on projects in Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. The process worked. It caught blind spots before they became disasters. It helps find alligators, hidden problems that will bite you if you don't find them first. I also used it to avoid projects that would fail because questions were not welcome.
This workshop teaches you the REFRAME questioning process through real examples. There are 21 questions across 7 categories to force complete situation analysis. These are the overview questions that define each category:
- Role: Who are the people involved and what are their goals, motivations, etc?
- Environment: Given the identified people roles, what is the complete context for this decision?
- Frame: What point of view should guide the analysis?
- Requirements: What outcomes are expected and what constraints and other factors should be considered as required limitations?
- Assumptions: What am I taking for granted without verifying?
- Metrics: What should be measured and why?
- Evaluate: What is missing or contradictory in my understanding and what can AI identify as missing or as other issues?
What Happens in This Workshop
I will walk through a demo example using REFRAME. You will see how systematic questioning reveals the role conflicts, contradictory requirements, wrong assumptions, misaligned metrics and other issues. These are the alligators, which are problems hidden in your blind spots. When they surface, they will cost you time and money, so you need to find them before they bite you.
As we walk through REFRAME, I will define and demonstrate a category. Then you apply that category of questions to the demo example for 5 minutes. This repeats for each of the seven categories. You will discover how this systematic approachto analyzing situations helps you discover important issues to consider that normally would not be discussed.
In the next section of the workshop, you will learn how AI amplifies REFRAME through a two-prompt process:
Prompt 1's purpose: The AI analyzes your complete situation using REFRAME to generate a list of questions specific to YOUR reality.
Prompt 2's purpose: The AI uses your answers to the generated situation-specific questions to make recommendations and suggested actions.
You will see how this two-prompt process moves the AI from generic advice to insights specific to YOUR reality.
Outcome
You will leave with:
- The complete REFRAME method for systematic situation analysis (21 questions)
- Understanding which question categories reveal which types of blind spots
- Applied experience using REFRAME through the group demo example
- The two-prompt AI process that generates situation-specific analysis instead of generic advice
- Recognition of why situation intelligence matters: it is the ability to see what you are missing before it costs you money
Choosing and Delivering High-Impact Projects - Without the Risk
Panel discussion of AI use cases in the workplace.
Excited to workshop a new concept with you guys that combines my love for an entertaining pitch competition with vibe coding platforms to learn, build, and have fun!
Turning your passion into a thriving business while holding down a full-time job isn’t just possible. It is a strategic advantage.
In this talk, I’ll share my 10-year journey of juggling both worlds, from the late nights and tough trade-offs to the financial security and skill-building that made my transition into full-time entrepreneurship smoother. We’ll explore the real benefits of starting your business on the side: lower risks, time to refine your ideas, and the freedom to build at your own pace. We will also tackle the unavoidable challenges like time management struggles, growth control, and divided focus.
Success isn’t just about hard work. It’s about working smart!
You’ll learn the importance of matching your day job to your business goals, mastering productivity techniques to make the most of limited time and developing the right mindset to handle setbacks. Whether you’re just starting or deep in the hustle, this session will give you practical strategies and inspiration to turn your side business into something truly sustainable. If you’re dreaming of making the leap, I’ll show you how to build a strong foundation. Then, when the time comes to transition to your dream, you do it on your own terms.
Confidence is not arrogance; it's trust in your preparation, your vision, and your willingness to learn.
This is the EXECUTION-focused workshop where I will show attendees how to translate their Vision into bite-sized pieces and stay focused on making themhappen throughout the year.
The journey from idea to growth rarely follows a straight line. This session explores how entrepreneurs can better understand and navigate Ohio’s startup landscape—identifying where to begin, how to engage the right partners, and how to turn connections into progress. Attendees will leave with a clearer view of how the state’s ecosystem fits together and practical ways to chart their own path within it.
For decades, startups began with a founding team. But in 2025, one founder with the right AI teammates can do what once took a dozen people.
In this talk, Nilanjan Raychaudhuri, Founder of AgentLink, shares how AI agents and on-demand digital talent are changing the DNA of entrepreneurship — making it possible for solo founders to build, run, and scale companies from day one.
We’ll walk through the new founder’s journey step by step:
• Inception: How founders can use AI copilots to brainstorm ideas, analyze markets, and test hypotheses faster than ever before.
• Validation: Building early traction without code — from automated MVPs and synthetic user tests to AI-driven market research.
• Build: Assembling your “AI starter team” — virtual CFOs, COOs, and growth agents that plug into existing workflows.
• Scale: Turning automation into advantage — using AI to forecast cash flow, run campaigns, and deliver board-ready insights while you sleep.
This session is for both technical and non-technical founders who want to understand how to harness AI as real operational leverage — not just a buzzword.
AI is moving off the cloud and into the physical world, where it will reshape industry, infrastructure, and daily life in ways far more profound than digital disruption alone
.png&w=3840&q=100)
Traditional scaling requires significant capital investment in full-time executive talent AND their supporting teams. Fractional talent provides a strategic alternative that gives startups enterprise-level capabilities without the enterprise-level costs.
When founders talk about scaling, they typically envision hiring full-time executives and building departments around them. But what if there's a more capital-efficient approach that provides better expertise and greater flexibility? Drawing from my experience building Quickly Hire—a platform we built using our own fractional talent model—I'll share practical strategies for creating a "perfect-size team" that combines core staff with fractional specialists.
Attendees will learn:
- Why hiring a single full-time executive often leads to bottlenecks without the supporting team to execute their vision
- How to strategically balance full-time core functions with fractional specialists
- Practical frameworks for managing distributed, part-time talent effectively
- Real-world case studies showing the business impact of fractional scaling
- Implementation guidelines for establishing the processes, tools, and culture needed for success
This isn't about replacing your team—it's about strategic resource allocation that lets you access enterprise-level expertise within startup constraints. Come learn how you can build your perfect-size team that maintains the agility startups need while accessing the specialized talent traditionally reserved for much larger companies.
Women discussing the uniqueness and challenges of founding a startup. What plAYS INTO THEIR DYNAMIC.
In an increasingly digital world, cybersecurity is no longer a luxury reserved for large enterprises. For startups, securing your business, data, and customer trust is critical from day one. This event, tailored for founders, will provide essential insights into safeguarding your startup from cyber threats, building a security-first culture, and understanding the key cybersecurity steps every founder should take.
