Akron's Bit Factory Is A Smart Fit For The City

Whoever said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” (it was English cleric and writer Charles Caleb Colton in 1820, according to Google) didn’t know much about tech. Cities throughout the country found some success copying Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley startup accelerator responsible for developing the likes of Airbnb and Dropbox by investing a small amount of money in a host of startups that spend an intensive three months refining their pitch to additional investors. But local versions such as LaunchHouse and Bizdom have largely fizzled. Akron’s Bit Factory, which has 15 web-based startups under its roof, is trying a more sustainable approach. We talked to president and co-founder Anthony Margida about why he believes it can succeed. 

Timing chain: Y Combinator takes promising startups, gives them funding, mentorship and 90 days to build a business model. But Margida argues that only works if you have companies streaming in to replace outgoing ones. Bit Factory gets rid of time limits, letting companies incubate and work with business mentors for as long as they need. “You want to nurture and give a little bit more attention,” Margida says.

Dollar signs: Instead of an upfront investment, which can cause pressure to succeed right away, Bit Factory waits until the company has a solid business plan. Since opening in 2015, Bit Factory has invested $250,000 in seven of its companies, such as Community Sync, an app that lets city governments push out community updates to residents and visitors. “It’s a smarter investment in the end,” Margida says.

Growing space: As a nod to Akron’s entrepreneurial past, Bit Factory — under the umbrella of the Akron Global Business Accelerator — rehabbed the fifth floor of the former B.F. Goodrich building. The contemporary space has orange chairs, big conference tables and modular walls that promote brainstorming with others. “It was old and musty,” Margida says. “Now it’s engineered for collaboration with open architecture.”