Caroline Bauman is the Executive Director of the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County. Caroline B, and her assistant Laura, have dedicated their time to partnering with RAIN to launch an initiative in Lincoln County to support entrepreneurs and innovators building traded sector companies.

Activities to Date:
  1. Nov 11th: Hosted our first “Startup Call of Interest” event at Nana’s Irish Pub (56 attended)
  2. Dec 9th: Hosted our first “RAIN Startup Seminar” at the Florence Events Center (30 attended)

Survey findings:

Average Age: 58
Gender: 50% Male; 50% Female
Cities Represented: Newport, Lincoln City, Glenedon Beach, Siletz, Winchester Bay, Waldport, Toledo
Entrepreneur: 29%
Wannapreneur: 18% (A “Wannapreneur” is someone who has a big idea, but needs help launching)

Asked “If RAIN and the City of Florence provided a formal program to help you accelerate your startup business, would you be interested in attending?” 65% said “Yes”

Examples of startup companies from Lincoln County include: a remote bee-hive monitoring system, an app that connects media producers, broadcasters, and listeners with active, engaging content — and a pottery artist who would like to sell her art nationally. We will soon begin to identify potential local angel investors and mentors to help us as we continue our outreach and support efforts.

As a next step, Caroline Cummings and Jim Coonan will meet with Caroline Bauman in early January to review what we’ve learned from the first two events and craft a plan for continuing support of entrepreneurs and innovators in Lincoln County.

Other partners from the area who have stepped up to support this outreach includes: Oregon Coast Community College/Small Business Development Center, the Marine Hatfield Science Center and the OSU Advantage Accelerator/RAIN Corvallis.

We’ve branded this exciting initiative as #StartupLinCo (for “Startup Lincoln County) on Twitter. Join the conversation!