Tom Kilcoyne, left, and John McDonald with NEXT Studios spoke at the combined Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. Entrepreneur Social and Catalyze NEIN Innovator Call-Out event held on Wednesday, May 31, at Ledgeview Brewing Co. in Warsaw.

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By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Entrepreneurs got advice from the founders of Indianapolis-based NEXT Studios at a Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. event on Wednesday, May 31.

KEDCo held one of its bimonthly Entrepreneur Social events at Ledgeview Brewing Co. in Warsaw. Wednesday’s event was unique as it was a Catalyze NEIN Innovator Call-Out as well, held in partnership with Fort Wayne’s Summit City Entrepreneur and Enterprise District, the Don Wood Foundation and the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center.

The event included networking, and speakers John McDonald and Tom Kilcoyne of NEXT Studios. The company supports entrepreneurs as they launch their businesses.

McDonald shared the story of how he became a tech entrepreneur after he left IBM due to frustration with his long weekly commute.

Kilcoyne would join McDonald’s company, originally called CloudOne before being renamed ClearObject. The company deals with data collection and analytics, among other things.

ClearObject was sold to a private equity firm in 2019.

McDonald shared lessons that he and Kilcoyne learned as entrepreneurs.

Those include: “People do not care about your solution. They care about their problem.” That means a product must be needed by people; otherwise it won’t sell, said McDonald.

The second lesson he shared was “Buyers pay. Users do not.” Products should be catered to those actually paying for them, such as hospitals, instead of just those using them, such as doctors, McDonald explained through one example.

McDonald also mentioned that new companies generally come via an “innovation stack … a whole series of (ideas) that stack up to be able to create a better way to solve a problem for the user,” versus just one idea.

Toward the end of their discussion, McDonald and Kilcoyne referenced how entrepreneurship could grow with those in Gen Z due to their embrace of side hustles, through which new companies can develop. They cited figures that 67% of Gen Z-ers have side hustles compared to 12% of Baby Boomers.

After the presentation was over, KEDCo CEO Alan Tio mentioned that anyone from Kosciusko County or the surrounding area interested in entrepreneurship is welcome to come to the next KEDCo Entrepreneur Social event set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, at the Boondocks restaurant, 10601 N. SR 13, Syracuse.

People should RSVP for that event and may learn how to do so by calling (574) 306-4119, visiting KEDCo’s website or checking out its Facebook page.

Attendees listen to McDonald.

People could network at the event’s start.