Ron Stubblefield is a nationally recognized lawyer, scholar, economic development professional and entrepreneurial advisor. As a shared Entrepreneur-in-Residence, he acts as a collaborative resource for the Economic Community Development Institute, the Hispanic Business Center, The Presidents’ Council, The Urban League of Greater Cleveland and JumpStart. Ron works with these organizations to advance Black and Brown tech and tech-enabled entrepreneurship within the City of Cleveland.In this role, Ron coordinates community and neighborhood outreach and programming, provides direct assistance to entrepreneurs and advocates for the needs of these entrepreneurs with partner organizations in the state-funded Entrepreneur Services Provider (ESP) network.Prior to taking on this role, Ron was Assistant Director for Emerging Technology Centers, a venture of the Baltimore Development Corporation focused on the incubation and acceleration for early-stage technology-based startups. Before this, he served as a Neighborhood Legal Fellow and a Neighborhood 360 Fellow with the NYC Department of Small Business Services, where he assisted with corporate governance and economic development research and program management.Outside these positions, Ron has also designed and implemented financial models and strategic plans for a variety of colleges, financial institutions, non-profit organizations, political campaigns and foreign governments. Additionally, he is a published thought-leader on topics of diversity equity and inclusion and has traveled both nationally and internationally to speak on these topics, as well as overall startup incubation and financial management.Ron is a proud alum of Morehouse College. He also holds a master’s in Management Science and Engineering from the Stanford University School of Engineering and a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law, where he was a Jacobson Law and Business Scholar and graduated with distinction as a Vanderbilt Medal winner.Learn more about Jumpstart: https://www.jumpstartinc.org/Connect with Ron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldstubblefield/Follow Lay of The Land on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodLayOfTheLandVisit our website: https://layoftheland.fmEmail us: hello@layoftheland.fm

Carrie Murphy was born and raised in Cleveland. After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in Public Policy and Strategic Management she decided to move to New York City. Her first job was working for the startup, The Ladders, where she began her career in recruiting. From there, she went into retained executive search working at a boutique firm, Daversa Partners, where she placed executives across the C-Suite for high-growth, venture-backed companies. This is when she realized the positive impact startups and disruptive technology can have on the economy and global population. In 2015, Carrie decided it was time to move back to her hometown and became the Director of HR and Talent Acquisition at a series B technology company, Vertical Knowledge. There she saw the company nearly double in size from 35 – 65+ employees and helped with not only identifying and retaining the best talent but also figuring out the processes needed in order to successfully scale the business. Carrie found herself inspired to want to help Northeast Ohio attract the best talent and further help the startup ecosystem grow and thrive. She’s extremely excited to be able to join the VFA team as the Director of Northeast Ohio and hopes to expand VFA’s footprint and impact locally and beyond.Learn more about Venture for America: https://ventureforamerica.org/Follow Carrie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarrieMarkworthFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodLayOfTheLandVisit our website: https://layoftheland.fmEmail us: hello@layoftheland.fm

This week, we're talking with Ed Buchholz, the founder of Start in CLE.Ed is founder of three venture-backed software companies and has more than twenty years product leadership experience with multiple B2B and B2C products. Since recording this episode, Ed has taken a job as a product manager at Facebook in Menlo Park.In this episode, we not only talk about Ed's journey and Start in CLE, but we also have a very transparent letter from Ed about the Cleveland ecosystem and how it can be successful moving forward.Learn more about Ed: https://edwardbuchholz.com/Learn more about Start in CLE: https://startincle.com/Follow Ed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ebuchholzFollow Lay of The Land on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodLayOfTheLandVisit our website: https://layoftheland.fmEmail us: hello@layoftheland.fm