Miami University Celebrates Entrepreneurs with Inaugural RedHawk50 Awards

Miami University alumni, faculty, staff, and supporters gathered at Cincinnati’s historic Music Hall on Friday, March 15 to celebrate the 2023 RedHawk50 – the 50 fastest-growing private companies around the world founded or led by former students of Miami University .

The program plays an important role in identifying, engaging, and celebrating accomplished Miamians in business It also reinforces Miami University and the John W Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship as the “Cradle of Founders” and serves as a vehicle for Miami graduates and former students who lead these companies to pass lessons learned to the next generation of Miami entrepreneurs

“Its neat to look back on, a couple college kids that turned a side hustle into a real business that’s impacting lives and recognized for what we’ve done . It’s kind of cool,” Tex Tickets’ Mike Gau said

“The 50 winners represent 17 industries, 14 cities in the U .S . and Great Britain, and 12 high-growth companies featured on the Inc . 5000 list,” Tim Holcomb, professor and chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship said “There are winners from every academic division at the university, representing 24 different majors . ”

“I was surprised we ranked so high . It was such an honor to be here amongst so many awesome companies, many of which we know and we’re friends with,” Mad Rabbit’s Oliver

Zak said . “I’m just so impressed with the ecosystem that Tim and the rest of the faculty have built in the entrepreneurship department and couldn’t be more proud to be an alumni . ”

“The entrepreneurial spirit and perseverance of the RedHawk50 honorees have contributed to Miami’s global reputation as a leader in entrepreneurship education,” Miami University President Gregory Crawford said . “These remarkable individuals are a testament to the caliber of talent that our institution fosters and an inspiration to future Miami entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders . ”

There were 525 nominations reflecting 360 unique Miamian-founded or led businesses received for consideration this year.

“Nothing feels better than coming back to meet the people who you grew up with in college and the professors who taught me, and, it’s in a way, thanks to them where I am today,” Aleta Couture’s Manav Preenja said “I wasn’t expecting to be so high on the list . I thought I’ll be somewhere around 45 to 50 . But it feels good It’s a good experience, and it’s a humbling experience . ”

“I was texting my buddies during the ceremony about how humbling it is to be a part of one of the fastest 50 growing entrepreneurs from Miami all across the globe . So it was just a lot of retrospective, very humbling and honored to be a part of it,” CO-hatch’s Matt Davis said . I just think it’s getting started and our company’s growing so fast, hopefully we win next year . ”

The RedHawk50 program was created by the John W Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship, part of the Farmer School of Business at Miami The John W Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship is a past winner of the Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award as the top entrepreneurship program and institute worldwide, has earned a “Top 10” ranking among public schools in The Princeton Review® and Entrepreneur Magazine’s annual ranking of the Top 50 Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs in the world for 16 consecutive years, and is currently ranked as the No 7 program in the world and No . 5 among public institutions

“It was awesome to be honored with fellow entrepreneurs and I had no idea -- I’ve been out of Miami for a while -- I didn’t know that the Altman School of Entrepreneurship was so highly ranked nationally, and so I was quite impressed to know that Miami is one of the top programs in the country,” FC Cincinnati’s Jeff Berding said

“When we announced this program, our ecosystem partners immediately came forward to offer support,” said Jenny Darroch, dean of the Farmer School of Business and the Mitchell P Rales Chair in Business Leadership “EY donated their time and talent to receive and review information sent by the nominated companies and to tabulate the results Our alumni leveraged their networks to help us promote the event, and our donors and sponsors provided the financial resources to make all of this possible Support like this is confirmation that our partners strongly believe in the value of what we do, and they want to play an active role ”

“It’s great to be in a room like this because it’s extremely motivating to be around very like-minded entrepreneurs,” Mad Rabbit’s Selom Agbitor said . “I think it just instills the drive to want to succeed some more and keep growing ”

TEX Tickets, Mike Gau and Simon Landon

Aleta Couture, Manav Preenja

InGoodTaste, Ryan Lindholm

Mad Rabbit, Selom Agbitor and Oliver Zak

Steno, Dan Anderson

Foxen, Jay Harkrider, Patrick McBride, Kevin Jacobson, and Andy Lallathin

Transactly, Edward "Coach" Weinhaus

Loop, Jonathan Poma

COhatch, Matt Davis

Professional Fighters League, Donn Davis

Cleveland Kitchen, Mac Anderson

FC Cincinnati, Je Berding

Fire Rover, Will Schmidt

SPR Therapeutics, Maria Bennett (Walker)

Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, David Block

Bridge Industries, Je rey Berlin

Arrive

Ridge Real

, Andrew Lallathin, Patrick McBride, and Jay Harkrider

Kruger and Hodges Attorneys at Law, Joshua Hodges

Eleeo Brands, Richard Palmer

Rooted Grounds Co ee, Dave Knopf and Patsy Knopf (Schneider)

Semify, Patrick Briggs and Amit Dixit

OROS, Michael Markesbery and Rithvik Venna