About Us

LaunchHouse is a lean new public-private partnership that fosters entrepreneurial success and job creation through seed capital, education and innovation. This Northeast Ohio organization connects new entrepreneurs with proven business leaders in a grassroots, for-profit model that can be successfully replicated nationwide.

Todd Goldstein Founder and Managing Partner

Todd manages operations, finance and strategic planning for Shaker|LaunchHouse. Since 2007, he has helped to grow a diverse portfolio of early stage companies. Previously, Todd managed and quadrupled the revenue for a division of Call Center Resources. He also founded and manages a real estate investment company.

In 2005, Todd joined Franklin & Seidelmann, where he helped the executive team to grow the company to $20 million in revenue. Todd is an active angel investor with Akron Arch Angels and The Tribe of Angels and currently sits on the boards of T1 Company, a telecommunications provider specializing in VOIP, Young Leadership Division (YLD), which connects young Jewish professionals in Cleveland, and Sunflower Solutions. He is an active member of the Park Synagogue Men’s Club.

Todd resides in Shaker Heights.

 

 

Dar Caldwell Founder and Managing Partner

Dar manages member relations, recruiting, and educational programming for Shaker|LaunchHouse. He is deeply passionate about cultivating strong local and regional support for the entrepreneur community in NE Ohio and has been personally involved in recruiting and forming of over a dozen high potential startups spanning the alternative energy, IT, and healthcare industries.

Dar is an outspoken advocate for entrepreneurship as a means for reviving the Greater Cleveland region and manages programming and outreach for an extensive calendar of pragmatic educational workshops for technology entrepreneurs. He serves on the boards of several young professional organizations and startups as well as the boards of the Center for Transformative Action, Cornell Club, Congo Leadership Initiative, and Rising Heights Preparatory charter school.

Dar currently resides in Chagrin Falls (when he’s not sleeping at his desk in Shaker Heights).

 

Sam Krichevsky Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner

Sam manages the day to day operations and business development efforts for Shaker|LaunchHouse. In 2010, Sam joined the LaunchHouse team and has been integral in the transition to the new building and getting the next phase of portfolio companies on board. Sam has a diverse background in management, communications and operations.

Sam is active in his synagogue, Waxman Chabad Center and the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.

Sam resides in Beachwood with the important women in his life (wife, daughter and dog).

 

 

 

 

Jessica Mann Chief Technical Officer

Jessica manages engineer-consulting services provided to portfolio companies, including the evaluation of entrepreneurs’ incoming ideas, and provides management of internal business process development for LaunchHouse. She studied Electrical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and worked as a software engineer for five years before returning to LaunchHouse full-time. With a broad science and engineering background, Jessica joined the team as a partner around its founding in 2008, and consulted on a number of portfolio company projects including the engineering behind the Sunflower product line. After managing Sunflower’s initial design, she went to Africa with its founder to install the first two prototypes. She holds LaunchHouse to the guiding principal of “what problem does it solve?” when evaluating ideas and working with entrepreneurs and is the principal inventor listed on three portfolio companies’ patents.

 

 

 

Shannon Lyons, MSOD Director of Organizational Development

Shannon’s focus at LaunchHouse has been to develop internal functions including investment, development and co- working space. More recently, she has spearhead grant writing and associated collaborations.  She started an organizational development consulting firm, called Innovatree LLC in 2007, and has worked with clients in the federal sector, healthcare and manufacturing industries.  She has a passion for complex change management, interaction design, rapid prototyping and graphic facilitation. Prior her work as an entrepreneur, she worked for the federal government in research and development regarding social change methodologies, innovative work environments and associated intellectual property.  She has co-authored a series of graphic tools and process playbooks with Bob Means.

Shannon resides in Shaker Heights with her husband, son and two mischievous dogs.

 

Bob Means, Ph.D Director of The LaunchHouse Institute

Bob’s focus at LaunchHouse has been the creation of the LaunchHouse Institute and internal staff development. Bob comes from over forty years of work experience in the educational and change management fields, where he has sought to enhance the work practice of clients through the introduction of innovative methods and strategies/infrastructure to sustain results. He has held positions such as Chief Learning Officer and Director of Research, Development and Dissemination of Innovation at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Through his vision and collaborative nature, Bob founded The Learning XChange concept in VA hospitals throughout the country. These spaces and associated processes are used to enhance, simplify and accelerate the work of employees. He has extensive experience in developing leaders and staff in environments that support continuous improvement. He has co-authored a series of graphic tools and process playbooks with Shannon Lyons.

Bob has been a resident of Shaker Heights for over 30 years. He lives with his lovely wife and dog.

Stephanie Colangelo Director of Marketing and Public Relations

Stephanie manages marketing, including public relations, social media, and event planning, for LaunchHouse and its portfolio companies. Following graduating from John Carroll University, with a major in Communications, Stephanie joined LaunchHouse in August 2009.  Previously Stephanie has worked with Cheezhead.com, Flexhire, LLC, and Inuvate, which allowed her to bring extensive knowledge and experience in social media and blogging to the LaunchHouse team.