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As Innovation Destination Hartford enters its third year, we couldn’t be prouder of the work we do supporting Hartford-area entrepreneurs, helping grow local businesses, and making an impact.

“Hartford’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is light years ahead of where it was three years ago,” notes John Shemo, Vice President, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems at the MetroHartford Alliance.

In the past three years, Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price has interviewed and networked with hundreds of Greater Hartford entrepreneurs and startups.

“The connections I’ve made are invaluable and encouraging,” she says. “I’m always cheering for our local entrepreneurs—in person and through social media. I love hearing how they’re building their networks, utilizing the numerous entrepreneurial resources, and working with mentors.”

IDH BY THE NUMBERS

Since 2015:

• IDH has posted close to 900 stories about Connecticut entrepreneurs, startups, initiatives, innovation, and events.
• The website has had about 65,390 unique visitors from all over the country—reaching key markets including New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC
• The IDH Facebook page has more than 1,000 followers
• Our Instagram page has close to 500 followers
• The IDH Twitter account has more than 820 followers
• IDH is building a presence on LinkedIn, too

IDH ACCOLADES

“While local media has done a solid job of increasingly covering Greater Hartford’s startup ecosystem, IDH has filled a real void over the past few years. By solely focusing on innovation and churning out content at a remarkable pace, IDH has been able to show how much is, in fact, happening here,” says Ojala Naeem, Managing Director of reSET. “

She adds,” It’s hard to remember what our newsfeeds looked like before IDH was on the beat or how we were all connecting with one another without Nan saying, ‘You really need to chat with so and so.’”

John observes that, “Over the years, IDH has been instrumental in sharing local business’ success stories and spreading the word about innovation that has taken place within Greater Hartford businesses, both large and small.”

Local entrepreneur and small business owner Andréa Hawkins agrees. “IDH stays involved in the new business and social enterprise arena and helps make the local community aware of what’s new on the business community front.”

Andréa co-owns Berkins Blend Café & Berkins on Oak with her husband, Doug Barber. “IDH has fueled so many new and existing Hartford businesses!” she emphasizes. “Free marketing is vital to startup businesses, which have limited funds to spend on such luxuries. Any press a new business receives is so critical to success in the first few years,” she adds.

IdleWilde Printing Co-Founder Connor Millican was thrilled with the results from his IDH feature story. “The feedback and response we got from current clients and followers was amazing—on top of getting some new visibility through followers of IDH,” he noted via email. “It means a lot to have someone working to tell the stories of entrepreneurs and growing businesses in Hartford.”

Lactation Innovations LLC CEO Brittany Molkenthin was also grateful for her feature story. She wrote to let IDH know, “The article enabled me to expand my company by establishing some public relations and allowed for networking via the web, which expanded connections and initiated some important new conversations.”

KUDOS TO HARTFORD’S ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM

Hats off to our local entrepreneurs and innovators who are making Hartford a destination for business startups and cutting-edge technologies.

And thank you to all the entrepreneurs, startups, and small business owners who have taken the time to share their stories with IDH and our viewership. Three years post-launch, we wouldn’t be where we are without you!