Shannon Lyons

Shannon Lyons Named Executive Vice President of Flashstarts

In April of 2015, doctoral student Shannon Lyons was named the Executive Vice President of Flashstarts, a startup accelerator and venture fund in Cleveland. As Flashstarts' EVP, Shannon will pioneer the formation of a $15 milion venture vfund for StartMart, an initiative led by Flashstarts to create a multi-purpose innovation center for entrepreneurs and startup resources in Cleveland. Like the proposed 30,000 square-foot StartMart space, the StartMart Fund will support promising technology companies in Northeast Ohio and recruit talent from around the world.

"StartMart is more than a building," said Charles Stack, Flashstarts' co-founder and CEO. "It's a force to vitaalize Cleveland's startup ecosystem and provide access to critical resources, which include capital. Combining Shannon's experience at LaunchHouse with our experience raising annual $2.5 million funds enable Flashstarts to greatly increase our regional impact."

While at LaunchHouse, Lyons ran the 2012-2014 LaunchHouse Accelerator programs, secured $650,000 through grant writing and supported  (in three years) and invested in over 30 startups.

"Shannon has an unparalleled, well-rounded background that will create new opportunitites for Flashstarts," said Stack, who felt tht Lyons was the "obvious choice" when he and co-founder Jennifer Neundorfer decided to expand thier team.