Lightning Strikes Twice for InvestMaryland Challenge Rural Entrepreneurs

When the team at Luminal of Frederick, Md., stepped up to the stage recently to receive the grand prize in InvestMaryland Challenge’s cybersecurity category, they not only received recognition that their work was important to the future of cybersecurity, but also became part of a recent trend for rural entrepreneurs. For the second consecutive year, the business selected to receive the Rural Entrepreneurship Award went on to take the grand prize for their category. Last year’s winner was i-lighting of North East, Md.

The Rural Entrepreneurship Award is a $15,000 grant sponsored by the Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center (ESEC) of Easton and the Rural Maryland Council (RMC) of Annapolis. In all, Luminal received a $100,000 grand prize grant from InvestMaryland Challenge, free exhibit space from the Federal Business Council during the CyberMaryland Conference in fall 2014, and in-kind services.

According to co-founder Andrew Wright, the prize money will be applied to the business’ most valuable asset – its team. “It gives us more dry powder for hiring,” he says. “The number one expense for most tech startups is salaries. We will be adding more smart, talented people to help us fundamentally change how cloud-based applications are managed and secured,” Wright adds.

From left are: Matt Brinkman, co-founder, Luminal; Gov. Martin O’Malley; Dominic Zippilli, co-founder, Luminal; Josh Stella, co-founder and CEO of Luminal; Andrew Wright, co-founder, Luminal; and Dominick E. Murray, Maryland’s Secretary of Business & Economic Development (DBED).

Although cybersecurity is a frequent description for Luminal’s work, in many ways it is a misnomer. As Wright explains, most cybersecurity solutions must first identify threats or swing into action after a breach has occurred. Luminal’s solution will change the way applications work in the cloud to make security inherent.

“Current security solutions tend to be restrictive and slow down operations by adding layers of security, such as antivirus and firewalls, to applications. But cybersecurity is in a state of failure and with high profile breaches occurring on a weekly basis, we’ve reached a watershed moment in computing. In order to develop effective solutions we need to think about the problem in different ways than we have been,” Wright adds.

Luminal’s product is currently in beta testing with customers and they expect it to be generally commercially available by the end of 2014. Their initial target markets include those in commercial and government sectors using Amazon Web Services for their applications. Because Luminal will be used to deploy and manage cloud-based applications, the company sees developer/operators, or DevOps, professionals as the users of their solution.

For RMC and ESEC Luminal’s accolades only serve to confirm what they already know: rural entrepreneurs are making significant contributions in Maryland. “For an advocate of rural Marylanders it is important for us to shine the light on the important role rural Maryland has in the overall health of the state,” says Charlotte Davis, executive director of the Rural Maryland Council.

Her cohort agrees. “To see rural entrepreneurs gain the recognition they deserve and to take their place in the economic development of the state is particularly gratifying. I guess lightning can strike twice,” says Mike Thielke, ESEC’s executive director, in reference to InvestMaryland’s nod to rural entrepreneurs.

Founded in 1994, the RMC operates under the direction of a 40-member executive board in a nonpartisan and nondiscriminatory manner. It serves as the voice of rural Maryland, advocating for and helping rural communities and businesses across the state to flourish and to gain equity to its suburban and urban counterparts. The vision for RMC is the ultimate realization that citizens living in rural communities are achieving success in education and employment, have access to affordable, quality health care and other vital public services, and live in an environment where natural and cultural resources are being sustained for future generations.

Founded in 2006, the Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center (ESEC) works to develop and enhance an entrepreneurial ecosystem on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. ESEC provides training; services and programs to help business owners and entrepreneurs succeed by creating greater access to capital, and offering programs that develop entrepreneurial skills and knowledge. Included are ShoreVenture, a comprehensive 10-week entrepreneur-training program, annual business plan and student plan competitions, and an annual entrepreneur conference. In 2012, ESEC launched “hotDesks,” providing co-working spaces for independent professionals.