Dotloop founder Adam Koehler is working for Mayor of Cincinnati

It made him angry. He sees many of the leaders currently elected as politicians for their next job. That’s not who he is, he said.

But Koehler said his run is based on making the city a better place for anyone to call home.

West Side Roots; a ‘Cincinnati Missionary’ in Pittsburgh

Koehler grew up mostly in West Price Hill and was raised by a single mother after his mother divorced his drug and alcoholic father.

He and his brother shared a bed in his grandmother’s small rental home followed by moving around Cincinnati 17 or 18 times during his childhood, he said. There were evictions and the houses were often in criminal areas.

“I always promised myself that I would never be poor again,” said Koehler.

Koehler said his salvation was a talent for drawing that earned him a place at the school for creative and performing arts.

There he met students from all over the city. They were of different ethnicities and came from different economic backgrounds. There were other ways of life, he realized.

“SCPA helped me escape the violent mentality,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of children in this city grow up because of violence and poverty. We had democratic leadership; Nothing has changed. I want to change that. “

In high school, Koehler worked on Kings Island, where he was photographing people as they walked in and convinced them to buy the pictures, and for Cincinnati Citicable.

He used the money to buy clothes.

As college approached, Koehler asked a school counselor for financial assistance. He remembers the conversation this way: She was open; There was no money for white men, especially if they didn’t get good grades. He did not do it.

“It was a life-changing moment,” said Koehler. “I had to find out. It got me out of a welfare mentality. I thought, ‘It’s up to you, or you might as well be poor for the rest of your life.’ “

Koehler took out loans and went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He bought a Chevrolet Nova in 1986, put a Cincinnati Bengals sticker on the bumper, and drove to Pittsburgh.

Not everyone in Pittsburgh loved seeing this sticker, but Koehler used it to announce how great he thought his hometown was.

“I was a Cincinnati missionary,” he said. “I love Cincinnati. It’s part of me It made me. “He never stopped being that city cheerleader, he said.

“I am a capitalist, but not an evil capitalist.”

After art school, Koehler returned to Cincinnati, where he worked a number of jobs in magazines, branding, and advertising. Koehler designed the logos for the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation and Fountain Square, among others.

At one point he was the art director for the local magazine Your New Home, owned by Tom Tarbell, Jim Tarbell’s brother. It was natural for Koehler to work on Jim Tarbell’s campaign. He describes Tarbell as a hero because Tarbell built underserved neighborhoods, especially over the Rhine.

At that time, a political run never occurred to him, let alone a mayor.

That was in the early 2000s. The internet exploded and offered many job opportunities. He worked for a website building company and then started an ad agency for other ad agencies that made it possible for people to be freelance and work from anywhere.

Around this time he met Matt Vorst and Austin Allison, who had an idea for a start-up that enabled electronic signatures for real estate contracts.

It seems routine now. Then it was visionary. Dotloop was born. Koehler was a co-founder and creative director.

“We have eliminated the fax machine,” said Koehler. “We did it in Cincinnati.”

In 2015, Zillow called and the trio sold the company for $ 108 million.

During his career, Koehler started an accidental low income landlord.

He owned a house on Sunset Avenue, but it was too big for him and his brother. When he saw an ad in The Enquirer that was placed by a family of 10, parents with eight children who couldn’t find a big enough house to rent, Koehler called them and rented the Sunset house for them.

This has resulted in more properties being rented and he still owns a handful of properties that he rents out. In this business he had to drive people away, although he did not want to. He also has a handful of properties that were foreclosed after tenants destroyed the properties, making them uninhabitable, he said.

Koehler was far from retiring. He now owns Covworx, a common room in Covington that he moved from an empty building to a multi-company building valued at $ 2.25 million.

He has been sued twice for unpaid taxes in the past, but those issues have been resolved and the tax bill has been paid, he said.

Koehler is a board member of Adopt-a-Class, a school mentoring program in Cincinnati, and a board member of Legatus, an international organization of Catholic business leaders and leaders committed to studying, living and promoting the Catholic faith. When Koehler mentions this, he goes into the corruption in the town hall and says that he cannot very well allow corruption to fester if he is committed to ethical business.

Koehler’s Catholic faith is a big part of his life. He grew up in St. William Parish, although he doesn’t know the current Mayor, John Cranley, who talks about him oftenSt. William roots.