Rust Belt Startup

Sometimes you capture a conversation that needs to be heard, and this interview with Pastor Mike Ballman is one of them. Mike is the founder of the Oneida Square Project , which is a kind of social enterprise incubator and the pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Utica, NY. This episode is a little different from the others because we get a little heavy and while we do talk about the rise of...

In this episode I have a chat with artist and photographer Janelle Bonagurio. We’ll talk about how she first became a professional photographer and got her first clients before she even had a proper camera. We’ll talk about pricing, finding mentors and dealing with high-stress situations (weddings). And we’ll back away from the business and talk about how weddings have changed ov...

Making a product is hard. Keeping up with demand after you’re on Shark Tank is even harder. In this episode I talk with Ashley Robinson, Co-Founder of Tranquillo Mat. We taped this episode a couple of months back in front of a live audience and talked about building a product overseas, getting on Shark Tank and We had this hour In our hour-long conversation we dissect: Her first startup &#82...

This episode is a mini-sode, a shorty, a toolbox episode. Two weeks ago, I attended VoiceCon – a conference in NYC all about the future of Voice – from Alexa to Google Home, Siri and beyond – what’s coming down the pipeline and what are the opportunities and concerns that businesses (and you as an individual) should have as we jump into conversations with our computers. Thi...

What happens if you run 2-miles a day….every day….forever? That’s just one of the projects Rick Gloo is tackling in his quest for continuous self improvement. RIck is a guy who has one foot in software development and the other in health & wellness. So this episode is going to be light on business but heavy on hacking your habits to make them stick and maybe improve yourself in the process. Ri...

Ever wonder how you could kick-start a minor league baseball team through crowd funding? I didn’t think it was possible, but my next guest Brett Orzechowski did it. He’s a professor, a writer and an entrepreneur with some great ideas on how small cities can double down on what makes them unique and grow at the same time. In our hour-long conversation we touch on: How the Ecstacy boom i...

We’re live! In this inaugural episode, I go deep with Erin Miller (no relation) of Out There Productions. Out There Productions specializes in working with startups to get their name ‘out there’ through hype, explainer and crowdfunding videos. The three co-founders also spent the last 8 months on the road in a converted school bus (‘The Cool Bus’) which served as a mobile production van as w...

In episode 0 we’ll explain what we’re trying to accomplish with this new podcast, the format, the flow, and why you should care. New episodes for Rust Belt Startup will be released every other week and will contain long-form conversations with entrepreneurs, artists, educators and people who are starting movements across the country to re-make their cities and towns. All the deets are...