Rust Belt Startup

What if one of the most interesting startups in New York is being built quietly in a barn in Vernon? In this episode of Rust Belt Startup , I sit down with Justin Call , founder and CEO of Modovolo , a company designing a new kind of drone — and doing it far from the typical startup scene. Instead of chasing hype or venture capital headlines, Justin and his team have been focused on something much...

 I can say, without exaggeration, this is one of the most extraordinary stories that I’ve ever heard. and maybe one of the most important, so my guest today is Max Smith. He’s a historian, a storyteller, and a lifelong steward of the history of Peterborough New York. So this is a tiny village in Madison County that most people have never heard of, but that quietly shaped the course of...

In this episode, I’m joined by Zack Schuman, a public affairs scholar at Hamilton College, to explore what he learned after spending a full year living and researching in Sweden with his family. Zack’s research focuses on how communities actually work — especially in rural and peripheral regions — and how entrepreneurship, institutions, and culture shape economic life outside major metro areas. Wh...

In this episode, I sit down with Matt Van Slyke, founder of Utica Bike Rescue , to talk about bikes, mobility, walkable cities, and why transportation is really about participation and freedom. Utica Bike Rescue has redistributed thousands of bikes over the past decade — helping people get to work, school, and medical appointments — but Matt’s work goes far beyond bike repair. As a transportation...

In this episode, I sit down with Noa Simons , founder and CEO of Good Bread , a new kind of small business lender working to reinvent how entrepreneurs access capital. If you’ve ever tried to raise money—through banks, credit unions, investors, or anywhere in between—you know it’s never one-size-fits-all. Even in communities with great lending institutions, many founders still fall through the cra...

In this episode, I have an inspiring conversation with James Paul, the founder of Blacque Acres, an indoor hydroponic container farm in Utica, NY. James shares his journey from military service to urban farming, and we’ll talk about how he was able to commit to the project without knowing much about container farming or fundraising to make the first container farm a reality. We’ll get into how he...

https://youtu.be/Qe_UEe1_M3k Today on the podcast I’m honored to sit down with Erin Hamlin — Olympic Luger, World Champion, and the first American to medal in singles luge. But her story starts in Remsen, NY, where a 12-year-old kid signed up for a wheeled luge clinic on a whim… and ended up competing in four Olympic Games. We go deep on what it really takes to compete at the highest level —...

Fundraising expert Lara Sepanski Pimentel, founder of OSA Philanthropy and former Peace Corps volunteer, joins me to unpack what makes a nonprofit—and any mission-driven venture—truly resilient. Drawing on field lessons from community-development work in rural Central America and a decade inside U.S. nonprofits, Lara explains why “capacity” — the people, processes, and systems behind the programs...

In this episode, I’m in the shop at MVW Food Trucks with founders Jamie Thompson (Buddha) and Ryan McEwen. They discuss their challenging journey of starting a business in upstate New York, after being laid off from their respective jobs and building a food truck fabrication company from absolute scratch. Jamie and Ryan share their unique experiences, the dynamics of their partnership, and t...

In this episode of I sit down with Richard Young, founder of CivicLex , an innovative organization based in Lexington, Kentucky, focused on improving civic engagement and strengthening local government responsiveness. CivicLex bridges the gap between citizens and local government, offering workshops, newsletters, and tools that make local governance more accessible and transparent. They are creati...

Today I’m talking with Casey Massimino, the founder and executive director of Green Arrow CoLab , a non-profit that integrates mindfulness and gardening to assist individuals affected by the justice system. Broadcasting from Sicily, Italy, Casey shares her  journey in digital media, building text-based shows on Facebook Watch,  to ultimately establishing her organization, all while re-locating to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueg_I_pPjhM Today I’m sharing a conversation with Kristin Fahy , someone who is living an unconventional life in multiple locations. She’s the founder of Impetus Health, a strategy consultant for healthcare and life science firms, the author of “Profressionaling Is Hard – 22 Lessons to Help Make It (a little) Easier”, and the Professionaling Podcast . So in th...

Today on the pod I’m speaking with Mr. David Casullo – He is the CEO and founder of Denali Partners – an executive leadership development agency, that works with companies, organizations and educational institutions to build leaders, and change culture. David is the author of the book “ Leading the High Energy Culture: What the Best CEOs Do to Create an Atmosphere Where Emp...

https://youtu.be/GWFRxwGx_Ec?si=GBDoKBkbPIey7cnh On this episode I sit down with Katie Aiello for a long overdue conversation about local government, civic engagement, and using data to empower citizens. Katie is the founder of Character Coffee in Utica, NY, and found her calling in public service when she decided to run for Common Council. Now she’s using social media and open data tools to...

I recently had the opportunity to take a 40 min demo of the Apple Vision Pro – while there are tons of tech reviews out there already about the specs, what it can and cannot do, I wanted to add my thoughts on what makes this device special, some of the most impressive experiences, the drawbacks I see – and weigh in on the AR/VR debate. Remember, I was a Google Glass user for about 18 m...

My guest today is Leon Etienne . He is a world renowned illusionist, and he’s rolling through upstate New York, doing a show this Saturday at Stanley theatre. He’s the creator of Magic Rocks, has been featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, America’s Got Talent, Penn & Teller’s Wizard Wars, and much more. We had a fantastic conversation about why we need a littl...

This is a special episode of Rust Belt Startup because it was taped in front of a live audience this past July at MVCC’s thINCubator . This event was a partnership with The Rising Tide Society of Utica and featured a fireside chat with the founder of Utica Coffee Roasting Company, Frank Elias. It’s a conversation that focuses on not only the origin story of the company, but how they’ve exper...

Hilda M Jordan is the founder of HMJ Equity Consulting , an anti-racist social equity firm that helps organizations attract and retain more diverse talent by identifying systems that stand in the way of helping members of the team be successful. She is a graduate of Harvard University, and honestly one of the most inspiring your people I’ve every met. Our conversation today centers around her pers...

Rust Belt Startup · Finding Career Superpowers, Building Online Communities, and F-Words with Scott Grates It’s great to be back and welcome Scott Grates to the podcast. Scott is first and foremost in the insurance business – but this isn’t a podcast about insurance. It’s a conversation about how do you figure out how to reverse engineer a career that helps you live how you want to liv...

Rust Belt Startup · Making the Comfortable Uncomfortable – Mike Ballman Today on the podcast, Pastor Mike Ballman returns. It’s a follow-up conversation 3 years after our first conversation (which was one of my favorite episodes ever – listen at the link below). Mike is the founder and chief operator of the Morrow Warming Center – a low-barrier shelter in Utica, NY.  What Mike ha...

Rust Belt Startup · Rust Belt Toolbox – Download, Digest & Delete Today on the podcast I want to talk to you about data – specifically your data – well, specifically MY data…. but it just as well might be your data. We all know that tech giant and social networks collect TONS of our personal formation and that they have become intregral into so many parts of our lives. And th...

Rust Belt Startup · Are NFT's stupid or is it just early? What's coming next? NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are reaching a fever pitch with some digital artwork selling for tens of millions of dollars. The landscape changes daily and so today I want to give you a brief primer on how you might think about NFTs, what they are, and what could be next in the space.  In this podcast I refer...

Today I’m sharing a conversation I had with chef Tim Hardiman of The Tailor and the Cook. And we’re talking about his experience over the past 12 months. What is it like to be in the restaurant business as everything collapsed around us? Tim takes us through T&C’s core philosophies and what has made them successful over the years, but we also spend time talking about how he p...

Rust Belt Startup · Building More Meaningful Relationships and Being Connected From Afar – Kat Vellos Today’s conversation is one I’ve been really looking forward to sharing. I’m talking with Kat Vellos about UX, building (and maintaining) community and connection. Kat is a UX (user experience) designer, the founder of the Bay Are Black Designers, Connection Club, a facilitator, coach, and s...

Rust Belt Startup · Venture Caplital and Leveling The Playing Field – James Shomar On today’s podcast I’m having a conversion with Mr. James Shomar. James is a partner at StartFast which is a venture accelerator program in Syracuse NY.  I reached out to James after reading one of his LinkedIn posts about how he’s re-thinking startup funding and economic development as it relates to startups....