Innova802

  Skill Resy  Founder  Crystal Petrowski  has a clear picture of the current issues in the human resource sector.  She has additional evidence of how early iterations of AI are being misused or underutilized by the hiring sector.  She is changing the way that companies use AI to hire while changing the way we all pursue the right fit for our career.   The Innova802 crew can see great promise in Sk...

Transcript taken from   SMGtheHouser.substack.com This week, a break from our work solving all the problems of small scale developers in rural America. Besides, our work relies on the success of tech entrepreneurs just as much as it does with municipalities, small business owners, manufacturers and advocates. So it's big tech and entertainment that's got my mind captured this time around . Ted Gio...

Cohosts Ryan Munn and Scott Graves delve into what's on the horizon in Vermont tech in 2026. Talk of BETA Technologies recent IPO and its consequences on employment opportunities was high among the list of other companies mentioned that we're watching in the upcoming year.  The list includes OnLogic, former podcast guest Rugged Micropower , Lightshift Energy and more.  If you didn't make the conve...

VShip is using digital tech to deliver a better way to ship your automobile using the rail system of the United States.  Started by two brothers, Amr and Amhed Aly the company completed the Actuator Program , the accelerator from Black River Innovation Campus in 2024 and recently won in the latest cohort of LaunchVT in the spring of 2025.   The two brothers hail from Egypt and have spent considera...

The Innova802 crew sat down to take stock together on where we stand on Artificial Intelligence: Its effect on politics, creativity, industry, labor, culture and the possibility of global destabilization.  Have no fear, rather than simply complaining as to the side effects of an inappropriately deployed plan by the tech sector for AI, we delve into each of our insights on how a beneficial future c...

Consorvia's founder, Christina Fedor wants to redefine society's relationship to the creative sector. With their latest client platform the company is fundamentally bringing the individual and the system together to serve people in their effort to self actualize. Our conversation reached into the benefits of letting people young and old flex their deepest and most creative muscles.  Some of the is...

Innova802 Crew Member Will Jeffries represented the team for the Burlington, VT premiere of a new and innovative funding organization, Compound good.  Compound Good is a nonprofit fund that allows donors to make impact investments with philanthropy, unlocking capital for social entrepreneurs. Founders include Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), Sage Software and Lawson's Finest Liquid...

When you connect with a born to be entrepreneur you know it.  In our experience we place all creatives; the artists, the dreamers, the community builders in this category of human experience.  Our guest for this two part episode exemplifies what we're talking about. In a little more than an hour, Ron Rivers and co-hosts Scott Graves and Ryan Munn explored Ron's development of digital solutions for...

When you connect with a born to be entrepreneur you know it.  In our experience we place all creatives; the artists, the dreamers, the community builders in this category of human experience.  Our guest for this two part episode exemplifies what we're talking about. In a little more than an hour, Ron Rivers and co-hosts Scott Graves and Ryan Munn explored Ron's development of digital solutions for...

It was a high point for co-hosts Ryan Munn and Scott M. Graves when they were joined last week by  AIGO.AI   founder Peter Voss.  Peter's a long-time innovator, founder, advocate and thinker concerning Artificial Intelligence(he coined the term artificial general intelligence) whose insights shared with us are making us think further, dig deeper into our own advocacy for the best use of AI in orde...

Byron Batres of  Scrivnr.com to recount the early days of building his company, the importance for understanding your clients true needs and how these early experiences are informing his latest venture.  Byron's insights are well worth the listen and the service they offer can help those who find themselves without the resources needed to take their loved ones assets out of probate. Part II of II

Byron Batres of  Scrivnr.com to recount the early days of building his company, the importance for understanding your clients true needs and how these early experiences are informing his latest venture.  Byron's insights are well worth the listen and the service they offer can help those who find themselves without the resources needed to take their loved ones assets out of probate.

Host Ryan Munn joined founders Nathaniel Klein and Jacob Freedman of  Treeline Terrains , 2025 SBA SMall Business Award winners and members of the 2023 cohort for Forest Business Accelerator.  Jacob and Nathaniel shared their origin story with Ryan and share with us multiple key factors for building and funding a successful startup, combining craft with innovative process and technology.   Also me...

NYC-Based Drew Trombley has deep roots in Vermont tech via the borderlands. Drew grew up in Ticonderoga, NY.  Depending on your perspective that might as well be Vermont. Drew's professional roots stem from the financing sector.  This contributed to moments you'll want to really take in regarding how the venture space conducts its decision-making and how you can set yourself apart when fundraising...

Vermont isn't just shrinking in population, its aging.  The state has 30,000 fewer working age citizens between 25-40 then it did 25 years ago.  This, while modest population gains during the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed. For those of us at the Innova802 Crew, we see the effects every day.  Many citizens on fixed incomes, who represent a larger share of the population, cannot afford increases to...

Listeners looking to learn how to build and survive launching your rural tech hub will relate to our latest guest, Abby Salomon's story. The central Vermont town of Randolph, host to her organization known as Cultivator is also a resilient community in a truly resilient state.  We talked about the challenge to reinventing funding in the  current climate of 2025 for such projects, the importance of...

Open Innovation has become essential to good science being completed by our institutions.  Our guest this week, Steve Rader speaks with experience on how open innovation, rather crowdsourcing has and will shape good science work moving forward. Steven recently retired from NASA and is an expert in open innovation after 36 years with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.    We discussed...

Sharing the mic with Interchain. Live and fellow Innova802 crew member Ryan Munn brought Richard Lowe to our virtual studios for a discussion regarding Rich's experience as a ghostwriter and author in his own right.   The discussion quickly deepened to include his perspective on building the bionic worker: getting business to leverage tech to support workers as opposed to leveraging tech to replac...

Paul Shepherd is no stranger to the Vermont high tech community.  He recently launched Rugged MicroPower to take what he's learned working for leading Vermont tech companies and applying them to build a leader in providing power management solutions to the space industry. Our conversation touched upon the intricacies of supply-chain, too.  We also offer our congrats to Paul and the other members o...

Adam Locklin is the new executive director of the Vermont Technology Alliance(VTTA) . His tenure began in January of 2025 after 20+ years with founding Executive Director Jeff Couture at the helm.   Adam filled the Innova802 crew in on what he's learned so far traveling throughout Vermont on a whirlwind tour to understand the needs of existing and prospective members of Vermont's only tech-centric...

We spoke with Burlington, VT's  Bryn Loftness , Co-Founder and CEO of Biobe .  Their startup, currently focused on non-dilutive funding, intends to help one million children by 2030.  They provide early detection technology and an emotional regulation toolkit to the children's mental health ecosystem.   Bryn is by her own definition a storyteller, and the Innova802 crew found she is telling a comp...

The latest form the Innova802 Crew brought Jerry Carter, partner in Burlington, VT's  Moody Advisors into the virtual studio this month to talk about the current trends we're experiencing inside and outside of venture-capital for Vermont's rural startups.  We spoke about the changing market for venture-backed companies in the Green Mountain State.  WHat sectors are getting the most attention from...

Meagan Downey is founder of Vermont-based  ShikiWrap.com , a successful and maturing startup providing reusable gift wrap and bags, combining a consumer product with a mission-driven strategy.  This experience coupled with Meagan's earlier work in mission-driven fundraising gave her the experience and perspective that drives her newest endeavor the Compound Fund. 'Non-profit is a tax status not a...

We offer you the second part of our interview with founder Darren Mark and COO Mike Walton of Humnet.live You've heard the Innova802 crew speak to the idea that we give too much credence to the tech around our daily lives, surrendering a lot of our agency over how we control the use of tech for good, rather than engaging with it in truly useful and healthy ways. Often, it may be better if we turne...

You've heard the Innova802 crew speak to the idea that we give too much credence to the tech around our daily lives, surrendering a lot of our agency over how we control the use of tech for good, rather than engaging with it in truly useful and healthy ways. Often, it may be better if we turned the devices off and speak the truth TO  one another, ending the isolation we feel which can lead to any...