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, foun...

 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 Sm...

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 S...

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 partic...

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...

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 ...

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 sta...

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 ve...

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 busine...

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 st...

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 individual...

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 Hea...

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 wor...

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 ci...

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...

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’...

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 ...

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 sys...

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. Scot...

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 (w...

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…. b...

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...

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 resta...

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 K...

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 v...

Hey everyone – I was going to say Happy 2021 until things all went sideways last week. Regardless this the first episode of Season 3 of the Rust Belt Startup Podcast. On today’s episode I...

Today’s pod is a super-shorty episode (I’ll be experimenting with more of these) where we’re talking about the Trojan horse that is the Nike Run Club app. This app started as a sens...

Today on the podcast it’s a little lighter and I’m chatting with a colleague of mine – Bernie Freytag. He is the Creative Director at Romanelli Communications and he has a new book called ‘Fi...

Today – a short reflection on the past several weeks and the role small towns and cities can have in meaningful change. Imperfect and incomplete. Rust Belt Startup · Storytellers and Story-Chan...

Rust Belt Startup · Functional Speed and the Evolution of Ice I’m in week 9 or 10 of work-from-home and quarantine at this point, and things are settling into a rhythm. At least the sun is star...

Today we’re going a bit tactical. I’m taking with Gary Maples about chatbots – now before you tune out, we should start to understand what a chatbot is and what it isn’t and most important &...

Over the weekend I wanted to catch up with urbanist Arian Horbovetz in Rochester, NY. I’ve been enjoying his podcast The Urban Phoenix and wanted to dig into what cities might be like after the CO...

Devin Mahoney is a Utica, NY native who spent a decade working and writing for TV and Film in LA, on shows such as Scrubs, before returning to upstate NY with the mission of taking over the Uptown...

I’m hunkered down at home on self-imposed quarantine (no symptoms, just staying safe) and have been thinking about how COVID19 is not only disrupting all of our lives, economies and governments, but ...

Today on the pod, I’m sitting down with Tim Giarrusso, CEO of Human Technologies to talk about empowering people with disabilities, holistic employment, building trust and how to create communitie...

It’s been a minute – today’s podcast is a toolbox episode rather than a conversation and hope you dig it. So we’re a few months into the new year and wanted to bring you up to speed on some of...

How often do you talk to Alexa or Siri? Voice tech is quickly becoming a facet of the way we operate in our daily lives.  And while you may not have a smart speaker in your home or like to talk to ...

This week I’m sharing a conversation I had with health/wellness blogger and influencer Georgie Morley. I first discovered her photography of Nantucket (a beautiful island off the coast of Massachus...

I’m a huge fan of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and laughed my tail off at the episode about Chiitan (and Chiijohn). And I was even more surprised to hear that the costume of Chiijohn came ...

I’m super excited to share this conversation I had with Big Mike Morrill. Mike is obsessed with Kaizen, or the process of continuous improvement. We talk about his journey of applying this manuf...

I’m (finally) kicking off Season 2 of Rust Belt Startup with a shorty, or a toolbox episode. It’s a recap of my recent album launch, how to ‘show your work’ and some tips on ho...

This is it! We’re sticking a fork in season 1 of Rust Belt Startup. Today is a bit of a throwback episode. It’s a conversation that I had in front of a live audience in Utica, NY with Hugette Montesin...

This week I’m super excited to share a conversation with one of my favorite songwriters out there- Ryan Montbleau. He has built an audience and a career through a steady stream of thoughtful son...

I think deep down in all of us, there’s been a period of time when we’ve wanted to sell our stuff, drop everything and go out and see the world. Today on the podcast I’m talking to R...

We’re talking citizen journalism and the media landscape with Brett Orzechowski. He’s launching a new project called Stateline NY. It’s a media site with a collection of interesting and in-depth sto...

It’s just over a month until Election Day and the race to represent the 22nd District is in full force. Anthony Brindisi is in the middle of that congressional campaign, running as the Democrati...

What makes a great city? That’s what we’re going to dive into with my guest Arian Horbovetz who is the author of The Urban Phoenix. It’s a blog that focuses on conversations surround...

On this week’s episode, I’m having a chat with Dr. Heather Malyuk of Soundcheck Audiology. She’s an audiologist that focuses on working with musicians and touring musicians from her ...

Chris Hartman is a farmer, academic and founder of Headwater Food Hub in Rochester NY. In our wide-ranging conversation we try to get to the root of what makes an effective food-system. But i...

Sometimes the standard for service in a given industry is god-awful, or terrible. Sometimes if you’re just ‘bad’ you’ll have all the work you can handle. So let’s talk ab...