Made in Pittsburgh. Staying in Pittsburgh
Rumor has it that VCs investing in Pittsburgh companies force them to move – to Boston, to Silicon Valley, to Austin. But that’s not always true. Witness Flashgroup.com, a startup founded by two world-class Carnegie Mellon...
Vodka, my kind of new venture!
I drank vodka last night. I love vodka. So do a lot of people. But there are so many vodka brands on the shelf these days it’s hard to know which ones are really good or are just pretty bottles. This is why Noah Cohen and his...
Knopp, a uniquely Pittsburgh startup story
Knopp Neurosciences is a Pittsburgh story. The drug development company is a startup gem – from founding, raising money, and executing on its business plan. But wait; Pittsburgh is supposedly not a good place to start a drug...
Joshua Baer, serial entrepreneur from a dorm room to the board room
Joshua Baer is 36 and he has founded and sold four companies. His most recent startup, OtherInbox, was acquired at the end of 2011 by Return Path. In addition to the technology companies, Joshua founded Capital Factory, an...
Michael Morneault in the arena with Odor Gladiator
It’s a family affair, pure and simple. As an entrepreneur you sometimes get to solve the problems that you have personally. Such an entrepreneur is Mike Morneault. He started searching for a solution to persistent problem that he...
Seema Patel, Fusing robotics and games with Interbots
Seema never had any plans to go into business and never in a million years thought she’d start a company. But the opportunity fell into her lap and she couldn’t resist taking the plunge. Seema was always into robots. She...
Steve Martocci: from idea to exit in 15 months with GroupMe
Steve knows how to execute on an idea to get it to where it is real – real product, real users, real value. In the social media hype space where lots of new ideas percolate to the surface, GroupMe stands out as a simple solution...
Fred OIiveira brings Silicon Valley entrepreneurial culture to Portugal
As a computer science student at a leading university, Fred Oliveira could have gotten a job with a major technology company anywhere in the world. Google awarded him a prize in 2005 for participating in open-source projects....
John Dick serializes entrepreneurship, live and in person: CivicScience
Here’s another story about an entrepreneur who never thought he would be one until the opportunity slapped him in the face. Then a few years later another opportunity made him jump from his company to a new startup. CivicScience...
Corissa McClay, making personal style a business with MakerCraft
Corissa always loved making jewelry. But it was an expensive and time consuming hobby. To make anything, she had to buy beads and other materials and then sit for hours to figure out designs that would work. She hit on the idea...