StatEasy makes sports stats easy
Mike Ressler, founder and CEO of StatEasy, typifies the young entrepreneur: doing what he loves, loving what he does, and scared to shit about what might happen, or what might not! Mike exudes the qualities that are essential for...
Teaching entrepreneurship in engineering
Instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate engineers is essential if we want our bright young talent to innovate and then productize those innovations to better mankind. Tuition at top engineering schools is close to...
Translation: more, better, faster – with Safaba
Sometimes I get the pleasure of writing about a startup from the very beginning because I was there. Safaba is one example. The two founders, Alon Lavie and Bob Olszewski, came to me for some advice during my stint as embedded...
Who is Jack Dorsey?
Last week, I met Jack Dorsey, who came to CMU to recruit for Square. My blog entitles me to press status I guess, so I got to spend a half hour with him and about three other people. Thank you Catherine Copetas! Square is the...
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...
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...