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 reference a great interview with Kara Swisher of the New York Times and Beeple - whose recent NFT of a collection of his daily works sold at auction for over $60 million. It's a fantastic interview and you can check it out here: What do you think? Do you own any NFTs? If so, what made you decide to take the plunge?

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Are NFT’s stupid or is it just early? What’s coming next?

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 pivoted during the pandemic to create innovative virtual dining experiences, the difficult decisions he had to make as an entrepreneur and the lessons learned over 2020. We talk about the importance of service, detail, and stepping back to make better decisions. Rust Belt Startup · A Chef's Journey Through the Pandemic - Tim Hardiman

A Chef’s Journey Through the Pandemic – Tim Hardiman

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 someone who is obsessed with community and connection. She’s also the author of two books - “We Should Get Together - The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships” and “Connected From Afar - A Guide For Staying Close When You’re Far Away.” In our conversation we talk about User Experience - what makes good UX and how do you apply that to your app, business or city. We talk about building and maintaining healthy, resilient communities - and probably most important, we talk about connection. We talk about “platonic longing” which probably encapsulates a feeling that many adults are feeling in this time of isolation, and the idea of ‘familiar strangers’ who gave our daily lives dynamism and rhythm. You can learn more about Kat and her books at weshouldgettogether.com and katvellos.com

Building More Meaningful Relationships and Being Connected From Afar – Kat Vellos

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.  In our wide ranging conversation he gives us a primer on angel and venture investment and the kinds of companies that this investment attracts. Ever wondered why your company isn’t attractive to angel or venture capital? We’ll talk about it.  We also talk about leveling the playing field when it comes to opportunities for entrepreneurs of color, and much more. You can learn more about James on LinkedIN. On my end - I’m a partner in a new initiative called the Mohawk Valley Micro Seed Fund that’s looking for it’s first investment. You can learn more about that venture at our website.

Venture Caplital and Leveling The Playing Field – James Shomar

Hey everyone - I was going to say Happy 2021 until things all went sideways las week. Regardless this the first episode of Season 3 of the Rust Belt Startup Podcast. On today's episode I'm actually reading a blog post in it's entirety that I really enjoyed which was featured in Tim Ferriss' newsletter 'Five Bullet Friday'. It's originally by Conner Barnes over at Ideopunk.com, and while I don't agree with everything, lists like these I think are useful as we start a new year or if you're looking for a change. They prompt questions, challenges, and might make you improve in some small way this year.

100 Tips For a Better Life – 2021

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 sensor you'd put in your Nike shoes (Nike+) and evolved as smartphones entered the market to a full-fledged and full-featured digital community. And there's key feature/Trojan horse methodology that we can all learn from that can use to grow your revenue as well. Let me explain... Rust Belt Startup · The Trojan Horse of Nike Run Club

The Trojan Horse of Nike Run Club

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 ‘Find Wonder In The Ordinary’, which is sort of a memoir mashed-up with New Yorker cartoons. So in this conversation we focus on creativity - how to harness your own creativity , how do you be creative when it’s also part of your job, how he thinks about creativity. And we also talk about the genesis of the book, how he decided to put it out into the universe and much more. You can learn more about Bernie and the book project at Find Wonder In The Ordinary and on instagram at instagram.com/findwonderintheordinary and instagram.com/medraw Rust Belt Startup · Bernie Freytag - On Creativity and Finding Wonder in The Ordinary

Creativity and Finding Wonder in The Ordinary – Bernie Freytag

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-Changers - Some (self) Reflection on Social-Justice

Storytellers and Story-Changers | Some (self) Reflection on Social-Justice

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 starting to come out and working from home also includes working in with the laptop in the back yard. Today is another toolbox episode that was inspired by a Scott Galloway post on what he calls Functional Speed/Functional Acceleration. It's this idea that when everything around us is slowing down or on pause due to the COVID19 pandemic, how can you accelerate or speed up to grab market share or build what's next for your career? That doesn't necessarily mean just doing MORE. I'm combining this line of thinking with a great TED talk from Guy Kawasaki where he uses the history of ice to illustrate how to think about where innovation comes from. So this pod is very much a remix and I hope you enjoy. Stay safe.

Functional Speed and the Evolution of Ice

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 - how the tech is really democratized and how small businesses and organizations can build their own with minimal expertise.  We’ll get into what goes into building a chatbot, what you can do with it and where the tech is going in the future. Thanks to Gary for his time and you can learn more about what he’s up to at http://garymaples.com

The Chatbots Are Coming – Gary Maples

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 COVID19 pandemic. We get into urban planning, last mile transport, remote work, the changing commercial real estate market, and the impact of EVs on cities amongst other topics. If you’d like to learn more abut Arian and his work, visit him online attheurbanphoenix.com

Urbanism, Last Mile Transport and Changing Cities after COVID19 – Arian Horbovetz

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 Theater and turning it into a punk-rock version of a Fine Arts School. The theater is now known as the Uptown Theater for the Creative Arts (UTCA) and has become a hotbed of comedy, improv and music within the city. In our conversation we talk about working and writing for TV, why network TV has gotten so bad, the decentralization of media, and how improv can build a community. To learn more about UTCA visit their website at https://utcany.org and maybe even consider a donation.

Improv, Media and Building a Punk Rock Fine Arts School – Devin Mahoney (UTCA)

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 what lasting change is it going to have on work culture, real estate, meetings, education and politics. Here are some of my hot takes, with the help of some recent blog posts from Seth Godin and Scott Galloway. Posts/Pods mentioned in this show: Seth Godin on Meetings/Conversations: http://seths.blog/2020/03/the-conversation/ Pivot 03.17.20: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pivot/id1073226719?i=1000468660334 Stay safe out there.

How COVID19 might permanently change work culture, meetings, real estate and politics

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 communities. HT is a $60M company that is powered by people with purpose, creating jobs and an inclusive environment, while still turning a profit. Tim is also the founder of Rochester Community Inclusive Rowing - which started as a way to get veterans out on the water, and has grown into something much bigger. Lots of great takeaways in this episode, whether you own a business or work in a place where the corporate culture needs some TLC. There's plenty more info at Human Technologies or Rochester Community Inclusive Rowing,

Inclusive Work Culture, Disabled Rowing and the Power of People With Purpose – Tim Giarrusso

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 things I’ve been working on, tools I’m using to create space and time, and trying to build the best year yet. Some topics I cover:  - Reading goal for 2020 and tactics to read more - New Habits (Digital Dieting, Optimizing Content Delivery, and Apps I’m using to try to Create Time) - Saying NO and creating Immovable Objects in my Schedule - More food and drinks with creative folks More conversations in the can and ready to go - coming soon!

On Books, Projects, Digital Diets, Automating & Delegating in 2020

Reconstructing Remarkable - Website Development, Digital Strategy, Video, and the $100 Cup of Coffee based in Utica NY

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