Making It Happen - THE TECH GARDEN

In this episode of Making It Happen, the final company of the GENIUS NY 5 cohort, WindShape, sits down for an interview with host Thomas Culeton. Nico Bosson, the COO of WindShape, explains the development of the company's central product - the WindShaper - and how it has evolved into a revolutionary tool for UAS companies. The episode explores the company's transition to the US market from Switzerland, and both the challenges and success that occurred during that move. 

This episode of Making it Happen  features the founder and CEO of CarScanner,  Slawek Potasz, who describes his experience coming to Syracuse from Poland to build his company in the US. From explaining the genesis of his company to figuring out the ins and outs of a US sales strategy, Slawek and Making it Happen host Thomas Culeton have an enlightening conversation about how details matter when building a transformative organization. 

This episode features a conversation between Making it Happen host Thomas and Airtonomy CEO and Founder Josh Reidy. Dr. Reidy discusses the benefits of being in the GENIUS NY program while developing a product that would advance the energy market (and beyond) due to its myriad of applications. From learning about Josh's background to starting Airtonomy, this episode offers a peek into the $1 million winner's business and plans for the future. 

Our host Thomas speaks to CEO and co-founder of Airial Robotics, Joerg Schamuhn, in the latest episode of Making it Happen. Thomas and Joerg discuss the genesis of Airial Robotics, an uncrewed aerial systems company that is taking the drone market by storm. Not only has this team flown its system in the Himalayas, but they have also made their United States home-base right here in Syracuse – proving that global companies – UAS and otherwise – can thrive in Central New York. 

In this episode, our new host Thomas interviews Zak Niazi, founder and CEO of Circle Optics, and Ian Gauger, COO of Circle Optics, to speak with them about their experiences in the GENIUS NY program. From building their camera of the future to understanding its myriad of potential uses, the episode explores the way Circle Optics started and remains an up-and-coming startup in Central New York.

In this episode, we speak to Chris Berry, Business Development Manager and Scott Hansen, Director of Industrial Engineering at Marquardt. Marquardt is a global company with a huge footprint in Cazenovia, NY. They manufacture electro-mechanical switches, controls and wireless communications systems for major industries like drone, medical, defense and beyond. Hear how they are helping local entrepreneurs in Central NY and what Marquardt 4.0 looks like.  Learn more at https://www.marquardt.com/us/partners/

What happens when you put two C-Suite executives that have known each other since kindergarten on top of a mountain in Park City, Utah? In this episode, we host a Founders’ Chat with co-founders, Nick Nickitas and Michael Ryzewic (“Ryz”) of Rosie. They talk all things fundraising and investment, hiring smarter people than them, why culture matters and so much more. The best part, they had the best view for the interview! 

In this episode we speak with Kristin Mannion, CEO and founder of The Alvina Group, a business operations and technology consulting company that helps businesses tackle and streamline internal challenges, all about what defines an entrepreneur, her experiences as a woman in tech, and boomeranging back to her roots in CNY.

In this episode we discuss with Jeffrey Lyman, a 25-year-old entrepreneur from CNY, his journey of working in his family’s auto shop to becoming CEO of a growing startup that is innovating auto parts delivery.

In this episode, we talk all about building a clean-energy business in Central New York including the manufacturing process, business incubators, accelerators, competitions and more with Rachel Rosen and Ron Wexler, founders of WexEnergy, and members of The Tech Garden’s NYSERDA-funded Clean Tech Center program.

In this episode, we talk about the public safety application of drones with Craig Marcinkowski, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Fotokite, the 2018 GENIUS NY business accelerator grand prize winner.

In this episode we talk about leadership, the future of weather technology, and what exactly micro-weather is with Don Berchoff, CEO of TruWeather Solutions, a weather risk management and analytics company.

In this episode, we talk all about the future of robots in customer service and what it’s like to bring an international startup to the American market through GENIUS NY with Ayllin Yassin, business development manager at the London-based startup BotsAndUs.

In this episode we talk all about entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, and more with mother-daughter duo Beth and Keeley Race of Eco-Baggeez, a CNY family business that makes sustainable sandwich bags that are both sourced and manufactured in the US. Eco-Baggeez is a participant in The Tech Garden’s Innovation Hot Spot program, a five-year tax incentive program through NYS.

We sit down with Ryan Pleskach and Andrew Carter, co-founders of ResilienX, to talk all things drones. When will we get package delivery via drone and when will we see flying cars?! ResilienX helps make all these things possible by automating the safety in the skies. Their software monitors the health and integrity of automated systems to mitigate any faults, failures, or adverse conditions that may occur. ResilienX is a GENIUS NY finalist and was awarded $500,000 in 2019. ResilienX is currently partnering with NASA, the FAA, and others on larger UTM projects.

We talk with Jason Guss of Iterate Labs, a company founded by two graduate students out of Cornell University that produces a smart wearable device that attaches to manual worker’s gloves to provide insights on both repetitive motion injuries and worker motions and location for productivity and training.

We come together through the powers of the internet and talk all about virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence (VR/ AR/ AI) with Adrian Hatch, CEO and co-founder of Imajion and Christopher Mitchell, CEO and co-founder of Geopipe.Imajion and Geopipe are two standout Tech Garden companies. Imajion is a telepresence conferencing platform that utilizes headset augmented reality software to improve efficiency and communication for construction purposes. And Geopipe is a 2020 GENIUS NY finalist, GENIUS NY is the world’s largest unmanned systems, IoT, and big data accelerator in the world, housed right here at The Tech Garden. Geopipe creates immersive digital twins and rich 3D data about real cities, instantly accessible for gaming, training simulations, architecture and more.

We sit down with Charissa Lawrence, Customer Implementation Engineer at Density, one of our fastest-growing startups, to hear what it is like to be a woman in tech, her unexpected path to software engineering, and scaling a business in Central New York.Density sells a live data platform that allows businesses to measure how people use spaces with the goal of improving building efficiency. They have customers from all over the world and continue to grow here in Syracuse, NY.

We talk with co-founder Adam Fine about his journey from San Francisco to The Tech Garden and Dropcopter; a drone company that is revolutionizing the way crops are pollinated.Dropcopter is the leader in automated pollination of orchard crops via unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). They help growers improve farming efficiency and drive healthy crop yield growth.Increase fruit & nut sets by 25% - 60%Maximize critical bloom time, 40 acres/hourReplenish pollen supplies after heavy rainsPollinate during cold weather, at night and low bee activityLearn more about Adam Fine.

The founders of Spincar talk about their journey from startup to a thriving company; and how The Tech Garden played an important role in that process.