Joining the podcast this week is John Cimperman, founder of the 42North Brewery and the incredibly popular Borderland Music Festival in East Aurora. We chat with John about his time with the Buffalo Sabres, staring a brewery and how Borderland could be the next big festival in the northeast.43North

This week on the Latitude Podcast host Nate Benson is joined by royalty, well, chicken wing royalty. Drew Cerza, aka "The Wing King", joins the podcast to talk about the early days of the International Chicken Wing Festival, how he became a king, the best and worst wing he’s ever had and how he found his passion in chicken wing entrepreneurship.…

This week on Latitude we chat with John Hill, VP of Network at Techstars. John talks about his background in journalism and how that led him to a career of connecting people, why networking is so vital to the health of an emerging startup community, and how to actually network.43North

Barb Stegemann’s entrepreneurial vision was formed after her best friend—a soldier—was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Understanding that supporting Afghanistan’s economy was key to building stability for its people, Stegemann created The 7 Virtues, a company that sources organic, fair trade essential oils from countries experiencing turmoil (such…

This week on the podcast we go live again from the inaugural Code Buffalo hackathon presented by 43North, Techstars, ACV Auctions, BNMC and more. We chat with Apollo GraphQL founder Geoff Schmidt about GraphQL, how it's becoming an important tool for developers, starting multiple companies in the valley, and the pressures after raising $22M in capi…

This week we take Latitude on the road for another live edition featuring 2018 43North winner Nadia Hamilton, founder of Magnusmode. Magnusmode is creating digital decks that guide those living with Autism through daily life. Nadia talks about the origins of Magnusmode, why it's so personal for her, why brands are creating MagnusCards, growing in B…

How do you do some good? There are many ways, and good comes in all shapes and sizes. For Kate and Joe Vacanti, their calling was to help people access water. One in seven people in the world lack access to clean water and 3.5 million people die from water-borne illnesses each year. On the continent of Africa, 40 billion hours are spent each year w…

One of our most downloaded guests on the show returns to talk about all things upstate on this episode of Latitude. Noa Simons, Executive Director of the Upstate Capital Association, joins host Nate Benson to talk about all the various types of capital being deployed in New York since the last time she was on the show.…

43North has kicked off the sixth year of the $5,000,000 startup competition and is now accepting applications. But should your startup apply? How long is it going to take? Why are you seeing 43North staff on the road at demo days? Is your startup ready for 43North? These are all great questions and we brought the man behind that works in the shadow…

It's finally here, episode 100 of Latitude - The 43North Podcast. It's been a remarkable journey for this show and what better way to celebrate than with a live (to tape) edition of the podcast!? For Latitude 100 we were joined by 100(ish) of our closest friends, community supporters, staff and former guests. All coming together to celebrate this m…

When putting together your pitch deck, you probably have a slide or three about your future roadmap. Slides that show some sales milestones, hiring trajectory, or monumental fundraising goals. But Cody Simms, Partner at Techstars, is here on the podcast to say that you may be thinking about it all wrong. This week with Cody we cover roadmaps, how t…

This week on the podcast we explore a unique tourism attraction, peddle tours of Buffalo and how this entrepreneur has created a unique experience for those visiting the Queen City.43North

After 20 years in the financial industry, Sharon Weinberg joined NY Ventures, the investment division of empire state development. After a couple of years as its managing director, Sharon moved on to found Blue Leaf Ventures with a colleague of hers, to spend time investing in startups in an overlooked industry. This week on the Latitude, host Nate…

In the heart of the Dotcom boom, Jennifer Beckage founded Edgenet, a Buffalo-based internet company that provided cutting edge technology to companies and organizations like Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center, FAO SCHWARTZ, The Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres and another fortune 500 companies. EdgeNet eventually sold to ChoiceOne COmm, where Jennifer sta…

Sam Marrazzo has had a lengthy career as a technologist. Getting his start in the US Navy, Sam worked for many tech companies across the United State but ultimately made his journey back to his hometown and is now the CIO of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus where he promotes innovation, assists startups through mentorship and uses his influence t…

Even though we're well into the 21st century, Patrick O'Brien noticed a significant gap with mortgage lenders and efficiently writing loans. We all know the routine, by the time you as a home buyer are done haggling offers and counter-offers, you finally get the blessing from your real estate agent and it's 11pm on a Friday. Should that hinder you …

Recruiting talent is a vital aspect of scaling a startup. This week on the podcast host Nate Benson talks with Jen Reed, Director of Talent Strategy at 43North, about recruiting for startups, what founders need to look out for, how to improve your terrible resume and full details on the inaugural JobCade event. Latitude is powered by 43North, the $…

This week on Latitude hosts Nate Benson from 43North and professor Darren Treadway faculty expert from the UB Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness, talk with an internationally recognized leader in philanthropy, Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker. For more than a decade, Clotilde has led the Buffalo Community Foundation’s strategy to cr…

Pete Augustine spent much of his 25+ career at New Era. At the height of the sports licensing wars of the 90's and early 00's, Pete saw and eventually led New Era (as President) through a gambit of tough decisions that ultimately positioned New Era as a powerhouse in sports branding. Today, New Era has over 500 licenses in its portfolio, many of th…

Being a firefighter is stressful in its own right, but imagine the stress of a commander trying to keep track of their crew with a whiteboard and some magnets - not as reliable as one would think. Patrick O'Connor, co-founder of 3AM Innovations and a former volunteer firefighter, wanted to be the one to bring technology to a fire scene. He and his …

This week on the podcast we talk to Chris Smit, Vice President and tHe gUy tHaT DoEs tHe tHiNgS, from Community Beer Works. We talk to Chris about starting one of the the first breweries in Buffalo's brewsurgance (™ pending), the trials and tribulations of a brewery, why being a neighborhood brewery is vital for CBW and growing and scaling at a tim…

This week on the podcast we do something a little different. Recently, Bob Willer and Dan Magnuszewski met with the year five 43North winners to discuss how startups can scale technical teams. Rather than our traditional episode, this week we recorded that seminar, the Q&A and we take a deep dive with two CTO's who have grown their startups into do…

This week on the podcast, host Nate Benson talks to Hadar Borden from Blackstone Launchpad, Powered By Techstars, at the University at Buffalo. Blackstone Launchpad, Powered By Techstars, offers a platform for students to get their startups and ideas off the ground through various programming modules. Hadar talks about how important entrepreneurshi…

Data is big business in 2019. Any startup or established corporation that isn't using data to the best of their ability or ensuring their data is secure will like go away quicker than the ten pounds you put on during holidays. This week on the podcast our host Nate Benson talks with Adam Stotz, CTO of Trove. Trove uses predictive data science and u…

Kevin Siskar grew up in Western New York, coming from a long line of volunteer firefighters, a service he committed to as well. Kevin wanted to take his skills learned as a fireman and help entrepreneurs. He had his own startup that went through the Founder Institute and he became the unofficial alumni rep of the organization. Today, Kevin is the M…

Elijah Tyson got tired of carrying his Tupperware containers of food to class all day. Then he saw that many of his fellow students at the university were carrying around bags of food all day, sometimes for upwards of 12 hours. Then he saw a sign for a 90-second pitch competition on campus with a $1,000 prize and it was then the root of ColdSpace w…

When Tod Martin started his agency he had a desk. And long nights. Today, he has multiple offices that bare his name in lights. This week on the podcast, hosts Nate Benson and Darren Treadway talk with Martin Group Founder Tod Martin about growing a premiere branding and communications agency, innovations his company has made, what it takes to succ…

Dan Miner has been covering the Buffalo tech and startup scene since 2012. He's seen successes, failures, hills, valleys, IPO's and closures. This week on the podcast we talk with Dan about the early days of the resurgent Buffalo startup ecosystem, what has changed, how the Buffalo business community can get involved and what more needs to happen f…

So you have a startup idea, great! Now what? You've probably talked to some friends and family, but you're going to need some capital to get off the ground. Enter the Launch NY Seed Fund. This week on the podcast we talk with Lindsay Stencil, COO of Launch NY and the organization's seed fund manager. This week you'll learn everything you need to ap…

Buffalo is awesome, especially in the eyes of those who live here. Awesome Buffalo is awesome as well. Part of the worldwide Awesome Foundation platform, Awesome Buffalo provides $1,000 grants to those looking to do social good in the city. Having funded four projects already Awesome Buffalo aiming to announce double that in the next year, and it's…

Bob Willer is a man of many talents. He's a former professional hockey referee. He's a founder. He's the CIO of an ed-tech startup in Buffalo. And the Ice Cream Machine Guy at said startup. He's also paying it back by mentoring young entrepreneurs and developers in the startup world by sharing his 20+ years of programming, development, IT and opera…

This week on the podcast we head back to the 43North Finals where we hosted a live edition of Latitude with the 2018 follow-on funding winners Femi Secrets and Kangarootime. Listen as Davielle and Scott talk about their experience in Buffalo, the snowy journey they took to get here and their big ambitions for helping build the Buffalo startup ecosy…

We terribly clever with episode names here on the podcast! This week we're talking to Mapquest founder and Techstars Entrepreneur in Residence, Chris Heivly. Chris has a remarkable startup story that took him from the US State Department to founding, arguably, the most popular mapping platform in the 90's and early 2000's. How many of you printed o…

It's another year and another 43North final is in the books. This week on the podcast we talk with Sparkcharge founder Josh Aviv about founding his startup in Syracuse, and why Buffalo is where he wants to grow is EV powering station startup.43North

What does it take to produce the 43North Finals? How much time is involved? How many volunteers are needed? Who makes sure the judges are picked up at the airport? What does a producer even do? This week on the podcast we talk to the woman that makes it happen, Colleen Heidinger. Colleen has a fascinating journey to and from Buffalo that includes s…

This week on the podcast we're talking about the 2018 43North Finalists!!! Host Nate Benson is joined by 43North's Lauren Baynes where they break down all the startups competing in the 43North Finals on October 3 at Shea's Performing Arts Center.43North

If you're of a certain age you may remember going to the ball field with your dad and picking up a pennant as a memento, or perhaps seeing one in your grandad's garage. The art of the pennant went the way of the dodo as mass production was made king and the novelty of the pennant wore off for a generation. But pennants are back. And Buffalo is lead…

You may have wanted to get involved with the Buffalo startup scene but had no idea how. Buffalo Startup Weekend 2018 is the perfect way to get involved. Whether you're a student, established entrepreneur, designer, coder, marketing guru, blockchain expert, financial baron or everything in between startup weekend is the perfect way to get involved. …

In this episode of Lattitude hosts Nate Benson from 43North and professor Darren Treadway, faculty expert from the UB Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness, will talk with change agents and entrepreneurs about leadership, innovation and getting things done. The UB School of Management’s Center for Leadership and Organizational Effe…

Startups may need engineers. But they may not be able to bring them on full time, or they don't have a full plate of projects for them to feed their engineering hunger. That's why Dan Buckmaster started Tresca a startup aimed at providing engineering services for other startups. Dan is a New Jersey native who attended the University at Buffalo and …

It's another episode of Latitude Live! Featuring Bethany Deshpande, founder of 2017 43North $1M winner SomaDetect. Host Nate Benson chats with Bethany about life prior to SomaDetect, having most of the degrees, getting the idea for SomaDetect, growing a business in a male-dominated industry and more.…

Melissa Bradley is a gambler, and the stakes are high. What started as a bet with the Deputy Mayor of Washington D.C. has led to an entrepreneurial spirit in the capital - and she see's that same type of spark in WNY. This week on the podcast host Nate Benson chats with Melissa about developing startup ecosystems, issues facing women and minority e…

It's a bonus episode this week on the Latitude Podcast! At the Ignite Buffalo finals, Latitude host Nate Benson held a panel discussion about small business with three amazing entrepreneurs, Pete Cimino from Lloyd Taco Factory, Kilby Bronstein from Half & Half Boutique and Myriah Jaworski from Rowhouse Bakery and Restaurant as well as Groom Service…

So, we just did a thing at 43North. We partnered with Facebook, M&T Bank, Amazon AWS, Quickbooks, Wordpress and WooCommerce to award 27 small businesses grants totaling in $1M. Just how in the world did this happen? This week on the podcast we talk to one of the key architects of the program, Dave Jakubowski from Facebook. The WNY native was a 43No…

Losing a pet can be traumatic, most people with a pet consider it to be part of the family. But you were smart, you put a microchip in your pet so when your dog or cat is found it will easily be tracked down. Not so fast. It turns out, there are a dozen or so microchip companies on the market, all with their own scanners and data collection systems…

On this episode of Latitude, we talk about the importance of embracing failure. Failure is something people often steer away from, but for startup founders, it's ultimately how you grow. The idea for Loupe came out of local branding agency, Block Club. It was once one of Buffalo's hottest startups, but ultimately founder Patrick Finan had to shut d…

This week on the podcast we take the show on the road to the Buffalo Urban League with special guest Davielle Jackson - 2017 winner of the 43North competition. In this live edition of the podcast, Davielle talks about quitting medical school to pursue a life of entrepreneurship, moving from Atlanta to Buffalo and growing her feminine hygiene empire…

Imagine if Eric Reich didn't want a parking pass that allowed him access to prime parking spots when he was a student at the University at Buffalo. Campus Labs may have never been a thing. It was his appointment at a university council that allowed Eric that parking pass, but it also offered him insight as to how universities across the country wer…

This week, the Latitude podcast will make you hungry. That's intentional. Sorry, not sorry. We're talking tacos, ice cream, coffee, and changing hundred-year-old street vending laws in Western New York with Lloyd Taco founder Pete Cimino. Pete talks about ditching his career as a math teacher to make tacos in a truck in a city that didn't want him …

It's another edition of Latitude Live! This week we feature our live audience conversation with Scott Wayman, founder of 2017 43North winning company Kangarootime. Scott has a very compelling story. Host Nate Benson and he dive into his life as one of twenty-five children, what motivated him to start one of the leading child-care management applica…