Blog
Welcome to the Startup Pinball Machine
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you go about it can make all the difference.
Patterns of Early-Stage VC Exuberance
Every founder dreams of closing that first significant funding round. The champagne pops, the press releases go out, and everyone believes they're building the next unicorn. But here's what nobody talks about: this moment of celebration often marks the beginning of a dangerous blind spot that will doom 80% of these companies.
We've watched this pattern play out dozens of times. Let us show you how it happens—and more importantly, how to spot it before it's too late.
The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Trampoline: Why Upstate NY's Scattered Startup Support Keeps Entrepreneurs Grounded
The entrepreneurship support ecosystem in Upstate New York represents a significant public and private investment. But investment alone doesn't guarantee outcomes. Without coordination, standardization, and growth-stage support, even the most well-intentioned programs risk creating fragmentation rather than the cohesive infrastructure needed to compete with established innovation hubs.
Until these springs are properly anchored, Upstate NY's entrepreneurs will keep bouncing—sometimes finding support, sometimes falling through gaps, but rarely achieving the height needed to attract the serious capital that builds transformative companies.
The abundance of organizations isn't the problem. The lack of coordination and consistency is. It's time to anchor the trampoline properly, so Upstate's entrepreneurs can finally jump high enough to reach the moon.
Reflections post NY State Innovation Summit 2025 Rochester
We attended the New York State Innovation Summit in Rochester at the end of October, organized by FuzeHub and supported by the Empire State Development's Division of Science, Technology and Innovation. With over 500 participants, the energy was palpable—entrepreneurs, investors, university leaders, and government officials all partnering to build something meaningful in Upstate New York.
We've been to many startup events on both coasts, and what strikes us most about Upstate NY is the collaboration. Partnerships run seamlessly between state government, universities, investors, and entrepreneurship support organizations. There's a genuine sense of community here that feels different from the competitive intensity I've experienced elsewhere.
But we couldn't leave Rochester without confronting the elephant in the room: the striking disparities between the Upstate NY and Bay Area startup ecosystems.