Trade technology: Organic Climbing is reviving a small town’s sewing trade to serve a global market
Organic Climbing, a small business producing high-quality climbing gear founded by Josh Helke, helped to keep Philipsburg, Pa.’s sewing industry from fading to a memory. The small town once produced high-end products, including Starter jackets, a favorite of 90s kids, before many of the manufacturing facilities were moved overseas. Organic Climbling was dreamed up near […]
Dial in to Penn State Startup Week
This week, Penn State Startup Week will be inviting students to explore innovation and entrepreneurship and connect with industry leaders. It’s also an opportunity for businesses to connect with talent, discover emerging innovation and network with other changemakers. Here’s how you can tap into the events going on from April 4-8. Yes, Startup Week is […]
Unique career fair matches talent with Happy Valley’s thriving startups
Do you want to find qualified candidates, connect with Happy Valley’s strong entrepreneurial network or build your brand with talent-seeking, like-minded companies? Then you don’t want to miss the Small Business and Startup Career Fair happening during Penn State’s Startup Week. You can register your company to find talent. The cost is only $50 per booth. The event […]
$50,000 prize could turn the next Big Idea into reality
This spring, Ben Franklin Technology Partners is looking for innovators with big ideas in Happy Valley, Clarion, Clearfield, and Jefferson Counties — and the winner takes home $50,000. “The Big Idea contest is a great way for entrepreneurs to get involved with Happy Valley’s entrepreneur ecosystem,” says Annie Hughes, who is the project’s organizer as […]
Tolstoy, tech and why Happy Valley is the #1 place for startups today
Five questions with Ben Franklin’s John Sider For the last 8 years, John Sider has been an innovation matchmaker, pairing growing companies with capital to get them to the next level (he also led Ben Franklin’s effort in creating the $11 million venture capital fund 1855 Capital based in State College). This spring, he’s […]
See a need, fill a need: BAI Group’s journey from waste management consulting to leading solar energy advancement
Between 2020 and 2021, State College-based BAI Group’s revenue from its solar energy segment grew by ten times, and President Jim Echard projects this same rapid and significant growth over the next five years. The local company, which got its start in waste management, is a major player in the greening of the Mid-Atlantic energy […]
5 questions with a Happy Valley CEO: Juan Mario Gomez with Xact Metal
Sometimes in business, it’s all about how the stars align. Xact Metal’s CEO Juan Mario Gomez spent decades working as an executive with GE before leaving to pursue a more entrepreneurial environment. A seemingly kismet meeting started what’s now a fast-growing company. After leaving GE, Gomez connected with Invent Penn State and the Happy Valley […]
The road to redemption runs through Tyrone
How failure, gumption and the power of friendship created one of the biggest European motorsport franchises on the East Coast When Josh Nolten and Dave Myers became friends at Park Forest Junior High, mainly because their last names and thus their lockers were so dang close together, they never imagined that one day they’d be […]
Online Shopping Attracts New Customers to Local Farm Markets
A visit to any farmers market is, by its very nature, social. The mingling with other shoppers. The chit-chatting with the vendors. You get to know your neighbors and the folks who grow your food on a deeper level. So what happens when the “social” part of just about everything is stripped away and the […]
