UNIVERSITY INNOVATION FELLOWS

Apply by September 16, 2020 for Fall Training

The University Innovation Fellows are part of a national movement to ensure that students gain the necessary attitudes, skills and knowledge required for them to compete in the economy of the future. These student leaders from schools around the country work with their peers to catalyze even greater levels of innovation and venture activity on their campuses.

CURRENT FELLOWS. Our 37 students from 33 schools are mostly undergraduate engineering majors. As interdisciplinary collaboration is vital, we also have several graduate students as well as undergraduates majoring in biotechnology, biochemistry, business, entrepreneurship and child psychology.

BECOME A FELLOW. Apply online atdreamdesigndeliver.org/apply to become a University Innovation Fellow. Interested students should apply by September 16, 2013 to attend the Fall Training. Each student application must have a matching faculty sponsorship; online form also located at dreamdesigndeliver.org/apply.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION. The ideal candidate demonstrates a strong interest in innovation, creativity and the entrepreneurial mindset coupled with a genuine desire to inspire fellow students and make a positive impact on campus. We like to select students who are:

• Actively enrolled: ideally rising juniors, but underclassmen/women and graduate students will also be considered.
• Engineering, STEM majors AND any students who realize the importance of these technical majors paired with an entrepreneurial mindset, creativity, design thinking and innovation to excel personally and as a society. Students in no-STEM majors who value innovation should also apply!
• Action oriented: students who possess a great attitude, strong listening skills and exceptional execution abilities.
• Respected by friends and classmates: candidates who can inspire peers and recruit/manage/empower a team of volunteers.
• Insightful and mature: students who can develop a rapport with faculty and institutional leadership, build support and form coalitions.
• Strategic thinkers: students who understand that change in academia is not easy, but possesses the persistence, perseverance and willingness to set up systems that will continue even after they graduate.
• Cool all ’round individual: candidates who the other 33 University Innovation Fellows would want to have in their network as peers, friends and potential collaborators.

TRAINING AND SUPPORT. We train students to conduct in-depth analyses of their campus ecosystems; provide them with tools, resources and year-round mentorship; and connect them with one another digitally and at conferences and events. Having a national network of like-minded students helps our ambassadors learn from one another and create multi-institution collaborations.

PROGRAM SPONSORS. The program is run by the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter), funded by the National Science Foundation as a partnership between Stanford University and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). We call on students and their peers to dream, design and deliver innovations that solve real-world problems.

By Thomas Moffitt, President, and Ben Johnson, CFO, Commonwealth Dairy, Brattleboro

The typical narrative of a bootstrapping entrepreneur goes something like this: A couple of folks with a good idea for a new web-based application start creating prototypes in a spare bedroom, maxing out credit cards and friends and family support until their venture gets big enough to require the trappings of a real business, like an office, marketing materials and sales team.  Some initial success generates customers, that attracts VC funding or a partner company with cash, allowing for future growth.

That model has indisputably worked for some of the biggest business successes in recent history, particularly those in the social media, online commerce or creative economy spaces.  Unfortunately, if you are trying to be a business innovator in one of the oldest sectors — manufacturing — a lot more bricks and mortar are involved.  And that requires a heck of a lot more up front investment.

When we realized that the yogurt industry was ripe for some new thinking — a focus on private label products, Greek yogurt, environmental sustainability and industry leading standards for safety and product quality  — innovation needed to be paired with a whole lot of STUFF.  A factory.  Processing equipment.  Milk!  And that’s before we hired a single employee.

Both dads with families, going deep into personal debt wasn’t an option.  But we also didn’t want to give up our idea to a partner company who could provide us with financial resources without any skin in the game.  So we found a different way to do it.  A lot of the lessons we learned apply to other companies that require more than a computer and a good idea.

1.  Sell people on your vision

The number of experts one needs to start a business can be overwhelming:  lawyers, business advisors, accountants and (in our case) people who had actually made yogurt before.  One meeting with all of those experts in the downtown Boston law firm we were working with would have cost us thousands of dollars.  Except that we had sold them on our vision, our potential for success and THEIR potential for future business with our company.  At the outset, their counsel was free and we used it wisely.

2.  Locate in an area hungry for economic development 

Our original hope had been to do business in Massachusetts (hence the name “Commonwealth” Dairy) — it was close to our homes, had the right logistics and market access and the western part of the state wanted business and had a strong dairy history.  Surprisingly, the statewide economic development folks were less than enthusiastic in supporting our venture- the opportunity didn’t fit with what they were after at the time - BioTech.  The situation couldn’t have been more different in Vermont — they knew our proposed business meant another buyer for their milk, more jobs and an addition to their already strong reputation for great agricultural products.  Their support helped us identify a site (a brownfield, which was eligible for financial support when we developed it as a result), build relationships with farmers, and find the right employees.

3.  Take advantage of tax credit programs 

Most importantly, our relationship with the state assured that we maximized our ability to leverage tax credit programs.  The availability of New Market Tax Credits drove our decision to locate in Brattleboro.  We also got Community Development Block grants from both the federal and state government for investing in jobs.  Vermont specific programs that encourage capital investment and job creation along with Department of Labor grants were also part of the mix.

4.  Get creative 

We always knew we wanted to operate a green business.  We leveraged that for financial support too, getting incentives from Efficiency Vermont for equipment that would be more efficient — allowing us to lower our energy costs as well.

This “package” of investments and support allowed us to approach and convince our eventual partner Ehrmann AG, a large family-owned and operated German company with a long history in yogurt production, to put dollars on the table.  They just weren’t our dollars.  This initial experience also encouraged us to continue to look for ways to benefit from the credits and investment opportunities available for growing businesses — something that has helped us as we expanded in Vermont and to the West Coast.

News Release — Northern Reliability

July 17, 2020

Waitsfield — Northern Reliability, a burgeoning electric power solutions provider, announced today that Jim Iversen is assuming the role of President and CEO of the company. Iversen, formerly Chairman and CEO for M&I Strategic Partners and business consultant for Northern Reliability, brings experience and vision to his new role.

“This is an exciting moment for Northern Reliability as we chart our path for success with Jim Iversen at the helm. His proven leadership skills will be a huge asset to the company,” said former CEO and founder of Northern Reliability, Jeff Mack.

Iversen has been a business leader in the industrial controls field, focusing on supply chain solutions, for over 25 years. His hallmark style includes inspiring others to see what is possible while building roadmaps for success.

“I am very excited about joining the Northern Reliability team,” said Iversen. “I look forward to leading this company through its next phase of innovation and partnering with our clients to provide reliable back-up and remote power solutions.” Jim is joining the team at a time when the company is experiencing rapid growth as it enters new markets.

“Jim’s combined engineering and business background make him an ideal choice for the company and this next phase of growth that we are embarking on,” said co-owner and Vice President Greg Moffroid.

Northern Reliability’s core slate of products, Solar Power Systems (SPS Systems), Solar Obstruction Lighting (SOLS Series), Controllers and Remote Monitoring (SC Series), Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS Series) and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), create real energy solutions for utilities, telecommunication providers, government applications, remote and island communities and for disaster preparedness needs.

- See more at: http://vtdigger.org/2013/07/17/northern-reliability-appoints-new-ceo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=northern-reliability-appoints-new-ceo#sthash.k7gUlchC.dpuf

Lightspeed VC Caldbeck: Why Airbnb works, why Uber faces disruption

Lightspeed Venture Partner Justin Caldbeck is excited about the wave of startups that are finding ways to put people with assets - cars, homes or even spare time - together with people who need them.

That’s why he invests in companies like Sidecar, which helps people become cabbies using their own vehicles, or TaskRabbit, which helps people offer their services to do errands.

Caldbeck, who joined Lightspeed after launching Bain Capital Ventures’ West Coast office, spoke with me last week about trends in what has become known as the “sharing economy” or “collaborative consumption.”

He thinks it’s still early days in for startups in the space and even thinks a few of the pioneers, like the Uber black car limo service, could be disrupted themselves.

The following is an excerpted transcript of that conversation.

What is it about the “sharing economy” space that interests you?

The first thing that I look to is the success of the first generation of marketplaces: eBay, Craigslist and OpenTable, for example. They taught consumers how to engage in peer-to-peer commerce online. They and others taught taught us how technology can be leveraged to help small and medium businesses leverage overcapacity in a way that had not been previously done.

But a number of those websites is left a lot to be desired in terms of the experience. There have changes since the success of those first generation marketplaces which have enabled a lot collaborative consumption through the really big growth in social media. These companies have grown at rates that we have really never seen before, because of the virality that happens when things start to be shared through Twitter and Facebook. But the social graph I think also provides this sense of real identity and trust that was not available in a lot of cases in the first generation marketplaces.

Give me an example.

Take Task Rabbit, for example. Previously if I wanted someone to come over and clean my apartment or buy some furniture that I want to get rid off, I would have gone online with Craigslist. I would have gotten a response from someone with a screen name like “yellowcat15.” And I wouldn’t know anything about that person. I wouldn’t know if we are friends of friends. I wouldn’t have a real identity associated with that person and they may or may not show up.

I think now with the real name of that person known, along with ratings and reviews, there is really a higher sense of trust for these transactions, whether it’s in person or online. I think that is enabling a likelihood of fulfillment and a sense of trust that really never existed before. I also think these collaborative consumption businesses are driven by a really strong value proposition on both sides. That is when you start to see exciting businesses.

Describe how both the consumer and the supplier win.

For the owner of the asset, the value is around renting out that asset. In the case of something like Getaround, which is peer-to-peer car rentals, the owner is actually leveraging this fixed asset that they have and making money on it in the times that they are not using it.

One of our portfolio companies, Sidecar, helps car owners make use of extra time and their car to effectively be a driver for people and make quite a bit of money that way. They get on average $35 to $40 per hour. There are a bunch of examples, whether what’s leveraged is extra time people may have to drive people around or, in TaskRabbit’s case, get a job done.

Their are plenty of examples of these businesses that leverage a fixed asset. It could be a car, like Getaround or Sidecar. It could be a house, like in Airbnb’s case. Or it could be extra clothes that you no longer use that often. There are platforms created around reselling or swapping used clothing that have been quite successful, like Poshmark.

On the demand side, it has created an incredibly different experience that provides consumers with a more trustworthy experience. Often there is a better underlying product and usually it’s a significantly lower price. All those things get me really excited.

These businesses also typically have very, very high gross margins and strong stability relative to other consumer businesses, like e-commerce.

What’s the danger of copycats? It seems there are a lot of similar sounding startups in this space.

I think that’s right. You hear people pitch about starting the Airbnb for (fill in the blank) vertical or the other one I have heard a lot is the Uber for (fill in the blank) vertical. I look at these businesses all the time, but a lot of these verticals, these business sectors, just fundamentally aren’t as attractive. That could be because they are niche verticals or they could be in verticals where, the marketplace is already very efficient. They could be verticals where the ability to change the experience for a product or the demand side or for the supply side isn’t great.

As for copycats in the same vertical, one of the attractive elements of the sharing or collaborative model is that it lends itself to scale and defensibility. I think that once you get to scale, it’s very, very challenging for new entrants to be competitive.

Take Airbnb. If I am looking for a place to stay in Toledo, they are the ones with all the supply and that makes it more attractive to the customers. And if I have got all the customers, it’s more attractive for the homeowner to put their home on that website. If I am an individual who is willing to go through the sign up process and get involved on one of these websites to earn some extra money, I want to be where the traffic is.

I will say, however, I look at something like Uber and I think one of the reasons Uber is in the process of being disrupted by companies like Sidecar and Lyft is that they entered a market and built a fabulous product, but they priced it at a point that was not mainstream. They are also doing things like double pricing on Fridays and Saturdays and, seemingly, every holiday.

So that gave rise to an opportunity for people to build a similar product experience that was on par with Uber. But instead of just appealing to drivers with black cars, Sidecar went out and said let’s not just take people who are already driving for a living. Let’s find people who want to earn some more money. There are millions of unemployed and underemployed people that own vehicles. And if we can give them an opportunity to earn $35 to $40 and offer riders an experience that is 20 percent to 25 percent lower cost than Uber, there is an opportunity for another player.

How significant do you think the barriers to business are that have been mounted by local tax and regulatory authorities?

That is one that I am quite familiar with. First off all, you have got to work with the regulators. It has been a challenge for the sharing economy thus far. It’s getting a lot of pushback from regulators and unions. It is important to be cooperative with them and try to figure out the best way to work with them. We feel that this is fundamentally better for nearly everyone involved.

In the case of ride sharing, the reality is that today many cities have an artificially low number of taxi medallions. That has created a really poor experience for riders. And on the supply side, the are are plenty of people who are unemployed or underemployed who want to drive.

I think in parts of most cities, certainly in San Francisco, it is impossible to get a cab. You find yourself calling a cab company and waiting, not knowing if it’s going to show up on time or at all. Trying to hail a cab in many areas, the chance of finding a ride are very, very low. It’s absolutely a better experience to be able to — wherever I am — open up an app, hit a button, have a car come to me and pay less than I would for a taxi.

How about the safety issue?

It is actually safer for a passenger than hailing a cab, too. If I am a 35-year-old woman and I hail a cab on a Friday evening and a cab driver picks me up, there are two people in the world that know I am in that cab. Me and the cab driver.

With an app like Sidecar, there is a electronic record. I know exactly who that person is because they are screened. I have a picture of them in the car that I can match when they pull up. There is an electronic record of back and forth between me and that individual in terms of knowing that person is coming to pick me up and exactly where. There is a GPS tracker in each of our phones that monitors where we go in that ride and exactly when I got out.

So it’s a better experience for the driver, for the passenger, as well as better in terms of safety and price point. We think that all of those things together makes regulatory changes inevitable. But we have got to do it in a patient way and work with them closely to figure out how to regulate this new evolution in the economy.

Some people have kind of put a fork in their eye, trying to make the opposition look stupid and silly and slow. I just think that’s the wrong approach. The companies I am involved with are trying to work more closely with the regulators to figure out how we can work together to make sure these things are legal and supported, but regulated in the right way.

How much of a generation and class divide do you think there is as far as acceptance of this group of companies?

The data suggests that once people try it, they use it a lot. For example, getting in someone else’s car. I certainly have heard, candidly among women in particular, “Wow, would I really do that?” But the reality is, with Sidecar there is north of 60 percent female drivers or female passengers. And the repeat rates over the course of the first year is astronomical.

It is an incredibly sticky product. So I think it really is an education thing, helping people understand this is not like hitch hiking back in the day. You are not putting your thumb out and getting in a stranger’s car with no accountability. Whether it’s a home or a car, these are background screened people who have been interviewed, who have been processed, who have been on-boarded with real accountability from a technology perspective.

Will there be incidents? I think there almost certainly will be. But I think that the reality is this is safer than a lot of other channels today.

It terms of age, it’s not just only 20-something women participating. It is gets up into the 30s and 40s. It’s not yet as popular you know with people in their 50s, 60s or 70s. But I think that like most technology, it starts with the 20-somethings and 30-somethings and gradually works its way up.

What are the ideal characteristics of successful companies in the sharing economy that you look for when you decide whether to invest?

Well, first of all, in collaborative consumption, or any other investment, you want to look at the quality of the team and the background of the team. Then the size of the opportunity.

In the sharing economy and collaborative consumption space, you also want a natural pull on both the consumer side and supply side. I want to know that consumers are already doing this behavior but want it be a lot easier. And I want to understand the value proposition for the people actually performing the function or owning the asset.

I also look for things that make it attractive to repeat use of the platform, from both the supply and demand side.

Do you believe this is more than just a fad?

I think this is still early times in this market. It’s an a area that got a lot of hype for about a year and a half to two years now. Look at any of the historically successful companies that came before, like Yelp, OpenTable, Stubhub. They take a while to build.

Social media can help accelerate things in a way that wasn’t available in 2001. But these things take a while to grow. Even though there has been some hype for a while, there really haven’t been that many breakout companies, yet in collaborative consumption. I fully expect that to happen in the next four to five years, though. I think there are going to be a bunch.

This article was published in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, by Cromwell Schubarth, the Senior Technology Reporter at the Business Journal.

Full article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/07/08/lightspeed-vc-caldbeck-on-sharing.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 23, 2020

Media Contacts:

Andrew Stickney 802-522-0858
Andrew@vermonttechnologies.com
Patricia Sears 802-323-1056
patricia.sears@discovernewportvt.com

Tech @ Event Connects Newport’s Entrepreneurs

Investors, technology experts and economic development organizations continue Tech @ series

Newport, Vt. (July 23, 2020) – Investors, tech experts and entrepreneurs will return to Newport on July 23 for one of the state’s hottest entrepreneurial networking events.

Tech @ Newport is part of an event series intended to foster the entrepreneurial genius that defines the state. At the event, attendees can get information on how to start or grow their business, make connections with investors and even find summer interns.

At the event, several private and non-profit investment and economic development organizations from within Vermont will come to engage, share and learn from local entrepreneurs, business owners and investors.

“Startups and the people who work for them are the key to job creation. Events that connect those entrepreneurs with resources and mentors are important to the economic development of our region,” said Newport City Renaissance Corporation Executive Director Patricia Sears. “For many entrepreneurs, the value of being well connected in their communities cannot be overstated. All people who have started a business or who are contemplating starting one should join us!”

Organizers for this Tech @ series include the Newport City Renaissance Corporation, Fresh Tracks Capital, LP, the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), North Country Angels, and the Vermont Technology Council, among others. Following the event in Newport, the next Tech @ event is being planned for White River Junction in September.

The event continues the statewide networking series that started in Newport, Vt. in 2011.

“Two years ago our core partners started the Tech @ series to connect local entrepreneurs with investors, potential new team members, and local business leaders,” said VCET Vice President Andrew Stickney. “The response from Newport has been exceptional, and we are excited to meet even more people at this event!”

Tech @ Newport will go from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. July 23 at the East Side Restaurant in Newport, Vermont.

For more information, visit the event on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/Tech@Newport

Or contact Andrew Stickney at or Patricia Sears.

About the Event Organizers

The Newport City Renaissance Corporation (NCRC) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization serving as a catalyst for transforming Newport’s community and economic development: www.discovernewportvt.com

FreshTracks Capital, LP manages $25 million in venture capital that is invested with a core focus on Vermont. FreshTracks pursues investing opportunities in high-growth, private companies from Shelburne, VT: www.freshtrackscap.com

Since 1992, Vermont Technology Council acts as the principal catalyst for advancing science and technology based economic development among Vermont’s Universities and Colleges, business sectors, workforce and state government: www.vttechcouncil.org

North Country Angels brings together over 40 successful and experienced entrepreneurs who are active in making early-stage and seed investments in firms located in the northeastern United States: http://www.northcountryangels.com

The Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) is a non-profit technology firm incubation program and early stage venture capital provider serving all of Vermont. Visit: www.VermontTechnologies.com

Directions To Event:

The East Side Restaurant and Pub
47 Landing Street
Newport, VT 05855
(802) 334-2340
Google Map

A recent article in 7 Days highlights Local 64 and the growing coworking movement in Vermont. VCET’s recent whitepaper, authored by Lars Hasselblad Torres is also highlighted, along with quotes from local entrepreneurs and economic development administrators.

Check out the article here:
http://www.7dvt.com/2013coworking-spaces-give-creatives-room-their-own

VentureBeat’s summary of few key moments from Meeker’s presentation at D11:

On the rivalry between iOS and Android: “We had Lakers vs. the Celtics back in the day. Now we have Apple vs. Google.”

Fitness data: ”If you think there’s a big market that needs to be changed … behavior is the biggest driver of premature death. There’s a reason why people want to use this data to improve their health.”

On sharing: “Americans are huge underachievers.” While 24 percent of the world shares “most or everything” they do online, only 14 percent of Americans do.

On terrorism: “I’m on the cusp of believing the world will be safer than ever, but it will not be a straight path.”

Mobile web access: It is surpassing PC access around the world, including in China and South Korea.

On Facebook: Facebook revenue and mobile users continue to grow. The average revenue per user (ARPU) has been declining for desktop users on Facebook, but rising mobile ARPU has offset that decline.

Smartphone market penetration: It’s high. But: “Still a lot of upside for smartphone growth.”

On tablets: In less than three years, tablet shipments surpassed PCs and notebooks in the 4th quarter.

On wearable technology: “The average person reaches for his or her smartphone 150 times a day. What if you didn’t have to?”

New categories of gadgets: “Drivables” (cars and car tech), “Flyables” (drones), and “scannanbles” (QR codes). In China, you can follow the U.K. embassy by scanning a giant QR code on the security wall outside the building. QR code scanning has increased four times year-over-year in China.

On China: Lots of growth in China. For the first time, there are more iOS and Android users in China than in the U.S. (as of the 4th quarter). Many sites are benefiting from the growth.

On global GPD: There’s a really interesting slide showing various regions’ share of global GDP from 1820 to today. China is growing rapidly and currently is at 15 percent (almost matching Europe, which has 16 percent).

On young people: “We actually believe this generation is a little bit different. … We’ve never seen so many people turning their passions into businesses.” One example is Otis Chandler at Goodreads.

On immigration: America has a shortage of high-skilled STEM workers, and we need more to remain competitive. “The global environment for recruiting high-skilled STEM workers is likely to get a lot more competitive.” Sixty percent of top 25 tech companies were founded by immigrants. We’re educating more people (with more student visas) but sending more of them home after they graduate.

Computer “hackers” are often viewed in popular culture as people intent on modern mischief. But that’s not always the case. Some are motivated by a desire to better understand computer technology.

This weekend, a National Day of Civic Hacking is behind held across the country, with events in Vermont too. The idea is to bring programmers together to solve problems, rather than create them.

Meanwhile, a cyber security start-up in Berlin, Vt., called “Pwnie Express” embraces hackers.

Dave Porcello is a 33 year-old self-described geek who moved to Vermont from Boston about six years ago.

“I do consider myself a hacker,” Porcello says. “Hacking to me is all about a passion for technology and learning about how things work at a very deep level.”

When he first came to Vermont, Porcello worked for an insurance company in Montpelier but he gave up his day job and started Pwnie Express, a company that makes hardware used to test the vulnerability of computer networks.

The name has its background in hacker culture. Because as any hacker worth his salt knows, to pwn a computer network means to own it or control it.

Pwnie Express has a dozen employees and many of them are hackers who’ve been active at Laboratory B in Burlington, which, like other hackerspaces, is a shared worskpace where tech enthusiasts share tools and expertise. Pwnie Express sales director Mark Hughes says the young company wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for hackers.

“Just about every feature of the products that we currently have, a lot of the really cool whiz-bang stuff has been as a result of direct input from our friends in the hacker community, the security community,” Hughes says.

Those products range from a $900 tablet called the Pwn Pad to a desktop device that sells for nearly $4,000. All of this hardware does basically the same thing, something called penetration testing, which tries to determine how secure a network is.

“Why not test your network in the same way it would be attacked?”, Hughes asks. “And why not have the same technology that would be used to attack you to assess your own network?”

The first Pwnie Express product was called the Pwn Plug. In early 2011 Dave Porcello took a backpack full of them to an east coast hacker convention known as Shmoo Con and sold them all. After Shmoo Con sales of the Pwn Plug took off, in part because a lot of the hackers at the convention have day jobs in the cyber security field and started talking it up at work. In July 2011 Pwnie Express went to Def Con in Las Vegas, one of the oldest and largest hacker conventions. The company sold more than $75,000 worth of gear there.

At this point the devices have now been sold in 15 countries. Most of its customers are computer security professionals but Pwnie Express does a significant business with the federal government, including a lot of what it refers to as “three-letter agencies.”

Pwnie Express has become a business success for its founders. But the very products it makes are also a cause for concern among security professionals. Professor Peter Stephenson runs Norwich University’s Center for Advanced Computing and Digital Forensics.

“The thing that makes Pwnie Express different is that it can be brought in clandestinely, added to the network and then accessed externally,” Stephenson says. “So, if I sneak a Pwnie Express into the system and I have a way to connect to that Pwnie Express from the outside, then I’m inside.  I have mixed emotions about it. From the standpoint of a penetration tester, I think it’s great. From the standpoint of the security guy who’s got to protect the network – that would make me a little nervous.”

Pwnie Express says it tries not to sell to people with criminal intent but there’s only so much it can do to vet its customers. Despite the potential for these products to end up in the wrong hands, Peter Stephenson is very keen on Pwnie Express.

“I wish there were a hundred Pwnie Expresses here in Vermont. I really do,” Stephenson says. “I hope there are other high tech industries, businesses, people who look at successes of companies like Pwnie Express and say, ‘Gosh, I could go do that in Vermont.’ Vermont is a place that very well could have a high-tech future. If we just look at companies like Pwnie Express, I’m hoping there will be other entrepreneurs who get good ideas and go out and try and do them.”

Pwnie Express is poised for expansion. The company is working to attract venture capitalist funding and expects to more than double its staff by the end of the year. The expansion could mean relocating its headquarters to Burlington and using the Berlin location for assembly and order fulfillment.

As CEO Dave Porcello says, “I moved up here for a reason. I love it up here. Being in the high tech career world, you know, there aren’t a lot of information security positions in central Vermont or Vermont as a whole. So it’s really a big win for all of us. You know, we get to do what we’re passionate about and still stay in the place that we love.”

Article originally feature on VPR : link

Cords, wires and plugs — things we often don’t look twice at. And that’s what Berlin company Pwnie Express counts on — they want their products to blend in.

“It’s a play on words to ‘pwn’ means to take control — it’s a gamer or hacker term,” said Jonathan Cran with Pwnie Express.

This plug may look like an air freshener, but it’s actually a device used to find security breaches for businesses. “It’s meant to be sneaky, so you can plug it in and no one will notice. But they should notice it’s on the network and doing malicious things, so it’s kind of a training exercise to find that micro computer,” Cran said.

Securing data is vital in an age when technology advances daily. Protecting things like credit card numbers, bank accounts or privileged information is paramount. Businesses pay big bucks for data security from companies like McAfee. That’s where Pwnie Express comes in — testing those security systems to make sure they’re doing what they say — not fixing problems, but finding them.  “The U.S. Government wanted us to make these to promote awareness that this could be done — hackers have been doing this for years,” Cran said.

The products allow companies to see how far a hacker could get in and what data they could steal.  Its newest product is an off the shelf tablet that Pwnie Express installs its own tools on.  It’s different than its other products because it’s meant to stand out and be portable. “What it allows you to do is take it with you and test wireless security and show enterprises that their wireless security isn’t as strong as they might think it is,” Cran said.

So to test the new product, this reporter logged onto an open wireless network. The Pwnie Tablet was able to see everything.

Reporter Gina Bullard: So this can tell exactly where I’m going and what I’m doing — every move I make.

Passwords, Facebook data — every move on the Internet up on the tablet.

Pwnie Express says on average, a company loses $5.5 million every time there is a data security breach.

The company started three 3 years ago. It employs nine people and has 1,500 customers that range from small businesses with two employees, to Fortune 500 companies, to what Pwnie would only define as ‘high levels of government.’  This techie start-up company has found a hot spot.

“last year we did $700,000 and this year we’re projected to do $2 Million,” Cran said. “That’s great for us.”

Most of its devices cost around $1,000, but these self proclaimed geeks say securing data with products Made in Vermont is priceless.

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