Category: Insights

What We’re Learning and Building for Small Businesses, Starting in Upstate NY

I’m writing this from the road (literally—somewhere between Saratoga and Skaneateles), and I can’t shake the feeling that we’re at one of those pivot moments

How A Granola Recipe Became a Business Worth Funding

When Kelly Geary started mixing up savory granola in her Hudson Valley kitchen, she had no idea she was creating the foundation for a business that would capture hearts, fill pantries, and prove that sometimes the most unexpected recipes can rise to become something extraordinary.

Baking Bread to Building Trust: Rethinking Capital for Small Business

I grew up baking bread with my dad at the Firehouse Café in Hudson, NY. It was the kind of place you could smell before you stepped inside: warm, familiar, and real. My dad opened it in the early 1990s, and I spent my teenage years learning how to show up, keep my word, and treat people with respect. The café didn’t make a ton of money, but it taught me more about entrepreneurship than any textbook ever could.