This week, Mike talks to Pete Blackshaw, the CEO of Cintrifuse, a startup incubator created by P&G, Kroger, Western & Southern and other major entities in the Greater Cincinnati region. It is obvious that one thing they share is their enthusiasm for opportunities in the Cincinnati region for business.
Listen to the episode now:
Mike and Pete discuss:
- Pete’s quotable, “look back to look ahead” and what that means for big businesses who are trying to keep up with digital innovation (4:44)
- Inc. Magazine’s profile on Cincinnati (5:46) read here
- Why Cincinnati is actually a better place for start-ups than cities on the east or west coasts (8:19)
Inevitably, when people think of start-ups they think about talent availability. Pete points out that Cincinnati is bounding with amazing talent in every area of business.
- Why talent an non-issue in Cincinnati (10:28)
- The impact of what he calls the “Amazon Effect” is on a city (11:50)
Mike and Pete also discuss how mid to large sized businesses benefit from a robust start-up culture in the areas of:
- Agility to innovate (18:04)
- Diversity (“Diversity and innovation share a symbiotic relationship.”) (20:25)
- How technology works differently in different global markets (21:00)
- And the impact he has seen in developing countries as they adopt technology (21:42)
Mike and Pete agree that “if you’re NOT aware (of the opportunities), you can get passed up quickly by the world around us.” (24:25)
#StartUpCincy