Recently, Raja spoke with Ilana Diamond, the Director of AlphaLab Gear, the robotic-intensive spinoff of AlphaLab, one of the premier tech incubators in the United States. During the conversation, Ilana praised the organization’s managing director, Josh McElhattan, the founder of Startbot, a firm dedicated to investment and growth for robotic startups in Western Pennsylvania. This Sunday, Raja talks with Josh about how Startbot came to be, what Western Pennsylvania firms Josh sees as being the leader of the new age of robotic business, and what makes Western Pennsylvania such a hotbed for robotic-based startup innovation. Plus, if you’re a small-to-mid-sized business in need of funds, where would you turn to receive those funds? As odd as it may sound, how about turning to the U.S. government? There’s many millions to be had out there, and procuring these funds can be quite the cumbersome process. Joe Kuklis of Duane Morris has dedicated much of his professional career toward making this process as easy to navigate as possible for the average business owner, and he talks with Raja about what the typical business owner in need of government funding needs to know in order to receive these funds. Plus, Joe discusses the trends he is seeing when it comes to how business-friendly our government REALLY is.

Raja discusses his recent experience running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain on today’s edition of “The Raja Show”, and relates the lessons he learned about competition and adaptation to change during his run to the world of business. Plus, he talks with Mike Kauffelt of Bill Few Associates about planning for change in your own life, and whether or not the recent bankruptcy filing in Detroit is a harbinger for similar cases in other cities in the U.S. Plus, former Tollgrade CEO Chris Allison joins Raja to discuss his story, and how he has been able to parlay his business success into knowledge philanthropy, both through his teachings and his writings, including his upcoming book, “You’ll Manage”, due on Amazon.com in the fall.

This Sunday, we will focus on one of the rising stars in the Western Pennsylvania sports management scene, as Raja talks with Pittsburgh Power CEO Matt Shaner. Matt discusses the challenges and opportunities he experiences as the head of Pittsburgh’s arena football team, and what his management team, a squad which includes Pittsburgh Steelers legend Lynn Swann, is doing to carve out its own niche in a market that is saturated with football. Plus, what do you get when you take a one of the most influential business support organizations in the country and combine it with one of the most progressive markets when it comes to robotic technology? You get AlphaLab Gear, the newest spinoff business support organization from the folks at InnovationWorks, an incubator that specializes in hardware and product developmental support for early stage tech companies in need of robotic technologies. On Sunday, Raja talks with Ilana Diamond, the Director of AlphaLab Gear, who discusses how this organization came to be and how it hopes to benefit from the previous successes of AlphaLab, the initial tech incubator developed by InnovationWorks.

We continue our discussions with award-winning entrepreneurs, as we talk with John Lacarte, the President of Model Cleaners and recent winner of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Western Pennsylvania region (in the “business services” category). John discusses the history of the business, and how a business as simple as dry cleaning has adapted to meet the changing needs of the marketplace in a manner that has driven the company to the top of the industry. Plus, we talk with Lauren Trocano, the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for the Bayer Corporation, about Bayer’s year-long “Bayer 150″ birthday celebration, their commitment to STEM education, and how the company has been able to sustain itself as an industry leader for a century and a half.