Two More Presenters to Go!!!!

You’ve heard from four of our entrepreneur contestants.  This week, it’s time to hear from the last two!

Last week, as part of our groundbreaking “Running With the Bulls” feature on Your American Story Radio, listeners heard the pitches from two local entrepreneurs who are making a serious impact in the life sciences space, Urmi Ashar of ATHS, and Rick Cancelliere of Treatspace.  These two companies, proud members of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse portfolio, are doing some remarkable things in the region, and were on hand to give us the lowdown on their companies.

In addition to pitching their companies, they withstood the direct lines of questioning from our judges, James Jordan from the PLSG Accelerator Fund, Ned Renzi of Birchmere Ventures, and Mike Stubler of Draper Triangle Ventures.

Now it’s YOUR turn!  If you missed any of the great discussion, you can hear it on our Your American Story show archive page right HERE.  Then, visit our website,YourAmericanStory.com, click on the “Running With the Bulls” tab, and find out more information about both Urmi and Rick’s companies.  Then, cast your vote for which one you think has what it takes to be Western Pennsylvania’s next great success story.  But be sure to do it NOW, as voting for this week ends at Noon EST on Sunday, June 29.

-This week, we wrap up our presentations with our final two entrepreneurs, who are primed and ready to pitch their companies. This week, we feature the following entrepreneurs:

Mike Cham (BlenderHouse)

BlenderHouse is a data analytics and decision support company that aims at realizing the potential of data to improve healthcare, from basic research to routine patient care.  BlenderHouse provides data driven solutions for research, decision making and process improvement.  BlenderHouse was founded in early 2008 with the goal of empowering enterprises to take advantages of all the newly available data to improve decision making through data management and machine learning.  Recent advances in computational and academic breakthroughs related to Machine Learning have made it a viable and valuable tool.

Our newest clinical decision support tool, CHRiSS: Cardiac Health Risk Stratification System, assists both physicians and their patients in navigating the complicated, multifaceted treatment trajectory surrounding patients who are too ill to wait for a heart donor, or who are not eligible for a heart transplant because of age or other medical problems and are considering a ventricular assist device (VAD) implant.

Ginny Pribanic (MedRespond)

MedRespond is an online healthcare communications company that combines artificial intelligence, search and streaming media so that health care enterprises can provide interactive, personalized, relevant and inexpensive communication solutions for their customers, patients, and clients, and health care training solutions for their personnel.

-Both Ginny and Mike will be on point, as they present the perfect pitches to the judges, and the judges fire back with some penetrating questions about the companies that will keep the entrepreneurs on their toes.  Hear the action for yourself this Sunday on Your American Story Radio.

And after hearing the entrepreneurs pitch, it’s YOUR turn!  Go to the Running With the Bulls section on our homepage to find out more about the entrepreneurs, listen to the pitches, and determine for yourself who had the better pitch.  Cast your vote, and it will be tabulated in order to determine who had the most popular pitch, and who will receive the $2,500 cash prize.   Voting for this week’s contestants will begin at 4 PM today.

Things are heating up now!

Last week, as part of our groundbreaking “Running With the Bulls” feature on Your American Story Radio, listeners heard the pitches from two remarkable local entrepreneurs, Bill Kaigler of New Care Solutions, and Mike Lang of NanoVision Diagnostics.    Culled from the portfolio of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, these two entrepreneurs demonstrated why their companies are two leading-edge businesses that have bright futures as part of the Western Pennsylvania life sciences sector.

In addition to pitching their companies, they withstood the direct lines of questioning from our judges, James Jordan from the PLSG Accelerator Fund, Ned Renzi of Birchmere Ventures, and Mike Stubler of Draper Triangle Ventures.

-Now, it’s on to Week Two, where we feature two NEW entrepreneurs pitching their companies. This week, we feature the following entrepreneurs:

Urmi Ashar (Advanced Technology Healthcare Solutions)

Advanced Technology Healthcare Solutions (ATHS) is a bioinformatics company that focuses on reducing adverse drug reactions and improving prescription drug effectiveness for patients aged 50 and older, and children aged 18 and under.  Results from ATHS’s individual genetic test are combined with the most current biomedical information to produce an actionable personalized report called MySafeMeds.  Physicians and consumers use the insights from this report to personalize their prescriptions to help improve outcomes from treatment.

Rick Cancelliere (Treatspace)

Treatspace specializes in leading edge clinical social software that connects patients, providers, and practices to optimize patient engagement, clinical collaboration, and referral management.

-Both Urmi and Rick serve up the perfect pitches to the judges, and the judges fire back with some penetrating questions about the companies that just might put the entrepreneurs on their toes.  Hear the action for yourself this Sunday on Your American Story Radio.

And after hearing the entrepreneurs pitch, it’s YOUR turn!  Go to YourAmericanStory.com to the Running With the Bulls section to find out more about the entrepreneurs, listen to the pitches, and determine for yourself who had the better pitch.  Cast your vote, and it will be tabulated in order to determine who had the most popular pitch, and who will receive the $2,500 cash prize.   Voting for this week’s contestants will begin at 4 PM on Sunday.

On Thursday, June 19, Raja was a featured guest on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA’s Morning News Program, as he talked with host Larry Richert about the “Running With the Bulls” feature, and the mission of Your American Story Radio.

It’s back…..

After hearing from our three judges, James Jordan of the PLSG Accelerator Fund, Ned Renzi of Birchmere Ventures, and Mike Stubler of Draper Triangle Ventures, as well as John Manzetti of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, last week to kick off the second iteration of our “Running With the Bulls ” radio feature, this week, it’s time to hear from the first pair of entrepreneurs, who will pitch their respective companies to Raja and the judges.  They’re looking to receive investment capital into their business, (not to mention win the popular vote portion of the competition, and the $2,500 cash prize that goes with it…..that’s where YOU come in).

This week, we feature the following entrepreneurs:

Bill Kaigler (New Care Solutions)

NewCare Solutions is the parent company behind the groundbreaking technology of the SilentAlert Monitor.  The SilentAlert Monitor is the only system designed specifically for the Assisted Living and Memory Care Unit environments to help caregivers better manager their residents and maintain their comfort, safety, and high quality of life.

Mike Lang (NanoVision Diagnostics)

NanoVision Diagnostics (NVD) is commercializing a breakthrough cancer detection technology.  The system detects cancer earlier and more accurately than current techniques.  Additionally, it can identify which pre-cancerous lesions are likely to progress to cancer.   Predicting rich progression guides the use of cancer prevention therapies, which are demonstrated to prevent cancers.

NVD is a breakthrough cancer detection technology.  It has 1000 times the sensitivity of an optical microscope, allowing it to detect molecular changes in nuclear structure, which are not detectable by conventional pathology.  These molecular changes manifest prior to changes in cells, allowing earlier and more accurate cancer detection.

NVD technology is developed and has been extensively tested in 11 clinical studies on 1,000 patients.   These studies demonstrate its ability to detect cancer in multiple tissue types and to predict which pre-cancerous lesions will progress to cancer.  In all studies, NVD technology has been able to show early, more accurate cancer detection.

-Both Bill and Mike serve up the perfect pitches to the judges, and the judges fire back with some penetrating questions about the companies that just might put the entrepreneurs on their toes.  Hear the action for yourself this Sunday on Your American Story Radio.

And after hearing the entrepreneurs pitch, it’s YOUR turn!  Go to YourAmericanStory.com to the Running With the Bulls section to find out more about the entrepreneurs, listen to the pitches, and determine for yourself who had the better pitch.  Cast your vote, and it will be tabulated in order to determine who had the most popular pitch, and who will receive the $2,500 cash prize.

-A New Run of Running With the Bulls

This Sunday, we begin our second iteration of our groundbreaking radio feature, “Running With the Bulls”,  as we welcome six NEW entrepreneurs, who will be pitching their companies to three NEW investors, in hopes of raising the investment capital necessary to take their companies to the next level.

As a reminder, last fall’s inaugural “Running With the Bulls” series resulted in a $50,000 investment in a local startup, Optimus Technologies, headed by Colin Huwyler, one of the six entrepreneurs who pitched on our show.  In addition, Albert Ciuksza’s company,Portabeer, won the popular audience vote for last fall’s series, and took home a cash prize of $2,500 as a result.

What will happen this time around?  Tune in over the course of the next six weeks to find out, starting this Sunday, as Raja talks with the man whose help in putting this season’s run together was invaluable, John Manzetti, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG).  The six companies featured this season all come from the PLSG portfolio, and each one is reflective of the PLSG’s comprehensive mission to raise the region’s business profile by providing a platform for emerging businesses to turn their conceptual ideas in a marketable product or service, providing the necessary support and guidance each step of the way.

In addition to talking with John Manzetti about the mission of the PLSG, Raja also spends some time talking with the three local venture capital professionals who will serve as judges for this iteration of Running With the Bulls: James Jordan (Managing Director -PLSG Accelerator Fund), Ned Renzi (Founding Partner - Birchmere Ventures), and Mike Stubler (co-founder and Managing Director - Draper Triangle Ventures).  They discuss their criteria for investment, their philosophy of WHY they invest, and why an effective investment process is more than just simply writing a check.

And if you want to take a sneak peak at the entrepreneurs who will be involved in this iteration of Running With the Bulls, they are, in alphabetical order:

Urmi Ashar (ATHS)

Rick Cancelliere (Treatspace)

Michael Cham (Blenderhouse)

Will Kaigler (New Care Solutions)

Mike Lang (NanoVision Diagnostics)

Ginny Pribanic (MedRespond)

Stay tuned for big news this week regarding the new website for the second iteration of Running With the Bulls, where you can learn more about these great companies, as well as the entrepreneurs and judges.

Plus, as a bonus for our listeners on the FM News Talk 104.7 side, we talk with two close friends of the show, Jerry Cozewith, President of Entrepreneuring Youth, and Karen Morris, wife of the late “American Entrepreneur” Ron Morris.  Ron Morris, who passed away years ago today, had a significant impact on the region’s business climate, not only through his successful career as an entrepreneur and, later, a radio host, but through his role as an educator, at the collegiate level as founding director of Duquesne University’s Entrepreneurial Studies Program and at the scholastic level through his support and mentorship with Entrepreneuring Youth and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

This week, Jerry and Karen, as well as Ron’s children, Jaxon and Lexi Morris, helped honor Ron by presenting the second annual E-Morris award at Entrepreneuring Youth’s annual Ignite Possibilities event at Pittsburgh’s Rivers Club.  The award represents the legacy of Exemplary Entrepreneurship (the “E” in “E-Morris”) that Ron stood for during his career, and that organizations such as Entrepreneuring Youth work tirelessly to preserve throughout the schools of Western Pennsyvlania.  This Sunday, Jerry and Karen join Raja to discuss the award, and to discuss the winner of this year’s prestigious honor (and the financial gift that goes along with it, in order to help the recipient take the next step toward becoming the next great American Entrepreneur).

Two big pieces of news from Raja and Your American Story Radio

-A New Station:  

Starting with this Sunday’s episode, Your American Story can now be heard Sundays from Noon to 1 PM on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA AM in Pittsburgh.  Raja and the staff of Your American Story are very excited to be a part of a station that boasts a monumental broadcast legacy, not just in Pittsburgh, but across the country.

-A New Time:

In addition to debuting on KDKA this Sunday, we will also remain on FM News Talk 104.7in Pittsburgh, but moving to a new time, as Your American Story will now air from 3 – 4 PM on Sunday afternoons.  Don’t miss out this Sunday, as we’ll have some exclusive content for the listeners on the FM side of the dial.

All in the Family:  How Stan Sheetz Revolutionized the Business That Bears His Name

For over 40 years, Altoona, PA-based Sheetz had established itself as one of the most successful convenience store chains throughout the State of Pennsylvania, growing from one store, opened in 1952 by Bob Sheetz, to over 100 stores, under the leadership of Bob and his brother, Steve Sheetz.
Along the way, Sheetz proved itself to be ahead of the curve when it came to keeping up with the fast-paced changes, and the economic ups and downs, that faced the fuel industry throughout the decades, not to mention the advancements made within the convenience store itself.

Within the Sheetz family, Bob was grooming his son, Stan, to take over the business, but not without paying his dues first, as he had to prove his worth, initially at such levels as salesperson, store manager, truck driver, and maintenance technician.  After honing his business skills in New York City for a few years, Stan returned to the company in the corporate office, serving as Executive Vice President of Finance and Executive Vice President of Operations.

When it became time for the transition, in 1995, NOBODY could have expected what came next.

Under Stan’s leadership as President and CEO, Sheetz has experienced remarkable growth, growing to over 430 stores in six states.  The Pennsylvania-based chain has gained national acclaim, via a recent article in Forbes Magazine, and inclusion on Fortune Magazine’s 2014 “Best Companies To Work For” list, checking in at #87, the only Pennsylvania-based company to make the list. Through it all, Stan Sheetz knows such success isn’t possible without good people, and family (literally, in the case of Sheetz, as five Sheetz family members serve on the Executive Committee).

Stan Sheetz discusses the story of Sheetz, and what has made it so successful, as the Keynote Speaker at the 16th Annual Entrepreneurs Growth Conference at Duquesne University on Thursday, June 5, 2014.  But first, he checks in live with Raja on this  edition of “Your American Story” Radio.