Accelerate at SCALE

Steve Melito: Hey everybody, welcome to New York State Manufacturing Now, the podcast that’s powered by FuzeHub. I’m your host, Steve Melito. Today we’re talking to Josh Espinosa and Eric Ledet of the Scale Rensselaer Accelerator in Troy, new York. Josh is the Assistant VP for RPI Ventures and Eric is the Director of RPI’s Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship. Gentlemen, welcome to New York State Manufacturing Now.

Eric Ledet: Thanks for having us.

Steve Melito: Thank you Fantastic. So, Eric, I’d like to ask you the first question, if I may, and it’s really a matter of a definition what is an accelerator and how does it differ from an incubator, a term a lot of us have heard before?

Eric Ledet: Right, excellent question, and I think these terms are used frequently and I think that sometimes the definition is ambiguous when we think of sort of the life cycle of a startup company, right, a startup, a new venture, starting from idea or inception and then going all the way through to developing the technology, the product, the business, ultimately scaling it up for commercialization, whatever that is. So there’s a continuum of that entire process and typically an incubator is focused on the earlier stages of that process of evaluating the business hypothesis, figuring out whether it is truly worth it, whether there’s really an opportunity, a need in the market to create a business so that that need can be met, ultimately making the decision do we create a venture? Do we actually start a business? Do we start a company or not? Do we go in a different direction? That’s typically what an incubator does is those early stage. It’s typically a program, sometimes a facility, sometimes funding, to help enable that most early stage steps in the process. Once a company is formed and they are then working towards commercialization, then an accelerator typically takes over and so that would be for already formed ventures to come in Again, oftentimes there’s a program, oftentimes there is space for the companies to come in and ultimately work towards scaling up, getting ready for commercialization. Sometimes that’s manufacturing. Getting ready for commercialization, sometimes that’s manufacturing, sometimes it’s developing intellectual property, building out a team, all kinds of different things to get ready to actually go to market or, if they’re already on the market, to scale up and grow their business to ultimately meet the needs. So again, it’s a continuum incubator, typically the first part, accelerator, typically the second part. That is great.

Steve Melito: Thank you for answering that. Those two terms are often used interchangeably and they should not be so. Josh and Eric, let’s talk about your respective roles in the scale run-seller accelerator. Josh, we’ll start with you. What do you do to sort of drive the ball down the field here?

Josh Espinosa: So maybe just to take a step back first, I just want to maybe explain sort of the genesis of what we call OSET, which is a major new portfolio at RPI that is sort of the driving force behind this. So we actually have a new president at RPI as of a couple of years ago. His name is Marty Schmidt. He was a provost at MIT for a long time and one of the things that sort of he was instrumental in was the creation of something called the engine in Cambridge, which is a world class tough tech accelerator, essentially assisting sort of world class cutting edge technologies and ventures and basically pushing them forward, getting them to commercialization but, more importantly, linking them up with world class experts, world class facilities at MIT and partner institutes.

So when he came to RPI he realized that if we can do all that we can to raise the region, we’re going to need to really sort of embed or link RPI with sort of the broader area. And so one of the ways that we can do that and sort of help get technologies out of the laboratory and into the marketplace is to sort of give a nurturing environment for those early stage startups, give them access to high tech facilities, high tech tools, a cohort of like minded people at a similar stage in development, and so my division, RPI Ventures, which is one half of what we call OSAT. My focus primarily is making sure that we’re getting these technologies out into the world and doing everything that we can to sort of help them along, and so there’s a nice little handoff to Eric, okay.

Steve Melito: Eric, what is your role in the scale run accelerator?

Eric Ledet: Yeah, so, as Josh indicated, the accelerators intended to be part of the larger startup ecosystem here in the Capital Region and the accelerator is one piece of a much bigger puzzle and RPI is trying, as Josh indicated, is trying to fill in and provide more pieces of that puzzle and so what I do at RPI as director of the Severino Center is focusing primarily on those earlier stage ventures. Severino Center is focusing primarily on those earlier stage ventures and really working closely with the campus community and with the alumni and, as Josh indicated, with our new president there’s also a mandate for supporting the region as well, even if there’s no direct RPI affiliation, and so, within the larger ecosystem, the accelerator will be a piece of that. When the accelerator is set up, we will be working very closely. So the Severino Center and the other resources at RPI will be working very closely with the leadership of the accelerator so that we have coordinated programs, coordinated efforts to support companies of all stages and, ultimately, if we have campus-based startups that sort of graduate, if you will if they mature enough, we will send them to the accelerator. And if there are companies that show up at the accelerator, maybe they’re not ready for that program yet in their earlier stage, they can come and utilize some of the other resources that RPI provides. So in my role, I’ll be working closely with the accelerator leadership, helping with setting up coordinating programs. And then, ultimately, two pieces of the puzzle some of the programs that RPI already runs, along with the new accelerator programs to try to coordinate, provide wraparound services for startups in the whole region.

Josh Espinosa: And just two quick supplementary points just that we should probably address early. One thing that we should make clear is this accelerator will be open to the community. This is not purely a landing spot for RPI companies. We expect that a large number of the companies resident in this incubator will not be RPI grads. There’ll be, you know, people working on world-class sort of cutting-edge problems that find value in the resources that we’re going to provide. And then the other thing is that this isn’t run sort of purely out of RPI. We actually formed a separate nonprofit to run the accelerator, and so you know, just to sort of wrap up the question, so I’m a director sort of on that nonprofit and we’ll actually begin searching for the sort of proper day-to-day director very shortly.

Steve Melito: Good, Josh, I’m glad you made that point, because I wanted to ask why did RPI start an accelerator when there are so many technology accelerators in New York State already? Especially if it’s not just for RPI graduates?

Josh Espinosa: Yeah, it’s a great question. There should be a lot of different accelerators across New York State. You know it’s a large state but, more importantly, we have lots of different technologies across the state. We have lots of different types of accelerators that serve different purposes. In terms of why we decided to start one and why we’re choosing to start this type of accelerator, the answer is because we are uniquely positioned geographically and technologically to push forward companies that are working on cutting edge technologies that require access to a network of facilities and tools that they actually really need to push those technologies forward. And we’re able to do that at a place that, compared to, say, boston or New York City, is much more affordable to sort of incubate and accelerate a company here, especially given some of the sort of high capital requirements of some of these tougher tech ventures. So for us to not only be able to give an exciting, powerful landing spot for our own ventures that spin out into this accelerator, but also to really sort of nurture the ecosystem beyond RPI to give a platform to exciting, high potential startups in the region that just need access to those tools and sort of in that expertise, the more people that we can get to build their companies here, to accelerate their companies here. It’s going to benefit everyone, including RPI and all of our partners.

Steve Melito: Okay, good, and let’s talk about those partners. This is not just an RPI effort. You’ve got some other entities involved. Who are some of the other players?

Josh Espinosa: That’s right. So HBCC, Hudson Valley Community College, is sort of our earliest major partner in this, but we expect that there’s going to be a variety of additional partners, both on the academic side but also on the industry side and government as well. We frankly heard from a lot of some of the major players in the region about how excited they are that we’re doing this, about sort of how valuable of a role it will serve in the area, and we actually even got support from some major industry players when we were having our initial discussions with the county, where they expressed their own interest in sort of making sure that there was a landing spot for the startups that come out of them. Because you know, even the major corporations that exist here, a lot of them have major R&D presences here as well and you know, in some cases the technology doesn’t fit neatly in the business but they do want to see it go somewhere, and so this will be a terrific landing spot for those types of spinouts.

Steve Melito: Well, that’s interesting because, just to sort of frame my next question, at FuzeHub we often talk to startups and sometimes they want introduction to large players and sometimes the large players aren’t always that receptive to talking to a startup. It sounds like the folks that you’re working with are interested in having these conversations. How does it help them? Don’t they already have all the R&D assets they need in-house?

Josh Espinosa: I think the issue is in some cases, continuing to develop the technology in-house just doesn’t make strategic or financial sense for them. In some cases it’s because they don’t think that it serves the core business. You know, in many cases they’re going to be better off scaling outside. Maybe they need external sources of capital to drive the idea forward. The company itself may not want to invest, the major corporation may not want to invest too much in this, but they’re happy to take an equity stake in that venture and see where it goes. So I think it’s purely in cases where the technology is a little bit peripheral to the originating corporation but they still would like to see it go somewhere and I think from their perspective they like the idea of their alumni continuing to sort of stay engaged locally, continue to drive technologies forward and you know it’s good for them to bolster their own network Excellent.

Steve Melito: Eric, anything that you’d like to add?

Eric Ledet: Yeah, for sure, you know. I think when we talk about non-RPI players being involved in this, you know, to me that means both the startups that we would try to attract from the entire region. And then it also means that what you’re just talking about now, that sort of the large strategic companies and the interest that they might have here. And I think to Josh’s point, you know, the large strategics I mean almost all of these companies are always looking for new technologies. They have entire divisions and teams that are in mergers and acquisitions and, again, our region having a vibrant ecosystem for technology-based startups and then us continuing to foster that. We want to make this a hub and a home and an easy place for big companies to come and just pluck those technologies or contribute to them or have synergistic relationships with the startups that will be coming out of the accelerator and then, with respect to the startups, again, the intent with this it’s really the vision again of the RPI president, of Marty Schmidt and he is a very strong subscriber to a rising tide raises all ships, or whatever that expression is right and really that if the regional ecosystem grows and thrives, then ultimately RPI benefits from that. So if RPI can contribute to it and also help the entire region and get regional contributions to it as well, then in the end everybody wins RPI wins, rpi contributes, the region wins, the region contributes. So again, this is much more than just an RPI-focused asset. It’s really intended to be an asset for the region. Develop new technologies, develop companies, bring businesses here and have businesses grow in the region all economic development, all to further then propagate the process.

Steve Melito: Okay, makes sense. So you’ve talked about some good reasons for why startups would want to join the scale Rensselaer Accelerator. I mean, for starters, if you’re in the Albany area, troy area. There’s the matter of geography. There’s also the fact that you’ve got some large players. Why else would a startup want to join your accelerator, say, instead of going somewhere else? Josh?

Josh Espinosa: Sure. So one thing to be very clear about is we are not the right place for lots of startups In many, many cases, say, a software startup, you’d be much better off at a WeWork style, you know, sort of setup where you might have the sort of camaraderie of other early stage small businesses, but you don’t need access to the high tech tools and facilities that we’re going to offer, etc. What we’re really looking for are companies that we can make a material difference with because of the unique platform that we have, where we have access to multimillion dollar machines. We have access to quantum computing right here on campus, you know, we have access to clean rooms from a semiconductor perspective. We’re really focusing on a very unique type of company, both locally and also sort of even more broadly in the region and beyond, where they want a place where it’s affordable reasonably affordable to scale their company but where they also can get access to those extremely high-tech tools just up the road. And so the truth is, in many cases we won’t be the right place, the right landing spot for many companies, but we’re really sort of trying to craft our niche in this tougher tech, more cutting edge space.

Steve Melito: Okay, good, Eric. What are your thoughts on this?

Eric Ledet: Yeah, absolutely, and just to build on what Josh said. So really the focus of this is, quote unquote tough tech, right? So that’s the type of technology first of all, technology-based companies and secondly, companies where the things like prototyping and development require specialized equipment, require more significant funds than typically like a digital software-based technology might. This space that is being built out for the accelerator itself will have laboratory space, both wet lab and dry lab space, which is one of the things that makes this accelerator and the location very unique relative to other assets that are already available in the region, and then, as Josh said, both access to the expertise facilities, even students at RPI and at our partner institutions as well. So a lot of reasons why this becomes unique with respect to the rest of the ecosystem in the region and, quite frankly, even within New York State, and why companies would be attracted to come. If it’s a tough tech company, we’re going to be able to provide some unique resources that they probably won’t be able to get other places.

Steve Melito: That’s great. Let’s talk about the location of the accelerator. So it’s not just an RPI graduate initiative. So it’s not on campus, although you could have had it there, and it’s not even in the RPI Tech Park in East Greenbush, which a lot of people know about. It’s sited in downtown Troy. Why did you choose that as the location?

Josh Espinosa: Sure. So just to be clear, the tech park is an enormous asset for us and it absolutely does play into our vision for where these companies go just not yet. And so if you think of again sort of the timeline of some of these companies, many of them let’s say the ones that are developed originally at RPI they’ll have the opportunity to go through our incubator network and the things that Eric is building out very aggressively and very successfully here when they’re ready and sort of actually graduate, let’s say, from RPI let’s say it’s a grad student graduating from RPI. They have an idea, maybe they have a co-founder or two they just recently incorporated. They’re not ready for the tech park yet. They’re not ready for that space. What they actually need is they need a reasonably comfortable place to work. They need to be proximate to their tooling and to their advisors and, I think, typically want a vibrant place to work where they feel like they’re part of that kind of exciting ecosystem of development. That’s what we’re trying to provide for them to go from two people to 10 people, 15 people, and then by that point they are ready to actually take proper space in our tech park. You know, as some exciting companies have done in the past, like, for example, map info, where at that point you’re ready to scale to a few hundred people, and so the more of those exciting startups that we can keep in the region, because we not only provided the tooling but also the talent and ideally even the capital if we can attract sort of the right capital here to keep some of these startups here, that would be an enormous win for the region.

Steve Melito: Absolutely, and yeah, the RPI Tech Park is a great asset. I used to work at Global Spec over there many years ago and used to go to events at Pat’s Barn. It’s a great place all its own. So what’s the timeline for the rollout of the accelerator, josh?

Josh Espinosa: Sure. So we’re in the process of negotiating the lease now. We already signed the sort of key funding document with County Entity recently. The plan is to begin our hiring process for the director in the next couple of weeks. The formal opening should be Q1 of 2026. So we’re very excited for that.

Steve Melito: Okay, that’s great. So let’s talk about success and what it’s going to look like, or maybe seen another way. Where do you see the accelerator in five or 10 years? Just to put some numbers on it.

Eric Ledet: You know, I think for us, looking at it, a lot of universities will use as a metric of success for their startup programs Say how many patents were filed, how many companies were started. Those metrics, ultimately, although they might be of interest and they’re very tangible things, they do not necessarily indicate the long-term success of a company. And so what all of the programs that RPI is running and what the goals for the accelerator are long-term success for ventures? And so it really looks like for individual companies, metrics for success are in five years. Are they still viable? Have they garnered follow-on funding and investments to help move things forward? Do they have products that are commercialized? Have they brought on new employees and grown in that respect? Have they brought on new employees and grown in that respect? So ultimately, as an accelerator, we want to have the number of companies coming in, growing. We want the number of those companies that are again graduating, so to speak, from the Accelerator. We want them to be staying in the region and continuing to grow, and whether they end up in the tech park, whether they end up in downtown Troy where there’s all kinds of very interesting real estate. You know you asked the question before why Troy? Great cups of coffee and good sandwiches. You know downtown, in addition to everything else, but there is a technology corridor that’s being built in Troy. I mean, in some ways it’s been there for a while but we’re trying to help expand that, help bring a reason for companies to come. And then one of the metrics for success is how many of those are staying and growing in the region. So bringing companies in, having them be successful, having them grow and stay locally, I think those are some of the major criteria for success.

Steve Melito: Excellent. So my last question and it’s one that startups are probably we’re hoping I’m going to ask how can startups that want to participate in the Accelerator contact you? Is there a website? Is there a number they need to call? What do they do?

Josh Espinosa: I think the easiest way for now would actually be to reach out to me. You can check out the Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation website at RPI. We will eventually have you know the proper scale Rensselaer website up and you know the director will be the preferred person once we hire them, but that will probably be a couple of months from now, so I’m the best person in the interim.

Steve Melito: All right, sounds good. Josh and Eric, thanks so much for being part of New York State Manufacturing Now.

Josh Espinosa: Thanks, Steve.

Eric Ledet: Thank you.

Steve Melito: We’ve been talking to Josh Espinoza and Eric Ledet of the Scale Rensselaer Accelerator in Troy, New York, and if you’re interested in technology innovation, there’s something else I’d like to tell you about. You’re not going to want to miss this. It’s the New York State Innovation Summit. Registration for it is now open. So join us this year in beautiful Rochester, New York, in October 29th and 30th for FuzeHub’s largest event of the year. Whether you join us as an exhibitor or an attendee, you’ll get early bird pricing if you register before August 22nd. So don’t wait. How do you do it? Go to NYSinnovationsummit.com and look for the two yellow buttons. There’s one for exhibitors and one for attendees and if you missed that URL for the website, don’t worry, just email FuzeHub at [email protected] So, on behalf of FuzeHub and New York State Manufacturing Now, this is Steve Melito signing off.