The Series Buffalo Podcast

Peter Burakowski is the new Executive Director of Buffalo Place, the nonprofit that represents downtown Buffalo. Four months in, he joins host Greg Pokriki to talk about his vision for the district and the work it will take to get there.
Peter breaks down the three functions of Buffalo Place, the case for four times more active storefronts and four times the residential population, and why the events that draw someone downtown for the first time only matter if there is a reason to come back. He explains what launching 43North taught him about defending a long-term bet, how closely downtown's success is tied to Buffalo's tech and startup ecosystem, and why perception of safety has to be addressed before anything else works. He closes with the story of how Buffalo won the Erie Canal terminus, and what it says about the city's appetite for risk.
Then it's Last Call, with a productivity tool, a podcast speed, a coffee order, a book recommendation, and a wing order that is not a wing order.

Justin Harlan runs Experience Tulsa and Tulsa Remote, the program that has drawn thousands of remote workers to a city that used to register as flyover country. He joins the Series B Podcast to talk about how Tulsa built its innovation economy, where the inflection point came, and why getting people to move is the easy part.
We get into the perception problem that Buffalo and Tulsa both know well, how the George Kaiser Foundation's money met a business community willing to align behind one message, and what Harlan means when he says retention starts with belonging. He also shares what he took home from Buffalo after a talent attraction summit, a Bills game, and a round of wings.
Plus Last Call, where we find out his podcast speed and his coffee order.

Deferred maintenance in the U.S. has ballooned to $9.1 trillion, and it's the single biggest driver of rising insurance claims. On this episode of The Series B Podcast, Jon DeWald, founder and CEO of HelixIntel, breaks down how his company is flipping the insurance industry's business model from paying for losses to paying for prevention.
Jon walks us through HelixIntel's new analytics engine, HelixPrevent, and explains why insurers are now subsidizing the software tools that facility and maintenance teams use every day. We also get into Jon's path from Marine Corps veteran to serial founder in the proptech and cleantech space, why he chose to build a national, insurance-facing company out of Buffalo, and what he sees as the connective tissue between Buffalo's cluster of insurtech companies. 

On this episode of The Series Buffalo Podcast, Greg Pokriki sits down with Sarah Tanbakuchi-Ripa, CEO of the 43North Foundation, to unpack Buffalo's next chapter of innovation-driven growth. Sarah breaks down the Foundation's four strategic pillars: a new venture studio, the TechBuffalo talent pipeline, the Series B storytelling platform, and a corporate connectivity initiative. She shares lessons learned from ecosystems like Salt Lake City and Indianapolis that helped guide the strategy. The conversation closes with Sarah's vision for what success looks like for Buffalo a decade from now.
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Episode Timestamps
00:18 — Intro: meet Sarah Tanbakuchi-Ripa, CEO of the 43 North Foundation
00:52 — What is the 43North Foundation?
02:23 — Why now is the right time to evolve beyond the 43North competition
04:58 — Overview of the Foundation's four strategic pillars
08:25 — Pillar 1: the venture studio model (Radial Ventures)
10:11 — Pillar 2: talent and TechBuffalo
14:29 — Pillar 3: corporate connectivity in Buffalo
20:23 — Pillar 4: Series B and telling Buffalo's innovation story
27:19 — The long-term vision: what does success look like for Buffalo in 2035–36?
30:43 — Last Call: productivity tools, podcast listening speed, coffee order, and wings (drumstick or flat?)

Twipes thinks the wet wipe is overdue for a redesign. Elle McIntosh and Al Bozorgi join the show to talk about building a genuinely flushable wipe, why they planted the company in Buffalo through 43North, and what it takes to fix a product most people never think twice about until it clogs the pipes. Plus, new exciting news on their advancement through a Walmart pitch competition putting their products on shelves across the country.

Andrew Goldner joins The Series B(uffalo) Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about building, scaling, and rethinking where great companies can come from. As co-founder of GrowthX, Andrew has spent years helping companies crack the code on go-to-market and sales, and he breaks down why upskilling in those areas is one of the most overlooked levers for growth.
We get into the case for second tier cities like Buffalo, and why the conventional wisdom about needing to be in a coastal hub is increasingly outdated. Andrew shares how regional ecosystems can compete, what they offer that bigger markets can't, and why founders should take a hard look at places that get written off too quickly.
Andrew also reflects on his time at Reuters and the lessons that carried into his work today, plus plenty more along the way. If you care about company building, sales and go-to-market strategy, or the future of innovation outside the usual suspects, this one is worth your time.

In this episode, WorkSport CEO Steve Rossi reveals why Buffalo is the secret weapon behind his company's rapid growth and why he chose it over Texas, Ohio, and his home base in Canada.
Steve breaks down what makes Buffalo a legitimate manufacturing advantage: affordable, stable hydroelectric power, well-connected land, rail, and port corridors, and a workforce that pairs engineering talent with real work ethic. He also challenges the idea that cheap labor drives success and makes a compelling case for why quality, energy, and community matter more.
Steve Rossi is the founder and CEO of WorkSport, with decades of experience in international trade and a focus on energy, manufacturing, and U.S. economic growth.

On this episode of The Series B Podcast, we sit down with Sharon Cryan, founder of FoodNerd, to explore how innovation in food science is reshaping the way we think about nutrition, shelf life, and access to healthy foods. Sharon shares the story behind FoodNerd’s mission, the challenges of building a food-tech company, and why Buffalo is becoming a place where big ideas can grow. From entrepreneurship to the future of food systems, this conversation dives into what it takes to build something groundbreaking in an industry ready for disruption.

Mike Pell is the inventor of the PDF and Apple's stylized font menu. He now serves as Envisioneer at The Microsoft Garage, helping the tech giant and other industry customers rethink how they do all things innovation. On this episode, Mike discusses Microsoft's hackathon structure, how corporations should approach innovation, and why Buffalo is worth investing in.

Rohit Gupta is Managing Director at Future Communities Capital, a fund backing founders transforming legacy industries. His investments span companies like SpaceX and Lyft, and in Buffalo include HELIX Intel and Ognomy.
In this episode, Rohit breaks down why he’s betting on places outside Silicon Valley and what he sees in Buffalo specifically. We talk about how he first got connected to the region, what keeps bringing him back, and why some of the best opportunities are hiding in overlooked markets.
We also get into what founders still get wrong when raising capital, how much networks actually matter, and his view on building companies in the age of AI.