News and Blog
John Bacino Holds the Slippery Coat of Innovation
“Knowing a need and filling it was an early lesson I learned,” says inventor John Bacino. That lesson led to a long and illustrious career at W.L. Gore, and even spurred him to launch a company in his retirement.
6 Things We Learned at #RAIN2015
We ABSOLUTELY loved the#RAIN2015 energy @UCScienceCenter. Chris and I attempted build a list of 5 things that we learned but there was too much goodness, so we added one more to the list.
Night Owls Demo w/ myZyp
myZyp.com @myZypInfo @HSamant01 What was the problem your app aims to solve? "Communicating and sharing address and location information, on social media via mobile devices or even verbally, involves the creation and exchange of address information (house #, street,...
Recruitment, Charlie Rose in a Hoodie, and then a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Video Shoot
First came Walnut St. Labs—a clubhouse for the nerdy and artistic. Then we started doing events to highlight innovators. Then we started doing videos of the events. Then more people came to the events. And so we did more videos. Then we started getting questions: do...
The “Invisible Inventor” Robert Morris
When inventor Robert Morris showed his multimedia program to an investor and told him that everyone was going to have multimedia on their desktop in 5 years, “He told me I was crazy. But that was the same person who turned down Steve Jobs so I don’t feel so bad.”
Ben Franklin Technology Partners and The Importance of Funding
For over 30 years, Ben Franklin Technology PArtners has been the leading seed stage capital provider for the region’s technology sectors, investing over $175 million in more than 1,750 regional technology companies, many of which have gone on to become industry leaders.
3D Printer Bootcamp v1 Wrap-up
The 3D Printer bootcamp started with a box of parts from PrintrBot and a goodie bag from Printed Solid. The PrintrBot Play was chosen for its quality parts and semi-ease to assemble. While it has a small build area, it is a solid 3D printer that should be able to support a budding 3D printer.
3D Printers, Micro-Manufacturing, the Internet of Things and More
Fabrication technologies, maker expertise and advances in electronics, combined with social media, design and a user focus, is the new face of innovation. It’s the type of innovation that positively impacts and changes people’s lives — and the power is in people’s hands to do it for themselves. Walnut St Labs will work hard to be the best hub, the best place to connect businesses, entrepreneurs, academics and makers, for mutual support and inspiration and advancement.
CoreDial’s Alan Rihm on Being a “Real Entrepreneur”
Alan Rihm on his early days as an entrepreneur: “We went from selling 2-3 accounts a day to 20-30 because we went on the Howard Stern Show and gave away Netscape disks for free.” Alan needed help. Fast. “I recruited my mom to answer the phones. She said, ‘But I don’t know what to say!’ I told her just to pick up the phone and put them on hold.”
Walnut St. Labs Dives into the Hardware Space
Walnut St. Labs initial run of the 3D Printer Boot Camp was a complete success. We’ve been updating with our progress along the way, and everyone’s hard work paid off. 5 local innovators walked in last Friday 6/26 and all of them walked out with a 3D printer they each built themselves with the help and support of one another and the resident Maker Technicians at WSL.
Frank Coates on the Transformative Power of Failure
Frank Coates of Wheelhouse Analytics believes, “It’s all about finding small pockets of need in these big financial organizations that other IT companies find underworthy of their investment. A small company like ours can do that.”
Indie Game Night w/ Skyless Game Studios
We asked Chris Bennett from Skyless Game Studios to hang out at Night Owls to play LifeLeap with our community. Skyless Game Studios leverages the power of video games to support and empower social, educational, and philanthropic causes. What was the problem your game...
Day 2 of the 1-Day Build
I was looking for a phone number to call Printrbot today. No luck, but I did find specs for the Z Axis Rod Ends. Ok, not exciting to you, but it was bitter-sweet to me. You see, fitting the rod into this end required a few well-placed taps by a hammer, followed by several full-body swings of Mjölnir (aka Thor’s hammer).
Our 3d Printer Prototype Build
Wilhem, Andrew and I cracked open the box looking for a fun couple of hours of build time with the Printrbot “Play Kit” 3D printer. We had our tools in hand, a nice wide desk and a GoPro ready to document our afternoon conquest in preparation for the Walnut St 3D Printer Bootcamp.
Chasing Small Ball Counts with Alchemy Learning
Henry Blue was restless.
“The cyclical nature of education started to worry me,” confesses the former teacher. “How do you reconcile that need to impact major change during your day-to-day work?”
The Brutally Honest Entrepreneur: SEER Interactive’s Wil Reynolds
SEER Interactive founder Will Reynolds loves sharing. “Being open about my ideas makes me go back into the lab and learn some new shit when no one else is looking.”
#ProtoComp2015: It’s a Wrap!
So, we did it! We planned, promoted and executed the first 5-week prototyping competition of its kind. Unlike traditional hackathons, #ProtoComp2015 was geared toward providing access to creative technical projects. We didn't just build a design event for UI and UX...
Andrew Ervin Reads Excerpts of Burning Down George Orwell’s House
We like to thank Andrew Ervin for sharing passages of his new book, BURNING DOWN GEORGE ORWELL’S HOUSE with us, and once more for putting up with our choice to simultaneously host a prototyping competition! You can pick up Andrew’s debut book at either a hip indie...
Insuring a Successful Startup Strategy with iPipeline’s Bill Atlee
“Decide what you want and ask for it,” says iPipeline’s Bill Atlee. “Go for the close. Remember that if no one wants to pay for your idea, it’s not a good idea.”
iNov8 Internships Draw to a Close
"Since working at Walnut Street Labs, I’ve learned how to use WordPress, become more versed in CSS and HTML and seen how PHP runs on the backend. I’ve also gained much more experience...
Winners of #protocomp2015
Wow. We are kinda speechless right now. We have to gather our thoughts and take a deep breath. Right now we want to share some photos though 🙂 [gallery link="none" size="full" columns="2"...
Ted Mann Clips Away at Startup Success with his Coupon App
“Coupons are not the most sexy thing to work on in the tech business,” says Ted Mann, founder of mobile couponing app SnipSnap. “But the truth is that they are huge part of the retail economy. Eight-five percent of Americans use them every month.”
Walnut St. Labs Accepted into AWS Activate Program
Walnut St. Labs has been added to AWS Activate's Program. AWS Activate works with incubators, accelerators and seed funds around the world, including: 1776, DreamIt Ventures, First Round Capital, Techstars, Tigerlabs and many many others. AWS Activate's Portfolio...
Week Three #ProtoComp2015 Putting on the Finishing Touches
This whole #ProtoComp2015 experience with Unisys has been such an enlightening journey, on so many different levels. It's opened many doors in our community and we're grateful to serve as a change agent not only for Unisys and the contestant, but also for local...
Announcing #ProtoComp2015 Judging Panel
And the Winner is... We've had an amazing time during the course of launching and coordinating #ProtoComp2015 in partnership with Unisys. Week 3's Crash Courses and prototyping work sessions are set to begin tomorrow evening, and we wanted to take a moment to announce...
Printing (3D) Life with Danny Cabrera
“One of the reasons BioBots is exciting is because our $5,000 device offers an alternative to the large, half million dollar bioprinters currently on the market.”
Week Two #ProtoComp2015 Solidifying the Interface
Chadwick Wingrave Presents Creativity to Product Crash Course Throughout the process of the Unisys/Walnut St. Labs' Prototyping Competition (#ProtoComp2015), the Walnut St. Labs team regularly congregates to plan the coordination of its upcoming installments. Each...
Walnut St. Labs, NextFab and i2n Partner to Launch “Mini-Makerspace”
WEST CHESTER, PA – Walnut St. Labs, an Innovation Lab in West Chester, PA, is partnering with i2n (Ideas x Innovation Network) and NextFab to launch a “Mini-Makerspace”. Walnut St. Labs, i2n and NextFab have teamed up to provide access and create educational...
How Tech Startups Make a Difference in the Nonprofit Space w/Paul Keogan
In 2006, Paul Keogan founded BackOffice Thinking, which works with midsize nonprofits throughout the U.S. They help nonprofit clients with everything from customer/constituent relationship management (CRM) support to social media strategy and business intelligence.
Formatic and MongoSluice Pitch at #TECH360
The Chester County Economic Development Council's iTAG Innovative Technology Action Group) initiative hosted #TECH360 on Friday, an all-day educational event at Penn State Great Valley's Campus Conference Center featuring the area’s top companies, IT professionals,...