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Startups need advertising. If it wasn’t public, no one would know the startup existed, what it did, or why it was needed.
Startups also benefit from being part of a startup community where entrepreneurs can support each other and share their knowledge. These startup communities also need a public to share news about events, resources for entrepreneurs, and more.
Amanda Leitner is impressed by Rochester’s startup community but finds it lacking in publicity. She started Rochester Rising both to advertise to Rochester entrepreneurs and to let outsiders know all that Rochester’s startup community has to offer.
Profile of an entrepreneur
Name: Amanda Leitner
Age: 32
City of residence: Rochester
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa.
High School Attended: Highlands High School, Natrona Heights, Pa.
Participating Colleges: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
The life history of the organization
Company Name: Rochester Rising
Website: www.rochesterrising.org
Business Commencement Date: July 18, 2016
Number of employees: 1
Question and answer
Question: What brought you to this point?
A. I am a trained molecular biologist with over 12 years of experience in biomedical research. Although I spent 6 years earning my PhD and pursuing postdoctoral studies, I knew that a career in science was not for me. After graduating from Mayo Graduate School, I decided to do my postdoctoral research at UMN and spend it gaining experience doing something else.
I have always enjoyed writing, and thought I might explore a career as a science or medical writer, but at the time I lacked experience. I interned with the Life Sciences Alley Association, where I gained interest in the science business community in Minnesota.
After that, I met Jamie Sundsback, a researcher I worked with at the Mayo Clinic, who ran BioAM, a support group for life science entrepreneurs in Rochester. A few months later, I got a call from Jamie to help build BioAM’s website and help build an online presence and share stories of life science innovation in Minnesota. I wrote stories about science entrepreneurship in the Minneapolis area and built this one. A web presence for a year and a half, calling it Life Science Nexus.
In the year In January 2016, I fully took over the running and leadership of Life Science Nexus. That May, I decided to become an online news site entrepreneur myself. I moved back to Rochester from Minneapolis to be closer to Jamie as I grew the business. After only living in Rochester for a few weeks, I realized how much the entrepreneurial community in general is growing and how little anyone is talking about it.
In July, Life Science Nexus joined Rochester Rising to highlight all the entrepreneurial stories, expanding beyond the life sciences and focusing on the Rochester area. I now run all aspects of the business as a sole proprietor.
Question: What is your business?
A. Rochester Rising is an online news site that expands on entrepreneurship stories happening in Rochester. Each week we publish several articles and podcasts that take a deep dive into Rochester startups and innovative small businesses, and take the time to understand the person behind the business and how it got started in Rochester.
Q. Where do you go when you need help?
A. The entrepreneurial community in Rochester is a great resource. You can always find someone a few steps ahead of you who is willing to offer advice and encouragement.
Q. What problems does your business solve?
A. Even a few years ago, there wasn’t much of an entrepreneurial community in Rochester. While we are still young, we now have an entrepreneurial core that is growing every day.
The problem is that even people living in the city don’t know much about it. Rochester also has a serious image problem. It is considered a dangerous society without young people. Those of us who live here know that the city has so much more to offer. We believe that sharing stories of innovation happening in the city not only encourages others to take risks, but also shares the true identity of the entrepreneurial community with people outside of the Rochester area. City.
Q. Where have you been in your company’s journey? What was the biggest hurdle or obstacle you had to overcome?
A. We inspired the business when it was about a year and a half old. It was really scary, because they didn’t know they were going to keep their life sciences customers. We went to anyone from loyal readers. It was also a challenge to establish myself in Rochester’s entrepreneurial community. I started trying to get people to sit down and talk to me for a story that had never heard of me before, and I didn’t even have a website to show them. They just had to believe that I was legit and that something was going to come out of this news site that I wanted to sell to them.
Q. What personal strengths or skill sets do you bring to the business?
A. I know I have a very unique writing style, and I think that brings a little something refreshing to the stories we tell at Rochester Rising. I am also highly self-motivated and always self-educated, all of which are essential to running a business. I’m not afraid to ask for help, but I know when to follow my instincts.
Q. What are you most proud of?
A. I think it’s the bonds we’ve been able to create in the community. It’s a truly rewarding feeling to pay attention to an entrepreneur or startup who works so hard but goes unrecognized. And that was really the whole goal of this news platform, to bring to light stories that would otherwise be untold.
Q. What obstacles do you have to overcome to be very successful?
A. I think it’s always a struggle to grab and hold people’s attention. We are inundated with all kinds of social media content every day. So it’s always a struggle to produce relevant, engaging content and compete with the messages consumers are presented with every day.
Q. How are you getting organic, angel or VC investments for your business?
A. Organic.
Q. What will be the success of your business in the next 2-3 years?
A. Continuing to grow in engagement and be the place people consider keeping their finger in Rochester’s entrepreneurial community.
Q. In your opinion, what does it take to be a great entrepreneur?
A. You have to be willing to work hard and work smart. You have to be willing to learn all aspects of the business, because first, you’re probably the only one… you have to run all aspects of the business. You can’t avoid things because you don’t think you can or because you’re not trained in them. You can learn how to do many things by picking up a book, listening to a podcast, reading an article, or asking for some advice.
Q. What is your business model and how do you make money?
A. We make most of our money through advertising and sponsorships. We also have permanent memberships where people can get exclusive content online and get advanced access to the podcasts and videos we put out.
Question: Why do you do what you do? What is your “why”?
A. I do this because I have never been “normal.” I never did what was expected of me, I never followed a career “path” for long. I’ve always done something different or unexpected, and I think that’s something to be celebrated. I think that people taking risks and not letting themselves be defined by anything or anyone is something that should be shared and respected. These stories, this feeling, will always be a part of what we do here at Rochester Rising.
Question: How did 1 million cups of St. Paul help you? Got a helpful comment? Are you connected to properties? Are you secretive because of the experience?
A. The 1Million Cup experience helped me think about some new features I could add to the business to gain and retain a larger customer base.
You can hear from such startups every Wednesday from 9-10 a.m. at the James J. Hill Center at the 1Million Cup in St. Paul. James J. The Hill Center is a non-profit organization in downtown St. Paul that provides business research, educational programs and a workplace. The hill is open to the public from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday-Thursday. To stay up-to-date on the startup’s next offering or to apply to submit, visit www.JJHill.org.
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