The Grow Maine Show Archives - The Grow Maine Show

Susan MacKay: Give me a cutting edge technology and a risky market

July 21, 201407/21/14

…if the idea is innovative enough, risky enough, novel enough, and has the potential to impact an entire market, then Dr. Susan MacKay of Cerahelix is ready to take it on!

Susan is founder and CEO of Cerahelix Corp. of Orono, Maine. The company has developed and commercialized a ceramic membrane technology that provides high purity filtration under harsh conditions.

Sounds like a typical Maine high-tech business to me. Making holes in ceramic with DNA. Not. But this isn’t even Susan’s first ‘big bet’ in high tech materials, and she and her team have the technical background to make this happen.

Susan was previously CEO of Zeomatrix, another materials-based startup. She has more than 20 years’ experience in materials research and characterization, including 6 years in corporate R&D at 3M Corporation. She was a member of the inaugural MCED “Top Gun” class in 2009, and a Mass Challenge finalist in 2011. Susan holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill and was named a “Woman to Watch” by Mass High Tech in 2011.

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Business in Maine, Business Startup, Maine Entrepreneurs, Maine Women EntrepeneursCerahelix, Martin Grohman, Susan MacKay, The Grow Maine Show

#24: Marada Cook of Northern Girl, Maine Food Entrepreneur

June 9, 201406/09/14

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Marada Cook is one of Maine’s most remarkable entrepreneurs. She’s part owner and manager of three Maine food companies, Northern Girl, Fiddler’s Green Farm, and Crown of Maine Organic, that repurpose, distribute, and sell Maine produce across the northeast and have become core to the regional food system. Join me for a conversation with Marada where she describes – in her understated way – the development of these three companies to where they are today. Recorded onsite at the Slow Money Maine conference.

Marada Cook of Northern Girl

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Maine Women EntrepeneursMaine, Marada Cook, Northern Girl, The Grow Maine Show

#18 Karin Gregory of Furman Gregory Deptula

March 4, 201403/04/14

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Karin Gregory and her law firm Furman Gregory Deptula provide legal counsel to entrepreneurs, and are known for their tag line ‘We Jump Start Start Ups’. They’ve developed an active specialty in health care and university spinouts, but provide services to all types of entrepreneurs, including tech and transportation. The firm has offices in Biddeford, Maine and Boston, Mass.

Key takeaways you will learn from this cast:

-Don’t let legal concerns prevent you from thinking bigger
-A university network and ecosystem exists from Bangor to Boston, and you can take advantage of it
-How to use your lawyer

Would you like to arrange a free one hour consultation with Karin and her team? Fill out this contact form and mention The Grow Maine Show!

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Business Startup, Maine Women Entrepeneursdoing business in Maine, Karin Gregory, Maine Entrepreneurs, Maine startups, The Grow Maine Show

#14: Nancy Marshall of Nancy Marshall Communications

January 28, 201401/28/14

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Nancy Marshall is one of Maine’s most remarkable entrepreneurs. From her days handling public relations for Sugarloaf, to today as CEO of one of Maine’s most well-known, longest-tenured, and successful marketing firms, Nancy’s built a brand that is practically unmatched in Maine. In fact, a research study by the Portland firm Critical Insights found that Nancy Marshall Communications was the state’s most recognized public relations or advertising agency. Recently, the firm has developed the Marshall plan, a 65 step coordinated, measured, and metered marketing attack; the last step of which is apparently to have a big party on Maine’s biggest ski mountain.

If this is something that sounds right for you, Nancy’s offering a free one-hour personal or business branding assessment, which you can find at www.marshallpr.com/growmaine . Nancy and her team will contact you to set up a time to meet, and I guarantee you’ll come out of there with some omigosh moments.

Nancy Marshall is not afraid to be awesome! Don’t be afraid to be awesome! And as always, help me get the word out, wouldja? I went to Gould Academy, and our longtime board chair Al Ordway (dearly departed and much missed) used to say, shake two hands for Gould today. Can you send two tweets for #Maine today? And if you follow me @growmaine I will follow you back!

Also: while we’re mentioning alma maters, Nancy has an MBA degree from Thomas College (yay, Laurie Lachance!) and undergraduate degree from Colby College (yay, LEED-Silver Colby College Museum of Art!).

Shortlink to this episode (makes it easy to mention it to someone): www.growmaineshow.com/nancy

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Maine Women EntrepeneursGrow Maine, Maine Business, Martin Grohman, Marty Grohman, Nancy Marshall, Nancy Marshall Communications, The Grow Maine Show, The PR Maven

#11: Ry Russell of The Saco Drive In

December 17, 201312/17/13

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This week, we’re joined by Ry Russell of The Saco Drive In, another awesome entrepreneur making it in the worst state in the USA for business! Ry took over the Saco drive in two years ago, and turned it from dying to profitable in just one season by showing first run films. But then, movie studios issued an ultimatum: no more film, we’re going digital. So with 30 days to save the theater, Ry, a facebook branding expert, leveraged his more than 25,000 fans to win a national prize from Honda Motor Company to pay for the conversion.

Like they say about entrepreneurship, jump off the cliff and put the plane together on the way down. It was either Shut Down and Cry, or go all out. And plus, as you’ll see, when you’ve got a portable jump starter, you’ve going to create raving fans with your customer service.

Something new this week – we’re collecting a master list, an EPIC list of resources for Maine entrepreneurs. Of course we’ve got MTI, MCED, MITC, and MVF, but actually we’ve got more than 50 so far, and counting. But you’ve probably got a great resource for Maine entrepreneurs that I don’t know about, so tweet it to me @growmaine, and I’ll add it to my list, and when it’s done I’ll tweet it back out with a map and contact information.

And as you may have heard, I’ve been saying ‘Don’t Be Afraid to be Awesome’ on my casts for the last few episodes. So, I’m taking my own advice, and going to ONCE a WEEK in 2014. The cast has been great, but it’s a little harder to promote between episodes, so I’m going for it! Cheers! DBATBA!

And if you want to hire Ry to work his magic for YOU, click here.

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Maine EntrepreneursFacebook Branding, Maine Business, Marty Grohman, Ry Russell, Saco Drive In, The Grow Maine Show