Transatlantic Program Builds Connections; Powers Progress for Entrepreneurs and Communities

This week, I am proud to be serving as a Pittsburgh-based mentor to eight entrepreneurs from the Young Transatlantic Innovative Leaders Initiative (YTILI), a project of the U.S. State Department with leadership from the German Marshall Fund.

This is my second year serving as a mentor in the program. Last year, I had the privilege of mentoring Stylianos Kampakis, a skilled data scientist from Greece who currently lives in London.

He visited the steel city last year as a YTILI fellow hoping to gain valuable insight into his business plan and possibly to find a few prospects who could become future customers. The Pittsburgh community welcomed Stelios (as he prefers to be called) with welcome arms.

Though Stelios could easily find work in some of the world's leading hedge funds, or really any business that needs data scientists (I watched two Pittsburgh business try to hire him outright), his passion is small business and entrepreneurship. He is truly amazing as an entrepreneur, but more importantly, his work as an advisor to many start-up firms has empowered the success of countless early-stage businesses across London's tech ecosystem.

I had the opportunity to meet some of his clients during an April visit that I made to London, which was supported by the U.S. State Department and the German Marshall Fund. I was impressed with how many firms listed Stelios as a key member of their teams, even if it is only in a fractional role.

It was during this visit that Stelios first proposed an idea to expand his work with start-ups across the Atlantic Ocean. In the short time that I was on the ground, Stelios connected me an amazing group of organizations that support start-ups, including:

• Tech London Advocates
• UK Business Angels
• Outlier Ventures
• Makerversity
• University College London

As we ran from meeting to meeting (literally running), Stelios outlined his vision for a transatlantic service to help connect Pittsburgh start-ups with the London marketplace and to connect London start-ups to the steel city. As evidence of the potential, he introduced me to a sleep therapy start-up that was readying for a U.S. expansion and was willing to consider Pittsburgh for its first operation (the research fueling their product development was largely based upon work done at the University of Pittsburgh).

The potential for that one opportunity was so great that Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald scheduled a visit in London with that start-up during his own visit months later. A medical emergency caused that meeting to be canceled just hours before the meeting, but Mr. Fitzgerald still enjoyed the opportunity to visit Makerversity, where the start-up had launched its operations. The services offered at Makerversity were so strong that I wondered if Pittsburgh firms might benefit as well.

In the month since those visits, Stelios and I have stayed in touch and have been busy working on a business plan for our envisioned transatlantic accelerator service. In the coming weeks, we are looking forward to announcing those plans. We are currently seeking a few early stage businesses from both London and Pittsburgh who are interested in expanding their international activities. It's our hope to use these firms as beta "customers" for the service. If you know of someone who might be a good candidate, please send them my direction.

Yesterday morning, my network of YTILI entrepreneurs expanded dramatically with the arrival of eight new fellows. In between a pitch session with Pittsburgh investors, business leaders and economic development officials, the entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to visit Mt. Washington, which boasts one of the nation's most scenic vistas. They also spent time visiting the Senator John Heinz History Center, which happened to be hosting a traveling exhibit that included the command module from America's first moon landing.

Who knows where these new relationships might lead. Mars anyone? Thank you GMF and YTILI!