10-Minute Tech Talks: How Tech Entrepreneurs Fail & How You Can Avoid It

Can paying customers help fund the technology behind your next stage of growth?

Titan Robotics' Stuart Lawrence explains how early seed support, government-funded development and a deliberate push toward commercial markets helped build the Pittsburgh robotics company.

In this episode of 10 Minute Tech Talks, Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo explore Titan's financing journey—from Innovation Works and friends-and-family support to repaying that financing during COVID and considering outside investment after building a substantial operating business.

Three reasons to listen: • Understand how customer-funded development helped Titan build its capabilities. • Hear why moving from defense work into commercial markets takes sustained effort. • Explore how a track record changes the conversation about raising growth capital.

An entrepreneurial lesson in capital efficiency, commercialization and knowing what investment should help you accomplish.

What happens when the contract opportunity you're counting on stalls?

Titan Robotics' Stuart Lawrence shares how anticipated Air Force contract awards ran into resistance—and why the Pittsburgh robotics company began expanding beyond laser coating removal into manufacturing applications.

In this episode of 10 Minute Tech Talks, Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo explore the customer conversations that helped shape Titan's direction, from robots that require specialized programmers to tools that give operators more control.

Three reasons to listen: • Hear how Titan responded when its original growth plan hit a wall. • Discover why easier adoption can be as important as technical capability. • Learn why Stuart's advice to entrepreneurs is simple: "Don't lie to yourself"—check the data behind your claims.

A candid conversation about entrepreneurship, customer discovery, robotics and building products that deliver measurable value.

What does it take to build a tech company from scratch? For Ben Taylor, co-founder and CEO of SoftLedger, it started with frustration, a piece of printer paper, and an idea for a better way to manage accounting.

In this episode of 10-Minute Tech Talks, host Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council and TechVibe Radio sits down with Ben to unpack the realities of tech entrepreneurship — from sketching a software concept by hand, to building the product from the ground up, to sending more than 10,000 emails before landing on his first customer. Ben shares what it took to bridge the gap between basic accounting tools like QuickBooks and complex enterprise ERPs, and why slower early growth gave SoftLedger the foundation to build something stronger.

If you're a tech entrepreneur or aspire to be one, this conversation is a reminder that the first breakthrough doesn't always arrive with fireworks. Sometimes it arrives after email number 10,001.

What determines what your business is actually worth? In this episode of 10-Minute Tech Talks, host Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council sits down with Christine Robinette and Bryan Reft of Fragasso Financial Advisors for the final installment of a three-part mini-series on exit planning and business valuation.

Bryan breaks down two critical concepts every Tech Entrepreneur should understand: the wealth gap: whether your business can fund the life you want after you sell; and the value gap: why a company that looks just like yours might be worth millions more. The answer comes down to one word: risk.

You'll learn about the four intangible capitals — human capital, customer capital, structural capital, and social capital — that drive 80% of your company's value yet never appear on a financial statement. If you're a Tech Entrepreneur thinking about exit planning, employee ownership, or simply building something worth owning, this episode gives you the framework to start closing the gaps while you still have time.

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.

How will you eventually exit your business?

In Part 2 of our miniseries with Christine Robinette and Bryan Reft of Fragasso Financial Advisors, host Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council explores how employee ownership and ESOPs can become a powerful succession strategy.

Learn the "three legs of the stool" — personal, financial, and business goals — and why every entrepreneur should treat exit planning as present-day business strategy, not an afterthought. Whether your exit is two years or twenty away, the smartest time to start planning is now.

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.

Ever wonder what the smartest tech companies are using to win the talent war—besides just bigger paychecks?

In this episode of 10 Minute Tech Talks, Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council anf TechVibe sits down with Christine Robinette and Bryan Reft of Fragasso Financial Advisors to break down equity compensation in a way that actually makes sense. Here are three reasons you should hit play right now:

1. You'll finally understand RSUs, ESOPs, and vesting—without the jargon headache. Christine and Bryan cut through the alphabet soup of equity comp and explain how these tools actually work in plain English, from four-year vesting schedules to the tax surprises that catch employees off guard.

2. You'll learn the hidden risk almost nobody talks about. When your salary and your wealth are both tied to the same company, you're carrying double the exposure. Bryan breaks down the 10% concentration rule and why even a great stock benefit can become a portfolio problem.

3. You'll walk away with a competitive edge for hiring and retention. Whether you're a founder wondering if it's too late to set up an equity plan or a leader looking to out-recruit your competitors, this episode lays out exactly how giving employees real "skin in the game" changes the game entirely.

This is Part 1 of a three-part miniseries on building business value through employee ownership. Fire up the RSUs and dive in.

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.

Can AI Really Make Developers 100 Times Faster?

Artificial intelligence is changing software development at an incredible pace, but the biggest breakthroughs aren't coming from AI replacing developers. They're coming from giving AI the right tools, the right knowledge, and the right plan.

In this episode of 10 Minute Tech Talks, Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council sits down with Chris Bannon of MESCIUS to explore how AI-powered coding assistants are transforming the way software is built. From intelligent development tools and MCP servers to smarter planning techniques, Chris explains why the future belongs to developers who know how to work with AI instead of simply asking it to write code.

You'll discover why spending more time planning can dramatically reduce development time, how AI can eliminate days of frustrating API work, and why human expertise remains the secret ingredient behind great software.

You'll learn:

• Why AI coding assistants are making developers dramatically more productive.
• How MCP servers give AI the knowledge it needs to generate better code.
• Why planning before coding leads to faster, higher-quality software.
• How experienced developers are becoming even more valuable in the AI era.
• The surprising lesson a plate of AI-generated county fair food teaches us about trusting artificial intelligence.

Whether you're a software developer, startup founder, technology leader, or simply curious about where AI is taking software engineering, this conversation offers practical insights into one of the biggest shifts happening in technology today.

Hit play and discover why the future of coding isn't just artificial intelligence. It's intelligent collaboration between humans and AI.

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.

AI can automate almost anything. That doesn't necessarily mean it should.

In the final installment of the 10 Minute Tech Talks Entrepreneur Boot Camp Mini Series, Angela Domhoff of Advantage Operations explains why companies need to understand their operations before throwing AI at them.

Angela has spent more than 25 years thinking about operations, workflows and efficiency, and she has a refreshingly practical way of looking at artificial intelligence. She says AI can be incredibly powerful at eliminating what she calls "the noise": repetitive work, routine tasks and processes that consume employees' time without requiring their best thinking.

But there's a catch.

If the process underneath the technology is broken, automating it might just help you make mistakes faster.

In this episode, Angela breaks down how entrepreneurs should really think about AI, automation and operational efficiency.

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.

Landing the big customer sounds like the dream.

Until the order hits, everybody panics and suddenly you're talking about hiring 20 people, leasing more space and piling expenses onto a business that hasn't actually collected the revenue yet.

Welcome to Part Two of the 10 Minute Tech Talks Entrepreneur Boot Camp Mini Series.

In this episode, Angela Domhoff of Advantage Operations delivers some seriously practical advice on preparing for growth, controlling expenses, setting realistic expectations and avoiding the temptation to build tomorrow's company with today's money.

Because sometimes the biggest threat to a growing business isn't failure.

It's success arriving before you're ready for it.

And once the business is running smoothly, there's one more irresistible question every entrepreneur is asking right now:

What should we automate?

That's where we're headed in Part Three of Entrepreneur Boot Camp: Automate It.

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.

At some point, experience stops being just a résumé and starts becoming an asset you can build around.

In Part One of the 10 Minute Tech Talks Entrepreneur Boot Camp Mini Series, Angela Domhoff shares how more than 25 years of operational leadership ultimately led her to launch Advantage Operations.

After years inside major healthcare organizations, Angela began having conversations where people were asking for the kind of expertise that could directly improve their businesses. That sparked a realization: maybe it was time to stop giving all that knowledge away and build something of her own.

Angela didn't wake up one morning with some completely unrelated startup idea. She looked at the expertise she had built over decades and asked a much more powerful question: how can I turn what I already know into something people need?

That's Start It.

Next up in Entrepreneur Boot Camp, the business exists. Now comes another challenge entirely: Can it survive its own growth?

Produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, this is a podcast for tech and manufacturing entrepreneurs exploring the tech ecosystem, from cyber security and AI to SaaS, robotics, and life sciences, featuring insights to satisfy the tech curious.