David and I go way back. We first met when he was the Executive Director of TUGG, a non-profit embedded in the tech industry in Boston. He is now back to his roots living in Rochester, NY which has a growing tech scene with several startups and lots of great academic institutions.

Impellent Ventures is a fund that is supporting early stage startups. The firm has made investments in multiple regions like Boston, but a core piece to their strategy is to invest in startups in western NY. After returning to the area, it became apparent to David that there was a large opportunity to fund companies locally and help grow the ecosystem there.

During our conversation, we get into the weeds on the startup scene in Rochester, NY which was very interesting to learn about because it has some parallels to the earlier days of the Boston ecosystem.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* How David got into venture and if he always had a goal of being an investor.

* His foundational years and career path leading up to the start of a new venture firm.

* All of the details on Impellent Ventures and a look at their current portfolio of companies.

* Common pitch mistakes that entrepreneurs tend to make.

* And so much more.

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