VShip is using digital tech to deliver a better way to ship your automobile using the rail system of the United States.  Started by two brothers, Amr and Amhed Aly the company completed the Actuator Program, the accelerator from Black River Innovation Campus in 2024 and recently won in the latest cohort of LaunchVT in the spring of 2025. 

The two brothers hail from Egypt and have spent considerable time in New England.  Amhed is a graduate of Amherst College and the two explained for us why Vermont is for them the ideal place to start their business. 

We explored the problem they are solving using their technology and the benefits to the trucking and rail industries, in addition to what it takes to build a company that employs people.  The pair is raising capital now and have big plans for their company to expand to other sectors.

The Innova802 crew sat down to take stock together on where we stand on Artificial Intelligence: Its effect on politics, creativity, industry, labor, culture and the possibility of global destabilization.  Have no fear, rather than simply complaining as to the side effects of an inappropriately deployed plan by the tech sector for AI, we delve into each of our insights on how a beneficial future could be wrought through the use of AI.  

This could be a highly informative episode for our listeners coming on the heels of the United State’s WHite House report,  Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan

Resources mentioned in our discussion

Paul Krugman May 9: ‘is crypto still for criming’  

This common dreams article on SA president and Trump meeting. Grok admitted to musk request to hide the fact musk wanted the bot to emphasize a fake white genocide. 

 Atlantic: Big Tech’s AI Endgame Is Coming Into Focus

 Atliantic: One app to rule them all

 Ted Goia The Honest Broker 06.15.25

Consorvia’s founder, Christina Fedor wants to redefine society’s relationship to the creative sector. With their latest client platform the company is fundamentally bringing the individual and the system together to serve people in their effort to self actualize.

Our conversation reached into the benefits of letting people young and old flex their deepest and most creative muscles.  Some of the issues with how we interact with tech and the solutions to overcoming these limitations.

Consorvia is an R&D ecosystem primed to answer the really big questions that seem to be converging on us at an accelerated rate none of us has experienced before in our lifetimes.  What kind of AI do we truly desire to interact with?  How does tech bring the most creative out of us? How do we build whole new systems for better leveraging tech?

Innova802 Crew Member Will Jeffries represented the team for the Burlington, VT premiere of a new and innovative funding organization, Compound good. 

Compound Good is a nonprofit fund that allows donors to make impact investments with philanthropy, unlocking capital for social entrepreneurs. Founders include Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), Sage Software and Lawson’s Finest Liquids while supported ventures include Little Patahka, Local Maverick and a company familiar to the Innova802 podcast, Shiki Wrap and founder Meagan Downey.  

Following a viewing of their latest launch video, they sat down with Will Jeffries in front of a live studio audience.

When you connect with a born to be entrepreneur you know it.  In our experience we place all creatives; the artists, the dreamers, the community builders in this category of human experience.  Our guest for this two part episode exemplifies what we’re talking about. In a little more than an hour, Ron Rivers and co-hosts Scott Graves and Ryan Munn explored Ron’s development of digital solutions for aiding mission-driven organizations, really community building in Web3 that is meaningful to the human world, focusing on Ron’s work with AI for social impact (Nonprofit Navigator and Spirit DAO),  philanthropy reform, and the challenges of synthesizing beneficial aspects of various traditions while avoiding past pitfalls.  We talked about Ron’s work to develop The Church of Temporal Naturalism which we explored in depth, particularly in part II.  

But what we loved the most about talking with Ron was how he has spent the time necessary to understand and allow others into his understanding for why?  What’s behind the importance of understanding how and why we desire to respond to others needs.  His work is asking the question ‘can we have meaningful connection and build a more spiritual, less transactional world through the digital realm?  You hear us talk a lot on our podcasts about tech’s proper place in our society. Ron lives this every day. 

This discussion was insightful, exhilarating and left us with considerable items for self-reflection.  We hope it does the same for you as well.

When you connect with a born to be entrepreneur you know it.  In our experience we place all creatives; the artists, the dreamers, the community builders in this category of human experience.  Our guest for this two part episode exemplifies what we’re talking about. In a little more than an hour, Ron Rivers and co-hosts Scott Graves and Ryan Munn explored Ron’s development of digital solutions for aiding mission-driven organizations, really community building in Web3 that is meaningful to the human world, focusing on Ron’s work with AI for social impact (Nonprofit Navigator and Spirit DAO),  philanthropy reform, and the challenges of synthesizing beneficial aspects of various traditions while avoiding past pitfalls.  We talked about Ron’s work to develop The Church of Temporal Naturalism which we explored in depth, particularly in part II.  

But what we loved the most about talking with Ron was how he has spent the time necessary to understand and allow others into his understanding for why?  What’s behind the importance of understanding how and why we desire to respond to others needs.  His work is asking the question ‘can we have meaningful connection and build a more spiritual, less transactional world through the digital realm?  You hear us talk a lot on our podcasts about tech’s proper place in our society. Ron lives this every day. 

This discussion was insightful, exhilarating and left us with considerable items for self-reflection.  We hope it does the same for you as well.

It was a high point for co-hosts Ryan Munn and Scott M. Graves when they were joined last week by AIGO.AI  founder Peter Voss.  Peter’s a long-time innovator, founder, advocate and thinker concerning Artificial Intelligence(he coined the term artificial general intelligence) whose insights shared with us are making us think further, dig deeper into our own advocacy for the best use of AI in order to realize a benefit to a maximum spectrum of the worlds’ population.  

This is your opportunity to invest with one of the world’s most thoughtful innovation leaders in artificial intelligence. Find out more by engaging AIGO.AI. 

So what exactly does Peter Voss think about the current state of Artificial Intelligence? Are our current tech sector leaders, politicians and business leaders making the most and for the benefit of all humanity? 

Listen now for the answers to these and more questions. We hope we can offer some answers to you while helping you generate your own new and thoughtful questions on the subject of artificial intelligence.

Byron Batres of Scrivnr.com to recount the early days of building his company, the importance for understanding your clients true needs and how these early experiences are informing his latest venture. 

Byron’s insights are well worth the listen and the service they offer can help those who find themselves without the resources needed to take their loved ones assets out of probate.

Part II of II

Byron Batres of Scrivnr.com to recount the early days of building his company, the importance for understanding your clients true needs and how these early experiences are informing his latest venture. 

Byron’s insights are well worth the listen and the service they offer can help those who find themselves without the resources needed to take their loved ones assets out of probate.

Host Ryan Munn joined founders Nathaniel Klein and Jacob Freedman of Treeline Terrains, 2025 SBA SMall Business Award winners and members of the 2023 cohort for Forest Business Accelerator. 

Jacob and Nathaniel shared their origin story with Ryan and share with us multiple key factors for building and funding a successful startup, combining craft with innovative process and technology.  

Also mentioned in our podcast, Northern Forest Center & Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund