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Onshoring innovative manufacturing in the northeast with Forge's Laura Teicher
59 Plays3 months ago
Mike and Anthony are joined by Laura Teicher, the executive director of Forge Impact, a non-profit dedicated to helping businesses scale physical products with local supply chains. They discuss how the important this work has become over the last few years, common pitfalls that companies make, and how manufacturing can help address big picture sustainability challenges.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to Innovation Matters. It is the Sustainable Innovation Podcast brought to you by Lux Research. I'm Anthony Skiavo, a senior director here at Lux, and I've got Mike Holman here with me over the over the recording. Mike, how you doing? Doing well, thanks.
Guest Introduction: Laura Teicher
00:00:30
Speaker
And we are super delighted to have Laura Teicher with us on the podcast today. Laura is the executive director at Forge. And probably she was just named the ah the Boston Business Journal's ah most impactful innovator. what What exactly was the award here? um ah um she is in aity i I just blanked out on it myself. 40 under 40.
00:00:58
Speaker
She is truly, ah one of the I think, one of the most interesting people in the greater Boston innovation ecosystem. and that is not you know I'm not saying that lightly because there's a lot of really interesting folks. um But Laura, we're so excited to have you on the podcast. How are you doing? Well, I feel great after that introduction. Thank you Anthony. I think it's all really well deserved, all really well earned.
Forge's Mission and Startup Support
00:01:28
Speaker
Can we start, can you just tell the the people what Forge is, what it does, and a little bit about your role um in Forge at Forge? Yes. Well, first off, thank you for having me. And Anthony, you and I have gotten a chance to get to know each other a bit over the past year or so, collaborate before. So I know you've heard some of this before, but for our broader audience, I lead Forge, which is a nonprofit.
00:01:57
Speaker
that helps startups and innovative companies with physical products on their journey from prototype to impact at scale. And what's unique about how we do this at Forge is our really tight focus on supporting the physical build through product development, manufacturing, and supply chain focused support.
00:02:17
Speaker
We do this in the form of focused education connections and where possible and appropriate non-dilutive funding. And as the leader of FORGE, I'm ultimately responsible for everything we do here at the organization. so I take my responsibilities really seriously when it comes to the impact we have on the companies we engage with, the success and the well-being of the team that I'm lucky to work with every day, and of course the long-term strategy and the sustainability of the organization. Ultimately, the buck stops with me on all of this.
00:02:53
Speaker
Can you talk a little bit about how you got
Laura's Career Journey and Passion for Innovation
00:02:55
Speaker
involved with this type of manufacturing supply chain and this this type of initiative? Because I think you've been doing work in this space as far back as 2016.
00:03:04
Speaker
um Before that, you were maybe more on the policy side. So how did you get involved here? And um yeah, yeah but let's I'll leave it there. How did you get involved in this type of work?
00:03:17
Speaker
Well, I've always been very focused on impact when I've been figuring out my own career path. And I've now been lucky enough to be leading impact focused. And for the most part, innovation support focused organizations for close to a decade. My my path here wasn't fully straight, but this is my second executive director role. And I did lead another startup support organization before coming here.
00:03:46
Speaker
I led the um local chapter of TIE, which is the largest global not-for-profit network dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. And when I was working there, I got a really great crash course, both in being an executive director and in the supporting the full gamut of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Because TIE does a lot. They have angel investing and a startup conference and a scale-up accelerator.
00:04:15
Speaker
a entrepreneurship program for young high school students sort of you name it we were doing it but like much of the startup support ecosystem a majority of the startups we were supporting were sort of highly scalable, potentially venture investible, software based products. And I was always very drawn to ah clean tech especially, but, you know, products that could really solve for some of the toughest challenges that the world is facing today.
00:04:48
Speaker
And then I sort of leapt into learning about the opportunity to apply for the role leading what is now Forge. And the more that I peeled back the onion of what was already at Forge and this focus on helping with the physical build and the manufacturing,
00:05:06
Speaker
The more excited I got about the potential for impact and helping to solve for an area of support that really the ecosystem wasn't solving for outside of Forge in our region um and help drive some of these most impactful products.
00:05:21
Speaker
to faster deployment and adoption. And now we work across and you know climate tech, medical device, transportation, ag tech. Again, we're just a lot of the toughest problems are being solved. So a mixture of passion for impact and pure dumb luck, I think is what has brought me here today.
00:05:42
Speaker
That's the piece of advice I always give to to like engineers and young folk, which is like you have to get lucky, like at least a little bit. right It's like really difficult to have a career without at least a little bit of luck. like I applied for Lux 10 years ago. I had no idea what they did, or I just wanted to find a job in Boston because my buddy needed a roommate.
00:06:01
Speaker
And like now I'm here, right? So like you can get very lucky.
Overcoming Manufacturing Challenges
00:06:05
Speaker
um Laura, you talked a little bit about how at that time there was no undoing what Forge did or there there were these gaps.
00:06:14
Speaker
Maybe in a little more detail, can you talk about what what that role is or what you're trying to fill, what gap you're trying to fill with Forge, the connection you're trying to make for these companies who are scaling these these physical products, um and sort of why why it's such an important and impactful you know thing to be working on, especially at this time.
00:06:37
Speaker
thinking about how to articulate this succinctly. This is a podcast, you really don't have to be succinct. The joy of the format is that you really just make this a, yeah, do one of those like Joe Rogan style three hour episode.
00:06:58
Speaker
so we deal with hundreds of founders a year to get forged. And when we talk about making physical products, I often like to use the line, we do everything from Frisbees to fusion systems. So a huge range of ah technical depth can be needed depending on what sort of product you're trying to bring through prototype iteration through successfully planning the scale production and into commercial scale deployment.
00:07:31
Speaker
Most of the founders we deal with are in incredibly smart. They're coming in with deep technical expertise in the form of maybe multiple engineering degrees or deep industry expertise. Maybe they're coming from um working at utilities companies and they have an energy solution.
00:07:49
Speaker
But what a lot of them haven't done is scale production of a comparable product. And there are huge blind spots there, especially when you're actually dealing with highly technical people. there There can be this assumption, I know the technical side of things. I just need help with everything else. But if you do not have the experience of going through iterating on a prototype to make sure that it's designed for manufacturing, designed for assembly, designed for use, that you've considered testing and certifications and regulatory requirements at the right stage in your prototype iteration. But you haven't been through all of that before. It's so easy to fall into common mistakes.
00:08:32
Speaker
And at Forge now, we've helped over 860 emerging hard tech companies with their physical products. We have sustained an over 84% survival rates. And i I say that to underscore the fact that I think we've now proven but a little bit of help, a little bit of intervention, a little bit of education, ah making sure folks really do have that readiness to go into production before they do.
00:08:58
Speaker
And then on the other side of what we do beyond the education is connection. So actually helping to connect them directly with the right suppliers and contract manufacturers and regulatory experts to bring the thing through to production. We're solving for two failure points, and those are the the blind spots around readiness and the ability to actually get traction with the suppliers that you need, especially when you're maybe a little more early stage maybe you would be perceived as a little more risky if you approach them on your own instead of through a trusted intermediary that's getting everyone ready and right fit like Forge. So Forge was starting to do that, but very quietly we actually spun out of our sister organization Green Town Labs around the time I came in. We became sector agnostic.
00:09:45
Speaker
We still work closely with the climate tech companies at Green Town Labs, but our reach is so much further. ah But I didn't even know Forge existed until I talked to the then CEO of Green Town Labs and she encouraged me to apply. And that's why I say part of it was dumb luck.
00:10:02
Speaker
um And even though this work was happening very quietly, it was clear there was an opportunity to really grow the scale and the reach of it and solve for helping um founders and innovators of physical products along these dimensions that they they often don't even necessarily recognize all of the opportunities for help that there might be.
00:10:24
Speaker
So we're we're there, we meet them where they're at, and then as they start working with us, we're often able to help buffer for some of those blind spots um and solve for climate failure points and get them into production a little bit faster, which saves runway, and with the right partners, which saves runway, and at the right time, which prevents you from burning runway.
Navigating the Innovation Ecosystem
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, and I think it's such a ah key role because there's there isn't I think necessarily even still quite as much expertise or knowledge, maybe in investor communities or advisors around some of these challenges for these physical products companies, the way that there is for software or the way that there is for you know like traditional kind of med biotech, for instance, type of stuff. so
00:11:08
Speaker
i'm I'm curious to hear a a little bit more about some of the learnings. I mean, you mentioned you helped solve for these common mistakes or common challenges that these companies are run into. What are what are some of the things that you see most frequently tripping these companies up and and and how do you help them get over that hump? Well, some of them aren't entirely unique to the hard tech space. So for example, adequate customer discovery before you start investing and building the thing. But that actually becomes more important when you're talking about hard tech.
00:11:38
Speaker
Because you can't necessarily afford to go through 500 beta iterations with a little bit of voting. That could be a very expensive way to approach it. So that rigor around early customer discovery becomes even more important with hard tech.
00:11:54
Speaker
ah Other common failure points that we just see over and over and over again are over design and under design. So over design, when you boil it down is not accounting for all of these design for methodologies. Maybe ah instead of making it out of 30 components and half of them are off the shelf, you're making it out of 50 components and you're hand building them all. And it works, it solves the problem.
00:12:24
Speaker
But it actually, you cannot scale the cost of goods and you're not accounting for that financial scalability if you don't think through all of these methodologies around manufacturing readiness. Another one is trying, oh, sorry, to circle back.
00:12:40
Speaker
I talked about over design, then there's the under design piece. And I think that's important, especially when you are talking about highly regulated markets, like energy, like medical device. Part of the design work is taking into account the testing and certifications required and doing it early enough that you don't have to back up your whole design. um So really getting the timing of that right.
00:13:07
Speaker
And then another common mistake we see is leaping to engage or wanting to leap to engage with contract manufacturers and suppliers without having your steps to release in hands, without really having documented your specifications, your bill of materials, um thinking about how you will scale production. And these are all things, again, for just seeing over and over again, we have a lot of different um resources to help buffer for this from interactive educational sessions and workbooks to one-to-one coaching with innovation advisors and manufacturing experts and residents. I think we can make a really big difference by helping startups not make these same mistakes over and over again if they engage with us.
00:13:56
Speaker
Do you think startups are getting better at identifying the resources like Forge that are out there? Because you made kind of this comment where you said often these these founders are, you know, maybe not even aware. They're like so deep in their own technological expertise that it's difficult for them to know about these other things, ah especially young founders. i mean I was just in Chicago last week at this sort of conference there. I was really impressed. It seemed like a lot of the startups had access to different sources of funding. um A lot of these resources from the state government in Illinois who was very actively involved.
00:14:36
Speaker
But it was a lot of like grant funding and non-dilutive funding. I didn't see really the kind of representation for the type of thing that Forge does nearly as much. It was a lot of like these startups where it's like we've done we've gotten two million dollars from the government to do R and&D. We're near the end of that process. And now we're going to build a pilot plant. And I was like. I'm not seeing the like like Forge type partner here, which is like to me, it was cool because like these startups seemed much more knowledgeable about the ecosystem than maybe they did a decade ago in my experience. like They had all accessed this funding. It was very impressive. And like the government was very involved. And like these ah these various nonprofits and accelerators were involved. But it did still seem like a lot of these companies were were missing that element. So I guess I'm just curious, do do you think startups have gotten better over the last you know over the time you've been at Forge about understanding, like hey, we need to like do customer discovery and like get a prototype and and go through these design processes? um Or is it still a challenge for these startups?
00:15:36
Speaker
The founders we're working with are amazing. the the The amount that they accomplish and manage and think through with these small lean teams and these um moonshot ideas is really incredible. So it's absolutely not a criticism of the founders. How could you possibly identify every potential blind spot and every area that you need help around you. I mean, I would say the same thing for me as leader of Forge. I'm sure I have blind spots as much as I try to be aware that blind spots are a thing that exist. So it's no criticism to the startups at all. One of the things that I think has gotten better is
00:16:13
Speaker
um The ecosystem of support around the founders has gotten more sophisticated. It's had more time to develop. You know, I talked about how I used to lead Ty Boston. That was one of the first startup support organizations in the region. It's now been operating for, I think, almost 25 years. And then when I when i joined Forge, we were super nascent and now we're known.
00:16:39
Speaker
There's been a lot of time for this ecosystem to build up and grow, not just in the region, but across the country. And so what I've seen happen is there are still a lot of great generalist support organizations for startups and they play a really important role.
00:16:55
Speaker
But there are more and more of us that are specialized as well. And we've gotten better at being aware of each other and cross referring and recognizing that we can't solve for everything so for example forges supporting the physical build.
00:17:11
Speaker
We field questions for all kinds of other support on a regular basis, you know fundraising, coaching, marketing support, hiring support. We know who to send them to for that. So we're not trying to be everything to everyone. And we get reciprocal referrals as well. But I would say there is also probably a growing awareness that it's possible to ask for help in anything.
00:17:36
Speaker
and And the evidence I have to back this up is the way that startup flow towards Forge has changed over time. So a tremendous amount of it is through referrals from ecosystem collaborators that are mutual and back and forth. um But more and more,
00:17:54
Speaker
It's through word of mouth between the startups, which is really helpful. Startup can say, I didn't know I need this help, but I got it. It made a really big difference. Go talk to Forge. That goes a long way. And then we are seeing growing organic search. So I think founders are are literally typing into Google ah manufacturing help startup.
00:18:14
Speaker
ah and and then us from places like Italy. ah So that there's this mixture of the organ ah of the ecosystem getting more sophisticated and collaborative, start up sharing information with each other, and people just realizing they can shout into the void and maybe find some help at this point.
Collaboration between Large Companies and Startups
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah. One of the other aspects of the ego ecosystem, and you know, one that we at at Lux work a lot with is is the larger companies, right? Some of the established incumbents in energy chemicals manufacturing, right? These other areas. And those companies have also been, I mean, over the last couple of decades, ah but but, you know, and increasingly getting you to where that there's a need for them in order to advance their goals, make these the type of you know transitions that they might need to make and to to decarbonize or defossilize and so on that they they need help with. ah you know They need to engage with some of the innovative smaller companies that are doing these really cool things that you're helping them do. um you know Do you see that also from where where you sit? Is is there
00:19:25
Speaker
um a greater sophistication, perhaps, or and a knowledge of the ecosystem from from some of those larger players and willingness to engage with that? or Are there there gaps in that? Are things that you see that those larger companies could be could be doing differently to be a more effective part of this this ecosystem that's but's developing here?
00:19:46
Speaker
I can answer this with the most depth if I'm thinking about um the established and and larger contract manufacturers and suppliers that we work with. We have a a network of over 600 established companies that want to engage with our innovative companies, want to supply them, want to contract with them.
00:20:06
Speaker
And I think what's really compelling that we've seen over over time and a lot of data collection and surveys is and yes, a huge motivation is for looking business opportunity. um Just, you know, what are they going to be producing five, 10 years from now at a larger scale because we know demands for current things may be shifting, but even more so, they're engaging with our innovative companies because it helps them attract the rising workforce and retain the rising workforce, which is an issue for any large company. um know The rising workforce wants to, can I say shit? Work on cool shit.
00:20:51
Speaker
yeah yeah you're allowed You're allowed to curse on the internet, Laura. It's legal. And so that's a lot more compelling to say, hey, we're going to bring in some radical pilots and products to test to help us get to our goals. That's a ah really compelling workforce development play. Another really strong reason reason is to stay abreast of emerging markets. it It helps them understand what trends are coming down the pipeline.
00:21:17
Speaker
what future clientele mix could look like and what emerging technologies they want to adopt within their own companies that the startups may be ahead of them on. And then it's really a third order reason um for future financial, like direct financial contract ah ROI. And so I think seeing the manufacturers be so sophisticated about this is why we engage with innovation. It's not just one reason. It's not just immediate business financial ah ROI. ah It can signal something to to any larger, more established mover that's thinking about, well, is it really worth the risk of engaging with innovation?
00:22:01
Speaker
ah The other side of it, of course, is there is still some risk aversion at some larger companies. And so I think the more that we can talk about, well, why are why is hard tech attracting less venture capital and less corporate engagement?
00:22:21
Speaker
because people understand some of the growth and risks less sometimes, but if we can make sure that they're supported in dealing with those unique risks around ah technical build and the capital intensity and all of that, it doesn't have to be so very risky. So it's a very long-winded answer that I hope addresses part of what you're asking, but I'd really encourage people to think holistically about It is not just solving one business problem, but potentially solving multiple business problems to engage with innovation.
Workforce Challenges and Innovation Engagement
00:22:57
Speaker
I want to dig a little deeper on the labor side because I think that's really important. This is something that we talked about when we first initially ah we're were chatting, Laura, um and it's something that was really eye-opening for me. and you know i've I've definitely become a bit more like aware of this as a major problem you know for the chemicals industry.
00:23:16
Speaker
something like a third of employees are over 50, right? So like, you can just expect them to retire in the next decade, more or less. um What, I mean, first of all, um I'm curious, I know Forge does a fair amount of activity in, you know, direct labor, like training and like upskilling, like, I'm pretty sure that's part of what you do. um That's not what you do. I'm getting a big head shake. All right. um So I'm curious as to, you know,
00:23:43
Speaker
this seems like both a very big kind of pressing problem, but also something that can be very difficult for these large corporations to kind of wrap their hands around like, Hey, how can we actually make a difference? And how can we actually like, like, this is the kind of thing that's not going to pay off for a long term. Like, how can we, it seems like a thing that's very hard for a corporation to understand as a problem. So I'm just curious if you can just say more about that issue and what sort of results you've seen from these companies who are engaging with these supply chains, are helping build these new supply chains and how that's reflecting in their in their workforce.
00:24:20
Speaker
ah Well, sorry for shaking my head at you. ah we we do that's a good point and we can consider yeah we We do engage a little tangentially with this issue because um we're in the middle of a two-sided marketplace between the innovators and the manufacturers and attracting and hiring workforce is a challenge on both sides.
00:24:42
Speaker
So this is intersectional with our work of trying to bring these products into production. So it's not that we're not paying attention and that we don't touch this. What we don't do is traditional workforce training. um we We refer to other ecosystem collaborators for that, like we do with so many other things. But we're very aware of the trends because it's it's hitting all of the companies we engage with.
00:25:07
Speaker
And I think you know we have a really compelling case study from one of our long-term, very large established manufacturing partners who was dealing with this challenge of the aging workforce because there's a concern who's going to pick up the mantle when people retire. ah So there needs to be a ah mix of people who already know how to do the thing and are simultaneously learning to do the thing for the the company to have continuity, right? And we have this great ah case study we did with them where they give us some credit, I know they had other efforts underway as well, ah for the fact that they shifted their average workforce from being in their 60s to in their 40s over just a handful of years. And a piece of that strategy was engaging with innovative products.
00:26:00
Speaker
and was the relationship with Forge. And again, not trying to take credit for the whole thing, because this is a big company that put a lot of effort into it, and it does take a lot of effort. um But it it really can be a critical piece of the puzzle. i know I actually have a little bit of a follow up on that. um Go ahead. too so i mean It ties back to one of the things you mentioned at the very beginning Laura where you talked about ah kind of setting the culture at Ford just being one of your responsibilities and when you take very seriously, right.
00:26:31
Speaker
so um what what do you What do you think about that? i mean for you know It's a very mission-driven organization. You're trying to do cool and novel stuff, but it's it's it's also you know ah ah it's a challenging space to be in. So what what what do you see in that that context as being kind of the key elements of the the culture that you you need to set to to make the organization successful?
00:26:53
Speaker
One of the cultural values I think we end up celebrating the most at Forge, and and we we really try to celebrate them all, is adaptability and flexibility. And the reason why this is a core value is we're serving innovators. Innovators move fast. If we're not moving fast, if we're not taking in new information, if we're not growing and iterating and changing ourselves,
00:27:18
Speaker
we We could very quickly become less impactful and sort of more impactful and keeping up with the needs of these companies. um And so I do think that kind of ties back to this question about corporate engagement with innovation.
00:27:34
Speaker
Fundamentally, if you want to have impactful engagement with emerging technology, you cannot move slowly, because you're not moving at the pace of the innovator. And I think that can be one of the challenges in corporate and innovative partnerships.
00:27:52
Speaker
um There's just this cultural divide between having very established processes and very robust risk management. And hey, if we don't sign this deal in the next two months, we have to move on to our next pilot customer. So that that keeping up with the pace of innovation is a really important aspect of working productively and adding value when you're engaging with innovative companies.
00:28:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's really hard for a lot of big companies to to do that. But I think, I mean, conversely, that's one of the benefits for those companies in engaging with the with the innovators is that they can, you know, some of that can rub off on on their innovation teams, hopefully, and they can they can pick up some of that and foster some of that skill and attitude of of of being more more adaptable and flexible. Absolutely.
Forge's Strategic Goals
00:28:48
Speaker
What we're thinking about this, Laura, um you know, another thing you mentioned is that it's your role to kind of set the strategic vision for Forge, you know, going forward in the future. I guess I'm curious as to, you know, reshoring domestic supply chains have become this this really high profile issue now. It's this big focus, you know,
00:29:10
Speaker
How do you see the strategic direction for Forge or what are you thinking about, whether it's just specific things you want to get done or red flags, risks you're worried about in the future? How are you thinking about the future? You know, given that I think a lot of progress has been made, like, you know, I think we have a really robust ecosystem. We're starting to really develop this really robust ecosystem, especially here in the Northeast. um And that's wonderful. But like, what are you thinking about for the future?
00:29:39
Speaker
For Forge, for the world. For Forge. I mean, for the world, if you want to say this is your opportunity to speak to the people. you know So if you want to lay out your vision for world domination, I'm i'm all on board for that. ah But I think for Forge in particular.
00:29:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I do hope we continue to see, and I think there's every reason why we should, this deepening understanding and emphasis on the value of localization. And I don't think we need to be black and white about that. I think that can be really distracting to folks. The goal isn't for everything to be produced locally. That's not possible. There are certain raw materials, for example, that you cannot get here.
00:30:19
Speaker
um But the more we can think about localizing um some or parts or our plan B or C of our supply chains, um the more resilient the supply chains are. So there are very real business benefits for the folks that are doing that. And then there are very real economic benefits for the the region of supporting both the the small business that's standing up the local supply chains on the local manufacturing, and then part of why I personally became interested in localization, actually a long time before I came to Forge, is the very real climate benefits of localized production. so
00:31:01
Speaker
Instead of getting you know this part in this country and this machine in that country and this raw material in that country and shipping them back and forth and assembling here and shipping them again, ah the more you can localize your production, you significantly ah can decrease the shipping and flying and driving of things back and forth across the globe, which reduces scope three emissions, which are are a significant part of the puzzle we're trying to solve for in climate. So assuming we're going to continue to produce new things, if we can do more of it locally, there there are many layers of benefits. So I hope that that is not just part of Forge's continued journey, but part of the the conversation globally going forward.
00:31:48
Speaker
um At Forge, this is a very timely conversation because we're in the process of finishing our strategic plan for the next few years. and so you know i've committed to my board and my team, because I'm not the only one. um I'm responsible for shepherding the strategy. But the team, the board, our startups, our manufacturers, our funders, everyone was at input into this process. And we sort of committed to not doing anything new until this process is complete. But I can give a little sneak peek at what some of the forward-looking objectives are.
00:32:25
Speaker
And one of them is to stay laser focused on the physical build and to continue to add depth to our existing services and programs. So we've really proven out the value of everything we do. We can continue to do them with more depth, with more reach, with more efficiency. um One of the things we do that I think I alluded to earlier is When possible, also give out some non-dilutive funding to companies on a competitive basis. So one of our goals is to continue to grow that pool. We know very little dilutive funding actually goes to hard tech in the first place. These companies are solving a lot of the toughest problems.
00:33:04
Speaker
There are often gaps in their access to traction and capital that we can solve with pretty small amounts of targeted product development money ah that have led to a lot of incredible success stories in our networks. We're gonna try to grow that pool and that deployment and provide more financial support as well as technical support and connection support to our companies in the years ahead. And then we we do intend to continue to grow our geographic footprints because as we are able to grow um where conditions exist for us to be impactful and sustainability sustainable across the country.
00:33:38
Speaker
ah we're able to bring online different clusters of manufacturing capabilities that exist in different regions. And we're able to expand the local connection part of our offering beyond New England. So, you know, expect us to to keep doing what we're doing better, to try to add more money into the approach and to to continue to try to grow in the coming years.
00:34:06
Speaker
Wow, that's really exciting, especially the the growth, right? Because this is just such a such an opportunity to take the good work that you guys have been doing here and expand it. Well, Laura, I think it remains only for us to ah thank you for coming on and and sharing with us all the great stuff you've been doing. um We really appreciate it. Like I said, I think you're really having a huge impact on the ecosystem here in Boston, which is hopefully having an impact on the world.
00:34:34
Speaker
know If you like this podcast, you can like and subscribe. You can rate the podcast. It helps us out.
Closing Remarks and Call to Action
00:34:39
Speaker
You can also check out what Laura is doing at Forge Impact. www.forgeimpact.org. Wow. There you go. That was a very professional read. um Only the most top tier reads on this Innovation Matters podcast. Well, Laura, thank you so much. We really appreciate it once again.
00:34:59
Speaker
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. I look forward to to more conversations about the ecosystem in the future and the end thanks for this platform for spreading the word. We're here to help companies with their manufacturing.
00:35:11
Speaker
Innovation Matters is a production of Lux Research, the leading sustainable innovation research and advisory firm. You can follow this podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want more, check out www.luxresearchinc dot.com slash blog for all the latest news, opinions, and articles. so