NY Launch Pod: Welcome to the New York Launch Pod, the New York Press Club award-winning podcast highlighting the most interesting new startups, businesses and openings in the New York City area. I’m your host and New York attorney, Hal Coopersmith. And in this episode, we’re going to talk about manufacturing in New York City. Yes, it is happening. And there’s a lot more than you think. In this episode, we speak to Stacey Weissmiller of SecondMuse an impact firm dedicated to designing, developing, and implementing entrepreneurial programs for manufacturing.
Stacey Weismiller: I mean, we have a really strong, innovative group of startups that are either making a software or a hardware product. We focus primarily in hardware. And from our end, it’s saying, well, if people have ideas and they’re thinking about making new products, why aren’t we thinking about where they’re being made physically? And so that’s what we’ve been stepping into is to say, let’s keep that ecosystem strong here in New York.
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NY Launch Pod: So people don’t necessarily think about manufacturing in New York City, but you want to change that.
Stacey Weismiller: That is very true.
NY Launch Pod: How are you changing that?
Stacey Weismiller: So, you know, I think that the most important thing is kind of a cultural change, right? So we forget that the things that we eat, that we touch, that we wear are made somewhere, right. A lot of things are still made in New York and I think changing the supply chain or the focus on how you get products is extremely important, but also going down the chain of command. To say, okay, who’s actually thinking of these things, right? Who’s the entrepreneur sitting at home saying, I want to change something and I want to make something. So to me, that’s a really important way to change that.
NY Launch Pod: So just to press you a little bit more on that, New York City used to be a manufacturing hub, we had all these factories, all of the supply chain items, which you mentioned, but there were certain challenges. Labor is more expensive in the US that’s why clothing isn’t manufactured. You know, real estate is certainly very expensive. So what is the type of manufacturing we should be thinking about in New York City?
Stacey Weismiller: Yeah, of course. Mainly we should be looking at things that the end consumer is really here, right? Within the five boroughs or within the Tristate. We should also be looking at things that have a very specific niche, right? So furniture, for instance, we still make a lot of furniture here in New York City. We’re one of the largest consumers of office furniture. We have, again, a lot of real estate. So we do have a lot of commercial real estate that is using that work. We have a lot of architectural work that’s happening here that does lend to us making strangely spiral staircases and wrought iron fences and things like that. So that’s the kind of thing that we need to be looking at. Also, there’s a lot of questions about onshoring. Do we need to make everything here? Of course not, but there are certain aspects of products that certain parts of it should be touched here, whether it be adding value to it in New York, adding value to a certain product, maybe in Connecticut or Pennsylvania, and kind of what I called the stone drop in the water. So there are certain ripples that go out, right. You know, I think that you have to understand how far out you go in the ripple based on who your consumer is and what it is that they actually need, which is kind of that niche market.
NY Launch Pod: So what do you see as the future of manufacturing in New York City as the stone kind of ripples to New York?
Stacey Weismiller: Yeah. A lot of it is kind of this final value add component to, again, things like furniture. We have a lot of work that we’re doing in climate tech. So this is really what I work on specifically within manufacturing. I have a lot of teams building RF sensors, or smart city devices. Again, those products can be made fairly easily because they’re pretty small. It’s important that they’re made in a place that they’re also deployed. So I see that really as the future, there’s a really strong connection between the end customer and who’s actually making a product.
NY Launch Pod: And what is SecondMuse?
Stacey Weismiller: We’re basically an impact firm that is focused on designing, developing and implementing programs across the world, specifically through entrepreneurs. So we focus on building economies that are equal for all. So we want economies that most people wouldn’t step into, something like urban manufacturing to really come to light and understand that it is something that we should be thinking of holistically and that it is not an endangered species. So we have over 70 employees across the world. We do have a hub here in New York City. We have a hub in San Francisco, Cattle Creek, Michigan, Southwest Florida. And that’s really what we do. We get into communities, we understand the needs of communities, and we try to understand the pockets of specific economic development lenses that need to change.
NY Launch Pod: And what do you see that in New York City?
Stacey Weismiller: Yeah. So I mean, the thing that we think about here a lot is really the hardware community, the hardware startup community, right? So they have an immense impact in the manufacturing community as well. I mean, we have a really strong, innovative group of startups that are either making a software or a hardware product. We focus primarily in hardware. And from our end, it’s saying, well, if people have ideas and they’re thinking about making new products, why aren’t we thinking about where they’re being made physically? And so that’s what we’ve been stepping into is to say, let’s keep that ecosystem strong here in New York, let’s focus on entrepreneurs, whether they’re first time or second time entrepreneurs, whether they’re just out of college, they’re moving here because maybe their partner got a job here and they have great ideas. Let’s find ways to keep them here and so that’s kind of the ecosystem that we dive really deep into here in New York City.
NY Launch Pod: And what are the common mistakes that a lot of these startups and new businesses are making in the manufacturing process?
Stacey Weismiller: I think it’s kind of twofold, right? I think they assume that because there’s some industrial pockets of the city, people are just willing to do work with them and also that if they don’t do work here, that they immediately have to go abroad, which is definitely not true. So we’re trying to close that gap of not only talking to the entrepreneurs and the startups, but also the manufacturers and trying to bridge that kind of cultural divide to say, hey, listen, here’s an opportunity to think about some new business. So let’s sit down together and let’s actually talk about this product and if it can be made and if it can’t then where else do we go? Because sometimes I think entrepreneurs actually, they fail because they don’t have really strong mentors and really strong programs that are allowing them to think holistically when it comes to geography. That’s really what we’re trying to do. I am not really here to identify where you should be making your product. I’m trying to give you the best advice, if it makes sense for you to get in a car and drive six hours to a manufacturer and talk to them face to face. That’s great. If it makes sense for you to get on an airplane, to go talk to someone in China, also great. I’m here to support. I believe there’s a lot of opportunity in our backyard.
NY Launch Pod: So in terms of manufacturing startups, I have to imagine, obviously that they’re a little bit different than your traditional software company, for example. And so what is the sales cycle like? What are the unique challenges to manufacturing startups?
Stacey Weismiller: Completely, definitely a huge difference between the software world and the hardware world, the hardware world, they get into this place. We call the Valley of Death, which is really where they’ve done their customer acquisition. They understand customer churn. They understand who’s in the market, that’s really focused on their product. They’ve maybe gotten some seed funding and then they’re going to start to make the product and they realize that their product is actually not really manufacturable, right. Or they go and they say, okay, I need a hundred of these. And in that nice little waterfall model that they made, they didn’t account for all of these additional pieces of cashflow that they are going to need like tooling or set up or logistics. And this is where most hardware companies fail, honestly. And it’s not because their idea’s not amazing. It’s not because they’re not smart. It’s not because what they have put together, isn’t going to change the world. It’s not that it can’t be made. That’s my job. So my job is to really get them through that Valley of Death and then get them to scale so that they can kind of wash their hands, be revenue positive, and then go create the next part.
NY Launch Pod: And how does your fund work?
Stacey Weismiller: So I run an incubator called M-Corp it’s funded by NYSERDA, which is the New York State Energy Research Development Authority. We have a partner upstate in Rochester, New York that does the same thing as us. We partner together. We really focus on the innovation component down here. And then in New York City, we recognize we have a lot of startups here that have come out of universities or spinoff off of other tech companies. They have more of an old school industrial sector in Rochester, and a lot of contract manufacturers that still exist. A lot of people with larger pieces of industrial real estate that our teams can take advantage of. And we run a community based incubator. So we’re doing mentorship, we’re putting direct curriculum and education in their hands. We run really like a risk assessment tool called the MRL, the Manufacturing Readiness Level tool that we take them through kind of step by step to understand where their risk is. We also put some funding in their hands through what we call import box. So when they reach certain milestones on their roadmap, and then we also have handfuls of partners that are investors, other incubators, academic institutions that really come in and aid those teams along the way that they’re kind of quote unquote in the family at that point. And we’ve seen a ton of success. I’ve had 10 teams in my first cohort, seven in the second, and we’re launching our third. So very exciting.
NY Launch Pod: Obviously through NYSERDA, there’s a nexus in New York, but why have that connection to New York?
Stacey Weismiller: That connection to New York is super important because New York State itself is really focused on the zero carbon by 2050. So all of the products that we support are products that are going into the market to fight climate change. So that’s really the lens we’re taking. And that is why it’s so important here in New York State, because we’re really trying to get those products deployed in New York State. So, New York State having so many aggressive climate goals is really exciting. They know that to hit those goals, they have to be able to get entrepreneurs over that Valley of Death and get those products out to the market.
NY Launch Pod: And how come you do not take any equity?
Stacey Weismiller: We’re not really one of those companies. We want you to feel comfortable and vulnerable with us. That’s a huge part of a community running incubator. We want you to feel comfortable coming to me or any of my team members or your mentors and your accountability board and say, hey, listen, I’m struggling. I need help. And we don’t want to be that team. We want to be a team to make sure that you are successful in your success. Your success is our success. So that is not the model we take. We’ll probably never take that model and so far it’s been successful.
NY Launch Pod: So is it funded through just government dollars? And how are you finding startups?
Stacey Weismiller: How am I finding startups? Through things like this, right? A lot of times it’s just general outreach to people that are not in our network. However, we do have a very expansive network of startups. We’ve worked with over 200 startups in New York City alone over the course of the last five years that we’ve really been in this space. So we do have an expansive network of people. We do also have, as I mentioned, all of our partners that are either in the state or globally, we work with a lot of consulates as well. So our focus is to also do a lot of referrals. It’s really important that we get partners who are looking at us and saying, hey, listen, this team is doing great on the business end, really struggling on the manufacturing end.
NY Launch Pod: And what is the downside if you don’t take any equity?
Stacey Weismiller: The downside.
NY Launch Pod: Yeah, why a startup not join?
Stacey Weismiller: Great question. Probably just time commitment, to be honest. I mean, we really do expect you to show up. We expect you to be a coachable founder. We expect you to work alongside us and our mentors. So a lot of times it’s just strictly time commitment.
NY Launch Pod: And what is the time commitment?
Stacey Weismiller: About five to ten hours every two weeks. So it’s significant. But we also, now that we’re virtual, are kind of trying to limit that a little bit more because a lot of it was in person last year and I’m excited for hopefully the next time it can be in person.
NY Launch Pod: Well, that is a wonderful note to end things on. How do people find out more about you and your program?
Stacey Weismiller: Yeah, so our website is manufacturenewyork.com. Our application is live there. We also have a general email address that you can send a note to. You can also email me directly stacy.weismiller@secondmuse.com. Feel free to ask me any questions, have a zoom call with me. I’m open to discussing further.
NY Launch Pod: If you want to learn more about the New York Launch Pod, you can visit us at nylaunchpod.com for transcripts of every episode, including this one, or follow us on social media @nylaunchpod. And if you are a super fan, Stacey, are you a super fan of the New York Launch Pod.
Stacey Weismiller: Hundred percent.
NY Launch Pod: If you’re a super fan like Stacey, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated and does help people discover the show.
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