Midwest Moxie

5.0 (4)
INVESTING

Hear about the successes, failures, insights and opportunities that shape some of the Midwest’s most exciting entrepreneurs. Host Kathleen Gallagher, executive director of 5 Lakes Institute, talks with company founders who are taking risks, disrupting the status quo and driving economic growth in the region.

5D AGO

Bedbugs? Here’s a novel, non-toxic fix

Nina Jenkins’ insect-killing fungal spores eliminate the need to fumigate, clean out cabinets and drawers. Nina Jenkins didn’t start out thinking about bedbugs. The Penn State researcher was studying how insect-killing fungal spores could combat locusts, houseflies and Asian long-horned beetles. But that all changed when a graduate student asked Nina if her fungal spores would work on bedbugs. Sure enough, they were the perfect target. So in 2017 Nina founded ConidioTec to deliver a novel, non-toxic bedbug-fighting product to pest management companies. Eight years later, in 2025, the Pennsylvania company sold its flagship product to Kansas City, Missouri-based Rockwell Labs for an undisclosed, eight-digit price. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

29 min
OCT 26

Hear ye, hear ye. Polco’s AI platform helps cities listen to everyone

After stints at the White House, Air Force Academy and Amazon, Nick Mastronardi set out to help the public sector make data-driven decisions and improve performance. Nick Mastronardi had the realization while writing his dissertation about applying game theory to public finance. In game theory, each person’s outcome depends upon all the participants’ strategies and decisions. It was the fact that everyone wasn’t participating, Nick reasoned the outsized influence of the vocal few that made the public sector underperform. If someone could help officials harness the collective intelligence, it could improve local governments’ performance. Six years after finishing his Ph.D., in 2015, Nick co-founded Madison-based Polco to act on that realization. Its platform helps local governments engage residents, analyze data and measure and track their performance. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

14 min
OCT 19

Not just for the blind anymore: Mapping the great indoors

Louisville-based GoodMaps, hatched at the American Printing House for the Blind, provides turn-by-turn directions in train stations, airports and other indoor spaces. Theresa Reno-Weber saw right away that GoodMaps, which had been developed to help blind and low sighted people navigate indoor spaces, had enormous potential for sighted people as well. So, she jumped in, first as Chief Operating Officer, then as CEO, and has been expanding its reach ever since. The expansion is no surprise to Anne Lancaster, Chief Officer for Innovation and Strategy at the American Printing House for the Blind. Like curb cuts, closed captions, and 33-⅓ records, ideas developed to serve one special group often grow to be used by many others. Midwest Moxie's executive producer is Audrey Nowakowski. She produced this episode. Subscribe to Midwest Moxie wherever you get your podcasts. And if you love Midwest Moxie as much as we do, help us out by posting a review.

16 min
MAY 28

Digitizing agriculture and manufacturing: Johnny Park

Johnny Park has been an academic, startup founder and now non-profit CEO.

17 min
MAY 25

Engineering viruses to kill cancer: Steve Thorne

KaliVir Immunotherapeutics is developing immunotherapy programs for treating cancer.

17 min
MAY 21

Improving mental health: Katie Dorn

EmpowerU's online program delivers resilience training with 1on1 counseling support.

15 min
MAY 18

Gut check: Kevin Honaker

BiomeSense's technology platform enables at-home monitoring of the human microbiome.

14 min
MAY 14

The business of parties: Joshua Lewis

UpDown nightlife app helped users find events and deals and provided consumer data insights to entertainment venues.

16 min

See All (77)

5

out of 5

4 Ratings

Great to have someone telling Midwest startup stories…

03/15/2022

BallinOCinMKE

It’s great to see a new podcast dedicated to sharing the stories of some of the Midwest's top entrepreneurs and innovators.

Hear about the successes, failures, insights and opportunities that shape some of the Midwest’s most exciting entrepreneurs. Host Kathleen Gallagher, executive director of 5 Lakes Institute, talks with company founders who are taking risks, disrupting the status quo and driving economic growth in the region.