Startup Insights & Stories

Expert advice, practical lessons and inspiring successes from our startups, founders and mentors.

FROM THE EXPERTS

Could Buffalo be America’s food innovation capital?

Buffalo may be sitting on an untapped identity as America's food innovation capital. While other cities have built their reputations around specific industries — Detroit for mobility, Boston for biotech — Buffalo has quietly been building the ingredients for a focused food ecosystem: anchor institutions like Rich Products and Wegmans, below-market manufacturing space, investors with food CPG portfolios, and a growing roster of high-growth startups.

EIR SPOTLIGHT

Winson Wong

From turning restaurant scraps into a thriving sustainable foodtech business to helping founders stay accountable and self-aware, Winson Wong brings a rare mix of grit, insight and generosity to the startup world. As co-founder and CEO of Afterlife Ag—and now an Entrepreneur in Residence at UB BEP—he’s channeling a decade of hard-earned lessons into guiding the next wave of innovators. Discover what drives him, how he helps founders cut through the noise and why building trust and clarity might be the most powerful tools in any entrepreneur’s toolkit.

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

2026 Buffalo Startup Week

Buffalo Startup Week returned bigger than ever in 2026, bringing together founders, investors, students and startup talent for nine days of pitches, panels, live podcasts and networking across Buffalo. From student venture competitions and startup career fairs to investor reverse pitches and conversations on scaling companies, the expanded program highlighted every stage of the entrepreneurial journey—and the growing momentum behind Buffalo’s startup ecosystem.

EXPERT ADVICE

What is a SAFE in venture capital investing?

A Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) offers early-stage startups a flexible investment option, providing funds in exchange for future equity when the business grows. Learn more about what a SAFE is, how it works, and about UB's standard terms for investments made through its Cultivator program.

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2026 Startup Week Recap

Buffalo Startup Week returned this spring with a larger program and a wider view of the region’s startup economy—from students testing early ideas to founders preparing for capital, growth and new markets.

2025 Startup Week Recap

Hundreds of founders, funders, mentors, connectors and friends gathered for a full slate of events designed to celebrate and grow the region’s thriving startup ecosystem at the 2025 Buffalo Startup Week, April 7-9. Hosted by UB Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships and powered by the Western New York Incubator Network, Startup Week sessions were held at Seneca One Tower, UB’s Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, and The Caz.

How UB supports three 43North semifinalists

Western New York's startup ecosystem and greater WNY community come together every fall for 43North’s annual startup competition, where 16 semi-finalists pitch and five high-growth companies walk away with $1M each. In 2024, three of the 16 semi-finalists hail from Buffalo, all of which have been supported in various ways by UB's startup initiatives.

Growing your startup: How and when to find co-founders and go full time

As a founder of a startup, you’ve probably been told that it’s important to find co-founders and that eventually you need to go full time if you want your business to grow. But many struggle with how and when to make these leaps. Asking someone to join you on the journey sounds like the biggest sale you’ll ever make. Raising the stakes by letting go of a job that feeds your family sounds even harder. Yet every founding team has done it.