Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

Know your ‘why,’ and other lessons of social entrepreneurship

Donato Tramuto never considered the term “social entrepreneurship” when he entered the healthcare industry approximately 30 years ago. But he didn’t need labels to do what he did. Tramuto, an Ogunquit resident, is founder and CEO of Massachusetts-based Physicians Interactive, a seven-year-old company that is nearing $100 million in sales, and founder of Health eVillages, a global nonprofit that brings state-of-the-art […]

Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

Field thins for startups vying to compete on Maine’s version of ‘Shark Tank’

Greenlight Maine, the weekly TV show loosely modeled on ABC’s popular reality TV show, “Shark Tank,” has released the names of the startups and their founders who have passed the first hurdle and been named a quarterfinalist. Portland Media Group announced the show earlier this month, then began accepting short video pitches from entrepreneurs who wanted […]

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Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

‘Shark Tank’ announces date for Portland casting call

“Shark Tank,” the ABC television show that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to a group of potential investors (or “sharks”) before a national TV audience, will hold a casting call in Portland on July 29. Back in April, we reported the TV show’s plan to cast its line for entrepreneurs in Portland, but an exact date and location […]

Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

Startup Weekend: Women’s Edition

This weekend, the Maine College of Art will be a hotbed of new business ideas, partnerships and entrepreneurial ambition as 40 women gather to spend 54 hours building businesses from scratch. The school, which has been lately increasing its focus on entrepreneurship, is the site for Portland’s fourth Startup Weekend, an event that brings together people interested in starting a […]

Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

Maine startup gets shout-out at Google’s annual conference

— Chimani, a Maine tech startup, got some national exposure last week at Google’s annual developers conference, a high-profile event known as Google I/O. At the two-day event, held in San Francisco, Lawrence Chang, Google’s mobile product manager, called out Chimani during a session for developers building mobile apps for Google’s Android platform. Portland-based Chimani is […]

Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

Boston startup community rallies around Matt Lauzon, the Maine native at the center of the sexual abuse controversy in Biddeford

Matt Lauzon, the Biddeford native on a mission to seek justice from the former Biddeford police officer he says sexually abused him when he was a teenager, has received an upswell of support from an unlikely group. Well … unlikely if you aren’t aware of Lauzon’s day job. Rallying around Lauzon and his cause are members of Boston’s startup community, of which Lauzon […]

Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

UMaine duo win business plan competition, target billion-dollar insulation market

Maine’s abundant natural resources have supported various manufacturing industries over the years, most notably the paper industry. But the paper industry doesn’t have the economic impact it once did and people have been talking about other industries that would create jobs in communities like Millinocket, East Millinocket, Bucksport and Lincoln, all of which have either lost […]

Posted inBusiness, The Startup Line

Finalists named for Maine’s only statewide student business plan competition

— This year’s batch of finalists in the UMaine Business Challenge, the only statewide business plan competition for students, are tackling topics as diverse as underwater robotics, digital music-sharing, e-commerce application, tourism and advanced insulation materials. One of them will receive a $5,000 award to help develop that idea into a business when they compete in […]