Being an entrepreneur takes grit, determination, and vision, all of which Michael Zebrowski, founder of Up End This has in spades. Not only has his young business endured the challenges typical of a startup, it has also survived both the...

After a 20-year hiatus, the next generation of DesLauriers are at the helm bringing new ideas, energy, and the labor of love to the resort. Even though it’s October, Lindsay DesLauriers’ skis are propped in the corner of her office,...

Made from recycled glass, Glavel will begin manufacturing foam glass gravel at its Essex facility this fall. “The built environment is responsible for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rob Conboy, founder and CEO of Glavel. “There is...

An engineer by training and environmentalist by choice, Chad Farrell founded Encore Redevelopment in 2007 to “scratch an entrepreneurial itch.” In those early years, the business focused on cleaning up contaminated waste sites for commercial real estate development. “That was...

“Battery storage is what allows renewable energy to be relevant in today’s market,” said Jay Bellows, president and CEO of KORE Solutions, Inc. (formerly known as Northern Reliability). “Mother nature does not provide wind or sun on demand, so figuring...

From homestead to statewide, Lisa Ransom and Scott Baughman close the loop for Vermont’s food systems. “How can we live in Vermont and not be able to find compost?” That question, posed by Lisa Ransom around the dinner table one...

At the core of Aqua ViTea founder Jeff Weaber’s business lies a simple idea: that kombucha—a fizzy probiotic drink made from tea—promotes good health and can change lives. It was with this idea in mind that Weaber, formerly a brewer...

Cider pioneer Eleanor Léger on growing a business with intention. Movies have been made about the romantic notion of leaving corporate America to start a business in a remote, bucolic Vermont town, but few of those fictional characters can hold...

Take One Step Today By Janice St. Onge, Flexible Capital Fund President Is your money invested in alignment with your values? How can you find out? What does it mean to invest anyway? Don’t know where to start? Here’s a...

By Janice St. Onge, Flexible Capital Fund President The Flexible Capital Fund, L3C (the “Flex Fund”) provides risk capital in the form of revenue-based financing to growing companies in Vermont’s food system, forestry and clean technology sectors. These businesses are...