Looking Back and Looking Forward
Depending on how you look at it, a ten-year anniversary is both a huge milestone and a reminder of the work still to come.
As Ascender celebrates ten years of incubation, mentoring, coworking, and collaboration with Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurs, our team and stakeholders are reflecting on what has changed and on untapped opportunities to progress in bold ways.
“Pittsburgh has always been an entrepreneurial city,” says Ascender Executive Director Nadyli Nuñez, “and Ascender has been integral in creating a truly connected community where all kinds of entrepreneurs and experts can come together, share ideas, and work hard to make their vision a reality.”
Founded in 2012, Ascender, then known as Thrill Mill, was started by a group of professionals inspired by the potential Pittsburgh had to grow into a nationally recognized entrepreneurship hub.
Former Ascender Chief Operating Officer Stephan Mueller, now of Preis Capital, put it this way, “What attracted me to the organization was that it was filling a gap in the early stage ecosystem that no one had been paying attention to. And the organization itself was a young, fledgling organization — a nonprofit startup — that needed its own evolution and growing up, and that was an exciting challenge.”
Now, ten years and dozens of successfully incubated companies later, Ascender is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an entrepreneurship community even further. With an intentional focus on an expansive definition of entrepreneurship that includes all industries and people of all backgrounds, Ascender’s current unofficial motto can be summed up as: the only requirement here is that you have to be willing to put in the work.
Entering our second decade, after two years in a pandemic, Ascender’s impact on Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurship scene remains undeniable. We work with an incredibly diverse group of entrepreneurs, investors, and experts in our community, we see more than 600 startup founders and small business owners each year via our education series, and our most recent incubation cohort raised $1.8 million dollars in revenue and investments.
As we move forward, it’s important to note that Ascender’s team is not doing this alone. Our organization’s approach to partnership, collaboration, and continual learning emphasizes the interconnected nature of business success in our region. Let’s work together to create a community where entrepreneurs of all kinds can build, belong, collaborate, and thrive.
For more information on upcoming events in our ongoing 10th Anniversary celebrations, including networking, events, and more, visit ascenderpgh.com/ten
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From fledgling tech companies, healthcare innovators, and nonprofits to makers, creators, services and shops, Ascender is for Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurs. We help businesses of all types in the Pittsburgh region start and build a business through education and connectivity. See how Ascender can help you.
Ascender At 10 was originally published in Ascender on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
