by Emma Ayala | Apr 24, 2026 | Startup Advice
Lazy Lady Bakery: Maren Close on Building in Johnson City--> Founder Stories From San Francisco Pop-Ups to Taking Over Johnson City: A Conversation with Maren Close of Lazy Lady Bakery Eight years in, seven retail spaces, and a philosophy built around baking with the...
by Emma Ayala | Mar 31, 2026 | Startup Advice
The iBUCS Pitch Competition Just Proved Northeast Tennessee’s Student Founders Are the Real Deal We talk a lot about building a startup ecosystem in this region. What happened at ETSU’s 9th annual iBUCS pitch competition is proof it’s working. 14...
by Emma Ayala | Mar 2, 2026 | Startup Advice
The 130-Storefront Ecosystem Hiding Inside One Johnson City Building We love to celebrate entrepreneurship at its loudest. The ribbon cuttings.The million-dollar Series A investments.The founders who quit their job to pursue their dream. But sometimes the most...
by Emma Ayala | Feb 2, 2026 | Startup Advice
You Can Build Big Things In Small Places For a long time, success has been sold as a departure. If you want to build something meaningful, the advice is almost always the same: move. Bigger city. Bigger market. Bigger network. The message is subtle but...
by Emma Ayala | Jan 26, 2026 | Startup Advice
The Bush House: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Building with Vision In a region where small businesses are the backbone of the community, the most successful ones are not always the loudest or the biggest. More often, they are the most intentional. The Bush House...