The Spur

Economic Development September 5, 2019

Competition runs deep as annual ‘RipTide’ returns

By GREGORY ZELLER // A business plan pitch-a-thon with real pull is returning to the Hamptons. i-Hamptons – the professional networking community that brought you The Spur and Spur East, members-only “entrepreneur’s clubs” aimed at East End impresarios – is diving back into business-building waters with its annual “Shark Tank”-like business plan competition, “RipTide: Sink or Swim.” This year’s Riptide III (unofficially updated as “$ink or $wim”) is set to distribute some $50,000 in grant…

Awards and Events March 27, 2019

Breakfast of champions

Hundreds turn out to honor LI’s brightest innovators (photos by Bob Giglione) In a rare breakfast networker that delivered all the feels, Innovate Long Island saluted its 2019 Innovators of the Year Tuesday at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. More than 200 guests turned out to honor two dozen of Long Island’s brightest and boldest researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs and executives, including 2019 Master of Innovation Mitch Maiman and Stony Brook University Vice President…

Newsletters March 20, 2019

No. 390: On relativity, finger-licking and extra Voices – and happy birthday, almost-2,000-year-old man

Spring in your step: Welcome to Wednesday, dear reader, and not just any Wednesday but the first day of spring in our lovely Northern Hemisphere – the vernal equinox occurs today at 5:58 p.m. Eastern Time. We really had an easy winter. But the 15-or-so inches of snow measured by the National Weather Service’s Islip monitoring station won’t be a record low, according to historical accumulations recorded by Brookhaven National Laboratory. Veggie tales: This…

Newsletters March 1, 2019

No. 385: Pigs fly, Adelphi soars, Captain America meets Hitler – and a healthy turn at Bethpage Black

Weekend update: Welcome to Friday, friends, as we complete another productive workweek and greet another weekend. It’s March 1 out there, already the 60th day of 2019. Before we dive in, welcome new newsletter subscribers Dean, Judy, Morgan, Brittney, Leo, Brenda, Conan, Leigh, Wei and Harvey. Your timing couldn’t be better, hopping aboard the innovation train on National Beer Day – in Iceland, marking the 1989 end of that country’s prohibition laws. Don’t mean…

Voices January 24, 2019

Island finally finds its footing on the co-working path

By PHIL RUGILE // Helping new companies get started has become a big part of the “Startup Economy.” Investopedia defines a startup as “a company that is in the first stage of its operations,” often bankrolled by their entrepreneurial founders, who are attempting to capitalize on a new product or service. It’s no easy task. Until you’ve experienced the terror of being an entrepreneur – of struggling to convince your target market of your product…

Technology June 14, 2018

Panel walks the fine line of sports-tech innovation

By GREGORY ZELLER // Properly handled, technological innovation makes for good sports – and properly presented, good sports innovators make for an engaging panel discussion. So an audience of 30-plus members and guests were both educated and entertained Wednesday evening, when The Spur @ The Station – temporary summer home of The Spur, a private “co-working and entrepreneur’s club” – hosted an interactive conversation featuring four experts of tech innovation, as related to the wide…

Newsletters May 18, 2018

No. 307: Big Brother beached, commencements classed-up and a big first for Hofstra/Northwell nurses

Nicely done: Kudos, dear reader, on once again rising above the mayhem and reaching the end of another busy work week. It’s May 18 out there – International Museum Day, for those keeping score. War, and remembrance: The then-Kingdom of Great Britain declared war on France on this date in 1756, kicking off the Seven Years War; on the same date in 1803, the United Kingdom declared war on France again, this time ticked off…

Newsletters May 16, 2018

No. 306: On root beer, cleantech, impressive Adelphi grads and The Spur’s summer of love

Welcome to Wednesday: And a very happy May 16 to you, dear readers – together, we’ve reached the midpoint of another busy week in Long Island innovation. By the way, it’s officially the 2018 Navigation Season along the 524-mile New York State Canal System, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo firing the starter’s pistol on Tuesday, or waving the green flag, or opening the gates, or whatever you do at the start of boating season. Popular misconception:…

Entrepreneurs May 15, 2018

The Spur: How I spent my summer (working) vacation

By GREGORY ZELLER // That jingle-jangle you hear in Southampton comes from The Spur, the private co-working and entrepreneur’s club that’s moseyed into a new summer home. After a six-month stint in its “winter home” at the Southampton Social Club, The Spur – a manifestation of i-hamptons, a Southampton-based “community and resource guide” for East End entrepreneurs – has relocated to 280 Elm St. in Southampton, the circa-1884 seed-and-feed barn at the Long Island Rail…

Newsletters February 21, 2018

No. 283: C-3P0 ages, “Muni Coops” thrive, Flygirl soars, and why B2B salespeople should fear the machines

Over the hump we go: Welcome to Wednesday, dear reader, midpoint of your workweek and your kids’ winter break. It can be tough, keeping the little ones occupied this week, but any date that brought us humorist Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), jazz/R&B/gospel great (and civil rights icon) Nina Simone (1933-2003), beloved “Star Wars” robo-actor Anthony Daniels (1946) and legendary Long Island shutterbug Bob Giglione (born 1946, still clicking) is OK in our book. Previously on Feb….

Newsletters January 10, 2018

No. 271: New Discovery for New York, new co-working options for the Hamptons and cracking the Case of the Co-Opted Cashbox

Second wind: It’s Wednesday, Jan. 10, and over the hump we go. Welcome back, dear readers, to the five-day workweek. Gold standards: It was 50 years ago today that the U.S. Surveyor 7 landed near lunar crater Tycho and Matt Bodkin – cartoonist for Newsday, Long Island Business News and a zillion other regional publications – landed on Earth. This is also a fairly noteworthy date in the annals of innovation and business: London debuted…

Startups January 9, 2018

With ‘pop up,’ The Spur serves a tantalizing appetizer

By GREGORY ZELLER // The Spur is now open for business, and pleasure. At least, what founder Ashley Heather calls a “pop up” version of the Hamptons’ first-ever shared-office space, which will officially open the doors of its new 10,000-square-foot “private co-working and entrepreneur’s club” this summer but for now is gathering strength inside the friendly confines of the Southampton Social Cub. The Spur – the physical embodiment of i-hamptons, a Southampton-based “community and resource…

Newsletters, Uncategorized January 5, 2018

No. 270: Med-tech in China, shorter mastheads in Uniondale and New York’s front-line role in America’s ‘economic civil war’

Any Kiowa Indians in the house? If so, have an especially peaceful and pleasant Jan. 5, known also as “The Night the Stars Fell” to the Kiowa and other Northern Plains tribes, in reference to an unusually intense meteor shower – the second such “storm” in six weeks – recorded on this date in 1834. Speaking of bomb cyclones: Winter Storm Grayson lived up to its bitter billing this week, but take a bow (carefully)…

Entrepreneurs October 9, 2017

For Hamptons innovators, membership has its privileges

By GREGORY ZELLER // Things are formalizing a bit at i-hamptons, which is introducing a new membership-management platform – and an annual membership fee. The Southampton-based “community and resource guide for local entrepreneurs” – essentially, a networking group to help Hamptons entrepreneurs launch their startups – is “switching on” its new Meet-Up platform, which will better “manage membership, events and discussion boards,” according to organization founder Ashley John Heather. “It’s a bit more sophisticated and…

Startups September 22, 2017

Because wealthy entrepreneuers need a hand, too

By GREGORY ZELLER // The “flip” came around 2014, after Ashley John Heather and his wife, Diana, welcomed their third child. Heather, a Brit who emigrated to the United States around 2000, had lived his entire U.S. life in New York City. But it was two years since he’d sold his successful e-commerce startup Dotbox to NYC holding company MDC Partners, about that long since he’d bought the house in the Hamptons, a few too…