(0:17) Rob introduces Nadyli Nuñez, Executive Director of Ascender. (1:01) Nadyli shares how she got involved in the local entrepreneurial community and how she started to help local founders grow. (3:00) Rob comments on how she is involved in nearly all aspects of the Pittsburgh founder community and asks her to share what motivates her to be so involved. (3:42) Nadyli explains that her motivations stem from her childhood. Her mother used to say that whatever you do, you should do your best and that’s stuck with Nadyli her whole life. Now she loves helping founders grow and being part of their journey. (5:01) Pat mentions that Ascender is one of the OG Pittsburgh incubators and asks her how she intentionally builds out her own network. (5:40) Nadyli explains that she tries to avoid falling too heavily into any one networking routine. She purposefully chooses to go to new networking events and shake them up to meet new founders. (7:12) Pat asks how she cultivates her list of mentors for the founders at Ascender. (7:35) Nadyli describes her process. It’s influenced by those she already knows both by their referrals and by observing how they interact with new mentors to decide if they should be added to their roster and in what capacity. (8:58) The power of the CMU and Pittsburgh community is that we’re all about helping each other grow. Tell our listeners what they can do to help you. Nadyli shares that Ascender is always looking for new ways to help their founders grow whether that's by helping them get plugged in with great salespeople or finding new founders and mentors. You can get connected by joining their newsletter at the bottom of Ascender's home page, linked below.

Ascender: https://ascenderpgh.com/

Pat O’Donnell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-o-donnell-78993267

Rob Miller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-miller-b4177b82/

Nadyli Nuñez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadyli/