Have You Met…Mike Formica

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I grew up in Quakertown, a semi-rural suburb north of Philadelphia.

Q: How did you hear about Innovation Works?

A: I’ve interacted with IW in various capacities over the years. I first worked with IW when I applied for funding, unsuccessfully, with AssistWare Technology. The second time proved the charm when I received funding with 3Rivers3D. I’ve been an active mentor and guest speaker at Gear since it was founded, was heavily involved with the Scalable Program, evaluated technology at the University of Pittsburgh as part of IW’s University Innovation Grant and was on the Advisory Board for the Tech Commercialization Initiative.

Q: What drew you to work here?

A: When I started my first company there were very few resources to help budding entrepreneurs. There were no incubators or accelerators, and no online resources because the internet was just getting started. Working at IW gives me an opportunity to provide the help and guidance that wasn’t available to me. I am excited to share my experiences and help the next generation of entrepreneurs get to market faster.

Q: Let’s say I’m an entrepreneur in Southwestern Pennsylvania, what can I ask for your help on?

A: I am always willing to share my unfiltered, authentic experiences from my 20+ years of running startups. Starting a company is an amazing experience, but it is full of ups and downs and unexpected challenges. While I can provide great insights into product development, commercialization and manufacturing, there is no formula to entrepreneurship, and every company is different. I think some of the most valuable help is simply listening to an entrepreneur and helping them work through that day’s challenge.

Q: Reflecting on your wealth of experience in creating hardware products and companies across a variety of industries, what is the number one piece of advice you would give a startup?

A: The best advice I can give any startup, but especially hardware startups, is to get a product to market as quickly as possible. They should be sprinting towards revenue generation and profitability. It sounds odd, but I believe there is too much attention paid to companies who raise funding, but not nearly enough on companies that successfully sell a product. The ultimate goal of a startup is to create a sustainable business and the only way to do that is selling profitable products. Fund raising is typically a key part of the path, but it can’t be the end goal.

Q: What technology/industry are you most excited about and why?

A: I’m very excited about what I hope will be a renaissance in domestic manufacturing. For years I’ve watched our manufacturing base erode in key industries from robotics to semiconductors. I think the past couple of years has helped shine a light on the risks and costs associated with outsourcing so much capability. People are now appreciating what manufacturers have long known — that companies who invest in manufacturing gain a competitive advantage. Western PA is uniquely positioned to be a world leader in the 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). Our expertise in areas such as machine vision, robotics, and artificial intelligence coupled with our deep roots in traditional manufacturing is a potent combination.

Q: Step back to Mike at the start of your career, what line of work had you envisioned for yourself? How closely aligned is your current work to that vision?

A: I always knew I wanted to be an engineer and loved technology, so that aspect of my career isn’t surprising. But I thought I’d just go work at a company like IBM, sit in a lab or cubicle for 40 years, get my gold watch and retire. I never really considered being an entrepreneur. I wasn’t the kid who had a lemonade stand and I absolutely hated the idea of selling. Fortunately early in my career I took a job as an Applications Engineer where I had to be the bridge between customers, sales people, engineering and manufacturing. I quickly found that I had a knack for translating needs and requirements between those groups. Solving unmet needs is what drove me to start my first company and every company since. I frequently tell technical entrepreneurs that their most important job is to make the connection between what a customer needs and what you can create to fill that need.

Q: What issues that face our region are you most passionate about?

A: I think our tech community is still a diamond in the rough. We have had some great successes and have utterly amazing technology and capability, However, we are still lagging when it comes to commercializing that technology. I want to help entrepreneurs focus on identifying real problems and needs and work towards building those solutions and building them here. There is a substantial economic impact when a company builds and sources a product locally. It creates jobs not only at the original company but throughout the supply chain. I want to foster those relationships here as it will have a huge impact on job creation in the region.

Q: Tell us about your volunteer work.

A: My volunteer work has evolved over the years and mirrors my family life. When I was first married my wife and I were docents at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Once we had kids, I coached them during every season, even establishing a youth flag football league. I volunteered at their school, where I taught a computer class, then later a 3D printer class which ultimately evolved into an after school program where kids built their own 3D printers.

Most recently my wife and I volunteered as bike escorts during a half marathon that raised funds to support our local community.

And, of course, I spend a lot of time mentoring startups, especially companies who need help building something. I’ve produced a lot of prototypes and even a small production machine in my home workshop for local startups.

Q: What does an average Saturday look like for you?

A: I spend my weekends with my family and their activities. My oldest son is a collegiate track/cross country athlete and I never miss a race so I spend a lot of time traveling to see him. My other son competes in academic quiz bowl competitions and I spend many Saturdays feeling listening to him answering the most esoteric questions about history, geography, and science.

In between, you can find me riding my bike alongside my wife while she runs on the rails to trails. And on the rare weekends when no one has something going on I’ll spend some time in my workshop building something new, or more likely, fixing something that has broken.

Q: When asked for a ‘fun fact’ about yourself, what’s your go-to?

A: My senior year in high school I was the sports editor for the local newspaper. I had started out just filling in box scores for games but eventually began writing articles. When the sports editor and two writers quit in short succession they put me in charge. I managed the sports section for almost a year while they looked for a replacement. I even had a column in the main paper where I’d write a variety of snarky editorials.