Selling modified video games and consoles is illegal but typically unenforced. The fear of a lawsuit from a big tech company is enough to scare away established retailers. A few side-hustlers in the Capital Region take that chance and operate in a gray market.

From McDonald’s to Ace Hardware, franchises permeate all sorts of industries, and media is no exception. The franchise model offers an onramp into the industry for entrepreneurs with the money but without the experience. 

“I wanted to build a platform that removed those barriers,” says Lisa M. Watts, CEO and founder of CREE8, “enabling creators to work from anywhere with the same power as an enterprise-grade studio. Truly reinventing the future of work.”

As the bad guys get more sophisticated, all businesses, both large and small, are vulnerable. Cybercriminals view large business as a big pot of gold for them to steal and small or medium-sized business as an easy target. McKinsey & Company estimates that cyberattacks will reach $10.5 trillion by the end of this year, a whopping 300 percent increase from 2015. 

It’s a wild ride that not everyone has the access, resources, means or the mentality to stomach. Most fall short. But since 2015, some startups in the Capital Region have defied the odds, reaching remarkable heights.

With a family of six, Bob Guimarin had three “power problems”: 1) too many cords, 2) too many outages and 3) not enough ports in the van during road trips. Being a serial entrepreneur, Guimarin came up with a way to simplify power management and reduce reliance on external sources.

Behind a nondescript door in downtown Davis exists a little-known but vitally important piece of infrastructure, the Hydrologic Engineering Center. A recent threat to this center’s existence appears to have passed.

The faces of entrepreneurship and wealth holding are changing as women make gains in both facets of economic life. These shifts are affecting how they’re managing money — and who they turn to for help.