An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
People come to us for space or equipment, but we pride ourselves on giving them so much more than they expect. Founders and freelancers often don’t know what they need until they need it, and we try to constantly meet them where their needs are.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sal Bednarz, Managing Director of Port Labs.
With decades of experience as an entrepreneur and small business owner interspersed with a career in IT consulting and telecom startups, Sal brings a breadth of knowledge and customer focus to the Port Labs.
” Innovation drives opportunity, economic activity, and change. I’m excited when people take on big problems, and I can help.” -Sal
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path? Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We work with companies developing physical things, which is a uniquely risky and difficult thing to do. We do everything we can to de-risk their product development process.
Prototyping and early manufacturing can really put companies in isolation — working from their garage or home office, or in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. It’s really difficult to develop the kinds of peer networks that can make the difference between success and failure.
We manage shared space and equipment in flexible ways to enable founders and young companies to work near each other, and find ways to help each other.
We also have a great team and advisors, and we are excited to make connections for our companies. We win when our companies grow and thrive.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
All my mistakes are serious and tragic.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I learned to take things apart (and sometimes put them back together) from my grandfather, who was an inventor and entrepreneur, and who gave me the confidence to just trying things.
I’ve had some great bosses who showed me how to be effective but also helped me understand that I could lead in a different way.
I often have the experience of being helped by someone I’m trying to help, sometimes without them being aware. I make a practice of observing and listening to the people around me and finding what they are uniquely good at, which is a spark for a lot of the community building that’s the real essence of what happens at Port Labs.
People come to us for space or equipment, but we pride ourselves on giving them so much more than they expect. Founders and freelancers often don’t know what they need until they need it, and we try to constantly meet them where their needs are.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We just opened the doors on our new facility in Oakland. Dozens of companies and innovation ecosystem types will fill it up over the next several months. We’re exploring other spaces for further expansion. In parallel, we’re establishing pipelines to bring more concentrated resources to our startup community. I’m really excited about these initiatives, and I hope to have more to say about them later this year.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
I loved Rodney Mullen’s TED talk about how innovation happens. I recently read Hella Town, which is a history of development in Oakland through the lens of racial and class dynamics, which helps me better understand the city I live in and love. I’m reading Dilla Time right now, about the life and creative influence of J Dilla in hip hop music.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
PROBLEMS ARE BORING. Create solutions.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We’re building a community of innovators. That’s all the movement I need.
How can our readers follow you online?
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Sal Bednarz Of Port Labs On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
