Written by 43North Founding Board Chairman, Jordan Levy
My Buffalo love story is a tale of perseverance. It also speaks of a deep connection to a city with a rich history, unique charm and promising potential.
Today, Buffalo is home to some of the world’s most innovative startups. But that transformation wasn’t guaranteed. Once the eighth-largest city in the U.S., Buffalo was losing promising businesses to regions with more favorable conditions.
Recognizing the urgent need for change, a deep love for this city inspired me and others to take action and do something bold and transformative to bring Buffalo back to its rightful place as a hub of innovation and opportunity.
Two pivotal experiences highlighted these struggles and underscored the pressing need for change. In the late 1980s, my business partner Ron Schreiber and I founded Ingram Software in Buffalo. When negotiating with Michael Dell to distribute his computer products, he agreed, but only on the condition that we establish a facility in Austin, Texas. Stunned, we declined, but we realized the importance of a corporation’s connection to its community.
Years later, we faced a similar situation. After selling Software Services Group to a Toronto-based equity group, the management team relocated the company to Nashville, Tenn., a move we should have prevented with a non-relocation clause. This decision cemented our resolve to keep future ventures anchored in Buffalo, planting the seed for what would eventually become 43North.
Recognizing the need to reinvent Buffalo as a tech hub, we launched Z80 Labs, an incubator to nurture startups. The community’s response was immediate and supportive. We gained backing from local leaders like Howard Zemsky, the CEO of Empire State Development, and The Buffalo News, which offered us office space.
Shortly after, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the Buffalo Billion initiative, committing $1 billion to revitalize the region’s economy. When consultants proposed a modest business plan competition, I suggested a much bolder alternative: a $5 million startup competition with a $1 million grand prize to attract global attention and transform Buffalo into a startup destination. Gov. Cuomo embraced the idea, agreeing to fund it on the condition that I lead the program.
We recruited a board that included some of our community’s best business minds and new leaders like Christian Orsi, Eric Reich and Bill Maggio and set out to bring 43North (named after the circle of latitude that passes right through Buffalo) to life.
Launched in October 2014, the inaugural 43North Finals event at Shea’s Buffalo Theater received significant media coverage and community support, drawing nearly 7,000 applications from across the globe. We realized we had something special when prominent journalists and business leaders began highlighting Buffalo’s renaissance. Kara Swisher, arguably the most important technology journalist in America, visited Buffalo and described us as “Silicon Snowbank,” acknowledging our city’s growing tech scene.
Katie Couric visited 43North’s incubator and reported on the “excitement of 43North, a tech incubator where innovation is happening in every corner.” Steve Case, the founder of AOL, brought his Rise of the Rest program to Buffalo and invested in two of our companies. Even Seth Godin, a Buffalo expat and renowned entrepreneur, advised our portfolio companies and praised the transformative power of community efforts in his blog.
In 2014, founders Joe Neiman and Jack Greco sought funding and support from Z80 Labs, where they met Dan Magnuszewski, who was nearing the end of his two-year term as our first managing director — a policy designed to rotate leadership and introduce fresh perspectives. Dan soon joined ACV as chief technology officer, and with investment from Z80 Labs and success in the 43North’s second competition, ACV’s growth rapidly accelerated.
Their breakthrough came at “Buffalo Day,” where ACV’s pitch to venture capitalists in New York City secured significant investments. The hiring of George Chamoun as CEO helped solidify ACV’s success, culminating in a NASDAQ debut in March 2021, where it raised over $400 million and closed valued at over $5 billion.
With a team of more than 600 people in Buffalo and 1,500 across the country, ACV represents everything we started out to achieve back in the late 1980s. Create great jobs, hope, opportunity, optimism, wealth, new attitudes and the overall belief that you can start a company in Buffalo and build it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise without having to leave for another city.
Looking back, we see that with a bit of luck and a lot of dedicated, passionate people, dreams can come true. Jobs, wealth, and new opportunities have emerged, along with a shift in attitudes both within and outside Western New York. This is just the beginning of what’s possible when we focus on what truly matters.
If we maintain a mindset of “failure is not an option,” Buffalo can once again become a leading center for entrepreneurship, echoing its vibrant past and paving the way for the next generation of dreamers and innovators who call Buffalo, N.Y., their home.
