The Company Lab (CO.LAB)

Get your tickets now to join industry leaders as they share insights on how to stay ahead with the latest tech and workforce strategies in the manufacturing sector at the 10th Annual Peak Performance Symposium! 📍Smart Factory Institute | PIE Center | Cleveland, TN 🗓️ Friday, October 25th, 🕕 8:00am - 12:30pm (Symposium) 🍔Lunch & Eaton Corporation Tour: 12:30pm - 2:30pm 🎟️Get your tickets: https://lnkd.in/eeX-3hER   Delivering the high quality content you've come to expect from the Smart Factory Institute, their presenters will speak from their experience and research on these important topics:   Leading the New Collar Worker Speaker: Christopher J. L. Cunningham, Ph.D. Company: The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Flowing Towards Excellence: Mueller Water Products' Innovation Journey Speaker: Graham Hines Company: Mueller Water Products Empowering Manufacturing Excellence: Training Your Workforce Speaker: Derrick Sloan, Mia Williams, & Anthony Neading Company: Mueller Water Products, Toyo Tires, & Wacker Chemical Corp. Smart Manufacturing for Less with Affordable Industry 4.0 Solutions Speaker: Kevin Nossem, Chan Gill, & Bryan Sellars Company: FANUC America Corp., Phoenix Contact USA, & SICK Sensor Intelligence Revving the Future: Oak Ridge National Laboratory's REV Program Speaker: Jeffrey Cornett Company: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

🚀 Join us at Chattanooga Connect 2024 and explore the cutting-edge of connected mobility, digital infrastructure, AI, and policy innovation! CO.LAB is proud to partner with the UTC Research Institute to bring together forward-thinking leaders, researchers, and innovators shaping the future of our cities. We’re thrilled to sponsor CO.LAB Connect, the official conference happy hour, on Tuesday, October 22 from 5 pm to 7 pm. CO.LAB Connect will be a unique chance for conference attendees to connect and network as they dive into topics like Digital Infrastructure, V2X, CAV, and more. Plus, the happy hour will feature student poster presentations, showcasing innovative ideas and fresh perspectives from the next generation of changemakers. Ready to secure your spot? There's still time! Use code COLABCONNECT for a discounted registration and don’t miss this chance to gain insights on the future of urban tech. Head to https://lnkd.in/eyHpC7zw to register!

HUGE congratulations are in order 🔥 Starting a business is hard. Scaling a business is no easy feat. Getting acquired is even more challenging. One company in Chattanooga accomplished all three: and was acquired by Commify, a U.K-based global messaging solutions leader. Congratulations to our friends over at Text Request: We are incredibly proud to know such a great, hard-working team! Read more about TextRequest's big news here: https://lnkd.in/eQQEf6u4

HAPPENING TONIGHT 🔥 There’s power in funding female entrepreneurs… so let’s put our money where our mouth is 💪 What would a world look like with more women at the table, whether that’s as investors or founders? 🩷 helps local economies grow and thrive 🩷 higher potential for investors to see returns 🩷 creates a more diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem Join The Company Lab and The Jump Fund for the award-winning documentary premiere of ‘Show Her The Money,’ which tells the story of female investors and founders creating change. 📍Barrelhouse Ballroom (1501 Long St, Chattanooga TN) 🗓️ Monday, October 14th 🕕 Doors open at 5:30 p.m. 🎟️ Free and open to the public 🍿 Movie snacks provided RSVP here: https://shorturl.at/vHIfs

Movement is all around us. But how do we create movement that is sustainable? 🤔 It’s safe to say innovation is happening everywhere. We’re seeing: ⚡️ Electric Vehicles ⚡️ Autonomous Cars ⚡️ Supply Chain and Logistics ⚡️ Smart City and Traffic Development and a whole lot more. But how do we make it all come together and integrate into our day-to-day smoothly? According to experts at MOVE America, a conference with 2,000+ attendees, the answer is clear: ✨ Collaboration ✨ Collaboration between innovators, legislators, researchers, corporate leaders, and everyone else in-between. What are your thoughts? Drop them in the comments below 👇 #mobility #sustainablemobility #electrification #autonomous #freight

We talk a lot about company success stories, but today we’re talking about failure. Specifically, Pinterest. 🚨We can’t stress enough how important user feedback is for understanding customer needs and wants, and improving your product to meet those. It can: -Improve user stickiness with your products -lead to higher customer satisfaction and acquisition -reduce churn -give you a competitive edge over others in your sector A key example: before Pinterest was Pinterest, it was a failed mobile shopping app called Tote. Instead of walking away, Ben Silbermann did a deep dive into what did work: people engaged with the app to share their favorite items. 📌“Our most cherished value: put pinners first – is embedded in everything we do,” explained Silbermann. By focusing on user wants and needs, and adjusting accordingly, what started as a failure became a massive success. Today, Pinterest has 498 million active users and a market cap of $22.39 billion. 👉 Founders, what have you learned from your users? Tell us in the comments below. #user #feedback #failure #fortune

💪 What would a world look like with more women at the table, whether that’s as investors or founders? For starters, we’d see change. Positive change. Investing in women does much more than simply help break the glass ceiling. It: ✨ helps local economies grow and thrive ✨ higher potential for investors to see returns ✨ creates a more diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem Join The Company Lab and The Jump Fund for the award-winning documentary premiere of 'Show Her The Money,’ which tells the story of female investors and founders creating change. 📍Barrelhouse Ballroom (1501 Long St, Chattanooga TN) 🗓️ Monday, October 14th 🕕 Doors open at 5:30 p.m. 🎟️ Free and open to the public 🍿 Movie snacks provided RSVP here: https://shorturl.at/vHIfs

📣 Calling all job seekers…we’re thrilled to launch the CO.LAB Skills Accelerator, powered by gener8tor! This is a FREE ten week workforce development program that provides virtual computer skills training and job placement services for unemployed and underemployed individuals across ten counties: Rhea, Bledsoe, Sequatchie, Marion, Grundy, Polk, Meigs, Bradley, Hamilton, and McMinn. Participants will earn industry-recognized certifications from gener8tor, Microsoft, and LinkedIn. In certain programs, participants have access to reduced fee exams to secure additional industry-recognized certifications. This comprehensive program offers: ✔ 1:1 career coaching ✔ Weekly lunch & learns ✔ LinkedIn Learning ✔ Resume & cover letter development As Joe Kirgues of gener8tor explains, "Our partnership with CO.LAB began with our Investment Accelerator focused on Sustainable Mobility, and we are excited to bring this Skills Accelerator to the community." The program’s track record speaks for itself: ✔ 2,800+ participants ✔ 85.7% graduation rate ✔ 57.1% job placement within three months of completing the program 🗓️ Applications are open until November 3, 2024 🗓️ Program starts November 4, 2024 Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to gain new skills and certifications (for free) to advance your career, along with direct career coaching and job placement support. Apply here or learn more: https://lnkd.in/gXkiykMm 👉 Questions about the program? Drop them in the comments below! #workforce #jobtraining #tennessee

At the top of this week’s events roundup, tomorrow (Tuesday) we’re hosting a lunch & learn at the The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, led by Text Request's VP of Marketing, Kenneth Burke. Kenneth has written over 1,200 articles on business growth for dozens of outlets, including Entrepreneur, and has helped companies from pre-launch to billion-dollar businesses achieve their goals. He’s a big champion for Chattanooga, and always open to a good book recommendation. On Tuesday, he’ll be showing lunch & learn attendees how to build and execute a successful marketing strategy. If you’ve got a great product or idea that you want to turn into a great company, this lunch & learn is for you! 👉 But that’s not all we’ve got on the docket: On October 10th, our very own Director of Marketing & Communications, Angela Poffenbaugh, will be leading a dynamic workshop on how to get the most out of Canva for your business. Plus on the 14th, we’re joining forces with The Jump Fund to host an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary Show Her The Money, right here in Chattanooga. These events are FREE and open to the public. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/e7kXGinm 👉 Know someone who should attend, or have a book recommendation for Kenneth? Tell us in the comments below. #community #events #marketing #networking

We're excited to announce our partnership with gener8tor to launch the Skills Accelerator: a new IT skills development program in Chattanooga, TN! Up to 250 residents of Rhea, Bledsoe, Sequatchie, Marion, Grundy, Polk, Meigs, Bradley, Hamilton and McMinn counties will have the opportunity to join our no-cost training, designed to help address the growing demand for tech talent in the region. This 10-week virtual training program prepares participants for the CompTIA A+ industry-recognized certification, and is coupled with career coaching and long-term job placement support. 🗓️ Program start: November 4 👉 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gXkiykMm