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NYC Small Business Seek Adams’ Help to Rise From the Pandemic Recession
Square Wines and Spirits in Long Island City established its first website in 2017 and was working on an upgrade in early 2020 when the pandemic shut down the economy. Liquor stores were declared essential businesses and allowed to remain open, but Square shut its doors, concerned about the health of its staff. “We had to completely change our business model, relying completely on our website and e-commerce,” recalled Joi Swepsin, general manager of the Queens shop. And it worked: Square was helped by a spike in liquor sales in the initial months of the coronavirus crisis and made it through the pandemic recession virtually unscathed. The same can’t be…
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eLab student entrepreneurs make their first pitches to NYC alumni
Students in 20 businesses pitched their ideas to 150 Cornell alumni, investors and friends during the eLab pitch night Nov. 11 at Cornell Tech in New York City. The night gave students one of the first opportunities to share their ideas since they were chosen for eLab in September. Their ideas ranged from home monitoring to nursing shortage solutions to astronomical tourism. “I think the companies here are reflective of the diversity of the amazing curriculum at Cornell,” said Andrea Ippolito ’06 MEng ‘07, a lecturer in the College of Engineering and a member of the eLab teaching team. “In this cohort, you saw fashion tech, hospitality tech, real estate…