MEMBER SUCCESSES

Entrepreneur Companies

Council Connections Results in Funding, Government Insights

Lightfoot, Inc.

When the company was ready to go to market, Lightfoot turned to Brian Kennedy, the Council’s vice president of Government Relations, for introductions and coaching in how to work with public-sector customers.

Lightfoot, Inc. creates robotic order picking solutions for distribution centers, initially targeting private- and public-sector distributors in the wine and spirits industry.

Challenge

Building a robot in a garage and incubating a company inside of another firm sounds pretty challenging. But Rick Brown and Matthew Beck, co-founders of Lightfoot, Inc., took all that in stride. On the other hand, obtaining funding and working with public-sector customers was a challenge that required some outside help. For help, Lightfoot turned to the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

Solution

The Council had the resources to help Lightfoot tackle their challenges. As Lightfoot was completing their initial product design and evaluating the market opportunity, they entered the 2005 EnterPrize Business Plan Competition, and through the competition they polished their business plan and gained introductions to local investors. Later, when the company was ready to go to market, Lightfoot turned to Brian Kennedy, the Council’s vice president of Government Relations, for introductions and coaching in how to work with public-sector customers.

Results

Thanks to the EnterPrize Business Plan Competition, Lightfoot finalized their business plan, which helped them land seven-figure funding they needed to build a full-scale, working prototype of their case-picking robot in a brownfield steel site in Ambridge. Later, Kennedy provided Lightfoot with guidance on how to present their message to legislators and government officials. This is especially important for Lightfoot, since their robotic order picking system is initially targeted at wine and spirits distributors, some of which are state-owned and -operated. The Lightfoot robot picks 30-40 pound cases of wine and liquor from pallets and places them on a conveyor that will take them to a loading dock in a warehouse. This automated process eliminates broken bottles, and improves the efficiency of the distribution process, which means lower prices for consumers. The advice Lightfoot received from Kennedy means they can now more effectively present their message to state liquor control boards. Early this year, Lightfoot received its first order, which will be delivered this summer.

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