Dan Magnuszewski & Nicholas Barone of Radial Ventures

Building Buffalo's Startup Ecosystem From Open Coffee Clubs to ACV Auctions with Nick Barone & Dan Magnuszewski

In this episode of Empire State Entrepreneurs, David Pfalzgraf sits down with two of the driving forces behind Buffalo's thriving tech and startup scene - Nick Barone and Dan Magnuszewski, co-founders of ACV Auctions and partners at Radial Ventures.

Nick and Dan trace their paths from early grassroots "Open Coffee Club" meetups in 2009 to co-founding ACV Auctions, the digital automotive auction platform that went public in March 2021 after just six years and explosive 350% year-over-year growth. Along the way, they share candid stories about selling a house with a one-year-old at home, landing their first investors, and scaling from three people to over 2,000 employees.

But this episode is about more than one company's success story. Nick and Dan dig into what happens when a community decides to turn a happy accident into a repeatable system. They discuss the 43 North Foundation - built in part from the economic windfall of ACV's exit - and its four pillars: talent development, corporate connectivity, brand building, and the venture studio model powering Radial Ventures. Their message is clear: Buffalo doesn't need Silicon Valley. It needs intentional collaboration, no-ego partnerships, and a long-term commitment to building the ecosystem from the ground up.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a corporate leader, or simply someone who cares about the future of business in Western New York, this conversation is full of hard-won lessons and real optimism about what's being built right here in Buffalo.

• Nick Barone and Dan Magnuszewski share how Buffalo's startup scene grew from informal Twitter meetups and coffee shop gatherings in
   2009 into a structured, thriving tech ecosystem

• The origin story of ACV Auctions — how a chance conversation led to co-founding one of Buffalo's biggest startup success stories,
   culminating in a 2021 IPO

• What it really takes to go all-in on a startup: selling your house, ditching a steady income, and betting on yourself with a one-year-old at home

• How ACV scaled from 3 employees to over 2,000, achieving 350% year-over-year growth — and what that kind of hypergrowth actually feels
   like from the inside

• The founding and vision of the 43 North Foundation, and how the ACV exit created resources to invest back into Buffalo's next generation of.
   entrepreneurs

• A breakdown of 43 North's four pillars: talent development, corporate connectivity, storytelling/brand building, and the venture studio model

• Inside Radial Ventures — a hands-on venture studio that lets founders keep their day jobs while an experienced team builds the company
   alongside them

• Why Nick and Dan believe collaboration, not competition, is the key to sustaining a healthy startup ecosystem

• The importance of corporate engagement in the startup world — and why Buffalo's established companies have a critical role to play in what
   comes next

• Practical wisdom for first-time founders: why there's no parachute, how to learn from failure, and why showing up to the community early
   matters more than you think