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If you were to establish an electric truck company today, would the trucks be built in America? In April 2025, the answer is yes. In 2022, even after the pandemic, the answer might have been different. That was the year I initially founded Chang Robotics, a company that manufactures what we believe to be one of the worlds most powerful battery-operated commercial rigs. Its first commercial use will be for fast snow removal in airports and other mission-critical facilities. At the time, advisors, investors, and partners all said Lets take this to China. Ill bet we could get this done in six months. I declined. New Manufacturing Should Focus on Being American Made For companies already in production, of course, the answer may be different. Even if the current tariffs remain in place, immediate shifts can be prohibitively expensive and difficult. Ill talk more about that in a future column. In my own case, only one person agreed with meMarc Manning, a remarkable mechanical engineer and vehicle architect with extensive experience in helping organizations transition to cleaner technologies. Marc is now CEO of Kodiak Technologies, a company I founded, precisely because of his ability to meet a challenge like this when others couldnt. I tell you this for two reasons: To reinforce how emphatically I believe manufacturing in America will strengthen U.S. companies and its economy and workforce. To compel every entrepreneur to think differentlyeven wildly differentlyas you innovate the products you build. Here’s an example. We designed and built our hybrid electric machine to be used for snow removal in airports. We chose this niche product because airports must keep their runways snow-free at all times. For airports close to the snow line, the massive equipment required to meet these requirements may only be used a few days of the year. So, we designed our machine with a dual power capability that allows the equipment to serve as a micro-grid power source when the equipment is not removing snow. Airports can use this equipment as back-up power, allowing for energy cost-shaving that reduces power costs. Our product allows airports to meet massive regulatory and safety requirement while also gaining power safety and savings, which encourages them buy an expensive piece of machinery. Other high-requirement facilities such as hospitals and municipal buildings could potentially benefit from our equipment as well. Made in America Protects your Supply Chain We strive to use this level of creativity in every product we create, and we urge and mentor other creators to adopt this level of thinking. As for our Made in America focus, for the past several years, and especially since the pandemic, theres been a trend toward supply chain near shoringconfining any out-of-country production to the contiguous countries of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, as opposed to relying on materials from China and the European countries, to solidify and protect our supply chain from disruption. That movement has unveiled some surprising discoveries. When we delve into the creation of nearly every consumable good and product, we uncover a deeper reliance on foreign partners than wed ever imagined. For example, the core materials in pharmaceuticals, aluminum, and steel products, even when obtained in America, are being shipped to Europe, China, or other locations for further refinement before being shippedbackto America to complete our U.S. manufacturing goods. Knowing this, we and many others have been progressively moving much closer to North American and U.S. sourcing. In 2025, the shifts in tariff policies are further deepening these complexities. While Id love to say we knew it all along, none of us is immune to the sudden changes in pricing and availability. Our own company was impacted the week I wrote this when the robots we ordered from Canada suddenly cost $100,000 more to obtain, due to robotic equipment having been coded as light trucks, seemingly to enjoy a lower tariffprice at the border. At 2.5% tariff, the cost of this customs coding is small, but when higher tariffs kick in at 25%, the consequence is immense. My words of wisdom on this, for a supplier or provider, is to construct your contracts carefully to protect yourself from price changes or geopolitical events you could not have predicted. Beyond this, however, we need to increasingly strive to minimize transport distances and costs, to assure quality and safety, and to grow and protect American jobs. To this end, we advise all entrepreneurs to join us in becoming as close as possible to being a truly Made in America organization. Our future generations will thank us. Matthew Chang is the founder and CEO of Chang Robotics.
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E-Commerce
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. We need to change the conversation about how we diagnose autismand what we believe causes it. Lately, theres been growing attention on environmental toxins and singular external triggers as explanations for autism. But the reality is far more nuanced. As a clinical geneticist and PhD genomic scientist with over a decade of experience working in medical affairs and clinical genomics, Ive seen firsthand how vital genetic information is in understanding autism. Many forms of autism have underlying genetic causesand our growing ability to identify these genetic underpinnings is transforming how we diagnose, manage, and support individuals and families. Relying on one approach doesnt work For years, autism diagnoses have relied almost entirely on behavioral assessmentsobservations of how a child communicates, interacts, and develops. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends these screenings at 18 and 24 months. Yet in the U.S., the average age of diagnosis is still 5 years old. Why are families waiting years for answers when children can often be reliably diagnosed by age 2? The problem isnt that we lack tools. Its that weve relied too heavily on one approach. Autism is complex. Some children show mild or variable signs that are easy to overlook. Others present with overlapping developmental issues that cloud the picture. Too often, this leads to a wait and see approach that delays life-changing early intervention. Early intervention therapies improve a childs communication and social skills, increase their independence in the short- and long-term, and improve their cognitive developmentall crucial changes that can dramatically improve the childs, and familys quality of life. As head of medical affairs at GeneDx, I work at the intersection of clinical genomics, research, patient advocacy, and communicationand Ive seen how genetic testing can change everything. Tools like exome and genome sequencing dont rely on what we can observe. They uncover insights at the molecular level, giving families answers in weeks instead of years. That kind of clarity can make a profound difference in a childs care and development. Genetic testing Genetic testing is not hypotheticalits happening now, and its effective. Over 800 genes have been linked to autism spectrum disorder, and that number continues to grow. Exome sequencing looks at the portions of the genome that tell our bodies how to make proteins, while genome sequencing captures even more data by examining all of a persons DNA. When a change, or variant, is found in a childs DNA with one of these tests, it can explain the underlying cause of their developmental differences. These tests can yield a genetic diagnosis in up to 36% of children who show symptoms of autism alongside other developmental concerns. Just 10 years ago, these tests cost tens of thousands of dollars and took months to return results, but now, thanks to innovation and investment, patients can access these tests through most national insurance plans and can receive results in weeks, if not days. A genetic diagnosis is more than a label. It can unlock access to targeted therapies, inform medical management, provide eligibility for clinical trials, help families better understand what to expect, and help families connect with other families who have the same diagnosis. In many cases, it can alleviate the emotional weight of uncertaintyoffering not only answers, but also a path forward. Genomics should be a standard in healthcare My career has been driven by the belief that genomic information should be a standard part of healthcareespecially for individuals with rare and complex conditions like autism. Before joining GeneDx, I led clinical genomics teams, built testing programs with biopharma partners, and supported technologies to improve the accuracy and accessibility of genetic testing. Across every initiative, one thing has remained clear: The earlier we integrate genomic data into care, the more informed and effective that care becomes. This Autism Acceptance Month, I encourage families, pediatricians, and policymakers alike to consider how far weve comeand how far we still need to go. We must move beyond narrow narratives and singular explanations. We must embrace the complexity of autism, and the role genetics plays in it. We owe families more than vague guesses and delayed answers. With the tools we have today, we can provide answers soonerand thats a change worth making. Britt Johnson, PhD, FACMG is head of medical affairs at GeneDx.
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E-Commerce
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. This year, I launched my first direct-to-consumer product: Scribbly, an AI-powered childrens book company that puts your kid right into the story. Until now, Ive mostly built apps for businesses, and collecting user feedback for those projects has been straightforward and structured. The D2C world is different. Read the Google reviews of any hotel or restaurant, and youll get a feel for how random feedback can be. As a creator or founder, even the slightest critique can feel like a knife when aimed at something youve labored over so intensely. Taking the right perspective on feedback is half the battle. Here are a few golden rules to keep in mind. 1. All feedback is a gift. As an app developer, I conduct plenty of user testing during the design phase of our products. But its never quite the same as your product fully being out in the wild, playing a part in your users lives. Think about how often youre asked for feedback. You go to a restaurant, then you get a text asking how the service was. You get your bike repaired, the store owner asks you to rate them on Google. You buy a new laptop, and an email hits your inbox asking how youre liking it. Organizations go to great lengths to get a sense of how their customers feel and what they think about the product or service. Any time you can hear straight from the source, its a gifta gift that helps you ask questions that matter in the next iteration of your business. An example: In the first iteration of Scribblys ordering user experience, I generated a preview of the customers book cover. A prospective customer sent me a note that she wasnt sure the illustrated likeness of her niece was good enough. This was someone I knew, and she sent me a text about it. I was grateful; some people wont tell you stuff like this, especially if theyre your friend and want to be supportive. I sent her a preview of the full book with its other illustrations of her niece expressively moving through the jungle adventure. Seeing all of it together, she changed her mind. What I learned is that the cover wasnt enough. I needed to show the whole book. This is an expensive thing to do for every prospect, but I knew then that it needed to be done. I changed the ordering process because of this, and conversion skyrocketed. 2. Maybe its them. Maybe its you. Its probably still valuable. My children never knew their grandfather, my dad, who occupied such a huge place in my life and childhood. So I had the idea of creating a Scribbly book about him and his life that I could share with my kids. I wanted to tell them about how he grew up on a farm with nine siblings, a lot of sweet corn, and a legendary pickle picker; how funny he always was, and how talented, too. All of this in a vibrantly illustrated bedtime story, hardbound with sewn binding and a premium, soft-touch matte cover. I would write the story and use AI for the imagery, since thats what Scribbly does. One family member took great offense to the entire idea. They suggested that making something with AI bearing the image and life of someone who has passed amounted to, more or less, sacrilege. Getting harsh feedback from someone so close to me, it stung. Still, I held it up to the light. Should I be doing this? Is there a better way to do it that addresses these concerns? I ended up keeping my concept, but changing its structure, integrating more real photos alongside the illustrations. I like it a lot better now. 3. Dont be precious. I can use honest feedback. I couldve used more of it my whole life. Nice people wont always tell us the truth, so it often comes from someoneless nice. But you cant let the messenger get in the way of the learning. Theres usually something theresomething real, something useful, something you wouldnt have seen on your own. Over time, Ive learned to take feedback objectively, not personally. As a young professional, that wasnt easy. I wasnt confident enough, so I was tender. Precious. Everything stung, because I feared it might be true. Deflecting was how I coped with how exposed I felt. If you feel that way too, consider another way. Ask yourself: Is there something here for me? What signal is this giving me that could help me improve? I think about how much energy we spend defending ourselves. Arguing. Posturing. Pretending. And for what? If you think youre perfect, youll never grow. For me, I want to keep making thingsand making them better. That means staying open. Staying curious. Staying humble, even when its uncomfortable. Feedback isnt always easy. But its how we get sharper. Smarter. Stronger. Its not a threat to who we are. Its a path to who we could be. Lindsey Witmer Collins is the founder of WLCM App Studio.
Category:
E-Commerce
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