KnowledgePost, designed by entrepreneurs Evan Ishida and Andrew Bennett, is an innovative website that “makes it easy to find, collect and share professional learning.”“Our initial focus is creating a platform that is going to make it easier for folks in business HR [human resources], or business managers and business owners to find providers of professional learning - people who can provide classes, courses, workshops, consulting, coaching, all those things that are going to help their employees improve in their work and daily life,” said Ishida.Ishida added that the learning providers could include universities, associations, private training firms, and even independent consultants.Bennett noted that the professional development industry is approximately a $165 billion per year industry, just in corporate training and development. “Right now, that industry of professional learning is scattered. It’s on hundreds of thousands of different sites,” he continued. “It takes a lot of time to find the right learning, to find the right providers.”That is what the pair plan to remedy with KnowledgePost. “We’re starting with ‘find a provider,’ making it easier for those HR departments to find those executive coaches, those consultants that can come in,” said Bennett.The idea for KnowledgePost came about via the pair’s own issues with finding professional development assistance. Ishida, who was employed with a well-known firm, noted that even large corporations faced day-to-day struggles. “I was pretty connected in the learning and development industry, and it was still difficult to find folks to come in and help us. I could only imagine that, if a large firm is facing that issue, small firms, or even mid-sized companies are going to have the same issue.”KnowledgePost will also address the “skills gap,” said Bennett. “People want to get from point A to point B in their career. That’s something that we’re helping address through this type of platform.”When asked where they see the business in five years, Bennett replied, “From a geographic standpoint, we’d be looking for it to be national, certainly, by five years. Professional learning is a global thing, so we certainly have our eyes down the road set on taking it outside of the United States.KnowledgePost is a new tenant in the Braintree Business Development Center. Braintree CEO Bob Cohen described them by saying, “The classic Braintree story: two young guys with an idea, looking for a place to germinate it and get some traction out of it, and that’s what we do.”Registered Patent Attorneys Jacob M. Ward and Kristen M. Fries, from the firm of Fraser Clemons Martin Miller, spoke with Ishida and Bennett last week at Braintree. “They are willing to be here periodically to talk with some of these up-and-coming businesses and kind of outline what their needs might be, and stand ready to assist them with those needs,” said Cohen.“It really is this mentoring, this networking, being a part of an entrepreneurial eco-system which Mansfield is developing more and more of,” said Cohen.“Entrepreneurship is the way new jobs are created,” said Bennett. “The way cities like Mansfield, Cleveland, and other Midwest towns can start to revive and fuel innovation and be like anywhere else in the country that’s succeeding. These programs are very valuable.”Cohen added, “I still remember Evan’s tweet after he went to SunDown RunDown and spent the day at Braintree. He said, ‘Wow, entrepreneurship is happening in Mansfield.’”The KnowledgePost site should officially launch within the next month or so, Bennett noted, though a landing site is currently available for early sign-up and information, as well as a Facebook page. Bennett may be reached at [email protected], and Ishida at [email protected] .