Venture in the South: Recent Episodes
VentureSouth
Welcome to Venture in the South, a podcast devoted to angel investing in the southeast! The co-hosts Paul Clark and David Grisell have over 90 startup investments between them. They will share their own experience, interview thought leaders in the startup ecosystem and interview founders from the startups in their portfolio and a few that aren't. Sho ws are released every Monday and are about 25-30 minutes long. We expect about 50% of shows will be Founder interviews, 25% interviews with Startup ecosystem thought leaders and about 25% educational on topics specific to startup founding and investing. We invite your feedback and suggestions via our website or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show please subcribe. It reallly helps our pod listing if you rate and review. On Apple Podcasts scroll all the way down to “Ratings and Reviews”, then click on “Write a Review. On Spotify simply tap to rate a show one-to-five stars, but there is currently no option to type a written review on Spotify. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
S5:E262 David reviews the past week in Venture and previews E263 on Wednesday 8.12.26 with Paul when we'll be offering up a timely episode on ‘Financial Downturns’ and how investors can plan around them while the champagne is still flowing. (recorded 8.9.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E261 David interviews Emily Morris, CEO of Emergy, a startup focused on harnessing water infrastructure into distributed renewable energy microgrids, an elegant solution to growing power demand. (recorded 7.31.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E260 David reviews the past Week In Venture and setups his interview with Emily Morris, CEO of Emrgy, a startup I first invested into in 2016. Emrgy is focused on harnessing water infrastructure into distributed renewable energy microgrids, an elegant solution to growing power demand. (recorded on 7.31.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E259 David interviews Christopher Mirabile, a leading Angel Investor with Launchpad Ventures, a co-founder of the venture portfolio tracking tool Seraf, and an author of two novels (links below) with Bublish, one of David's portfolio companies.
The pair discuss Christopher's authorship experience with Bublish, his angel investing experience, and the founding of Seraf. (recorded 7.26.26)
Check out Chris's first two novels: The Washashore & The Holdfast.
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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E258 David reviews The Week In Venture, and, once again, AI dominated. Then on Wednesday July 29th I'll be interviewing Christopher Mirabile, a leading angel investor with Launchpad Ventures, a co-founder of Seraf, a venture portfolio tracking tool, and an author of two novels with Bublish, one of my portfolio companies. (recorded 7.26.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E257 David & Paul Paul kick off part two of our double-header on Ten Myths of Angel Investing -- covering material for founders, new angel investors, and the "tech curious." We’ll be taking on myths 6-10 in startup investing: is everything you thought you know about startup investing wrong? (recorded 7.9.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E256 David covers the past week in Venture with a special focus on the AI Bubble. Then on Wednesday July 22nd, David and Paul kick off part 2 of our series on the top 10 myths in Startup Investing for Founders, Rookie Angel Investors and the Tech Curious. We’ll be taking on myths 6-10 in Startup Investing noting that everything you thought you knew about Startup Investing is wrong. (recorded 7.19.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E255 David and Paul kick off a two-part series on the "Myths in Angel Investing". Useful for founders seeking capital, rookie angel investors taking their first swings, and the "tech curious" in other parts of the tech and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
And if you’re an active angel, you may pick up some tips on how to explain your odd hobby to your friends. We’ll be taking on the Top 10 myths in angel investing: is everything you thought you knew about early stage investing wrong? (recorded 7.9.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E254 David runs down the most significant events in Venture over the last week and previews Wednesday's E255, a 2 part series for Founders, Rookie Angel Investors and the Tech Curious. And if you’re an active Angel, you may pick up some tips to explain yourself to your friends. We’ll be taking on the top 10 myths in Startup Investing noting that everything you thought you knew about Startup Investing is wrong. (recorded 7.12.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E253 David co-hosts a special episode on the future of Physical AI with Drobot CEO Stijn Van de Velde. Stijn was on the Pod for E178 for Part 2 of my series on Robotics in the summer of 2025. In this episode we’ll be talking about the current market for Robotics, Software for bots, Robots-as-a-Service, virtual training with digital twin technology, the value prop for Humanoids and what the future is likely to look like for physical AI. (recorded 7.6.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E252 David reviews The Week In Venture which once again was dominated by AI. On Wednesday July 8th David will be co-hosting a special episode on the future of Physical AI with Drobot CEO Stijn Van de Velde. Stijn was on the Pod for E178 for Part 2 of the series on Robotics in the summer of 2025. In this episode they'll be talking about the current market for Robotics, Software for bots, Robots-as-a-Service, virtual training with digital twin technology, the value prop for Humanoids and what the future is likely to look like for physical AI. (recorded 7.5.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E251 David interviews Daniel Herrington, CEO of Voxel Innovations, a manufacturing Tech startup disrupting the parts supply chain for the likes of cutting edge chip production and Power Turbines for AI data centers. Voxel was last on the Pod for E71 in June of 2023, so a lot has happened and it's all good. (recorded 6.29.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E250 David details the past Week In Venture and previews his Wednesday July 1st interview with Daniel Herrington, CEO of Voxel Innovations, a manufacturing Tech startup crashing the supply chain for cutting edge chip lithography and Power Turbines for AI data centers. (recorded 6.29.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E249 David is joined by Doug Giampappa, the CEO of HealthyCell for an update on HealthCell, a rapidly growing DTC oral gel supplements provider preparing to break into retail. Then, we'll be talking about eCommerce in the AI era, outline the basic characteristics of successful eCommerce strategies and talk a bit about what the near term future looks like in eCommerce. Just to take a break from AI. (recorded 6.18.26)
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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E248 David reviews the week in Venture and sets up Wednesday's show dedicated to eCommerce. For that episode David and Doug Giampapa, CEO of HealthyCell, will update listeners on HealthyCell, a unique supplements provider leveraging the longevity marketplace. We’ll outline the basic characteristics of successful eCommerce strategies and talk a bit about what the near term future looks like in eCommerce. (recorded 6.21.26)
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E247 AI is exploding so I invited a guest who operates an AI company to take listeners on a deep dive into the current state of AI. Josh Miller is the CEO of Gradient Health, a medical image data vendor for of AI models. Gradient has experienced growth and market expansion similar to Big AI, but from a more modest starting point. We review Gradients' current growth and then get into the future of AI startups. (recorded 6/16/26)
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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E246 David offers up The Week In Venture and what a week it was with the SpaceX IPO sucking up capital like a Supermassive Black Hole. David then tees up Wednesday's deep dive into the state of AI with Josh Miller, CEO of Gradient AI, a data aggregation company for medical imaging AI model developers. He’ll give us a brief update on Gradient’s explosive growth and share his perspective on where AI is headed.
Support the show
Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/
Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel
Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E245 David takes a deep dive into IPO dynamics and how investors can think about the multitude of IPO features to work them to your advantage. (recorded 6.9.26)
The VitS Checklist for Pre-IPO Buyers
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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/
We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E244 David updates listeners on the past Week In Venture and tees up Wednesdays Pod for a deep dive into IPO dynamics and how investors can win at the IPO game. (recorded 6.7.26)
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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E243 David interviews Kathy Meis, CEO of Bublish, the world’s first publishing platform with built-in AI enabled professional positioning, editing, design, production, branding and distribution. Kathy has been on the Pod twice before for E50 and E168 but has executed a major pivot to bublish.ai that enables scaling self publishing at lower cost but with greater control for authors. They've notched a few best sellers and some media rights contracts so Bublish may be on the launch pad to bigger things. (recorded 6.1.26)
If you are an accredited investor and want to connect with Kathy, just reach out to David@ventureinthesouth.com for a warm intro.
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E242 David updates listeners on the week in Venture and then on Wednesday, David interviews Kathy Meis, Founder and CEO of Bublish, about her publishing startup’s turn to AI and how it’s working. (recorded 5.21.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E241 David and Paul explain Startup Fundraising Rules in a brief but informative review. (recorded 5.14.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E240 David updates listeners on the significant events in Venture for the past week. On Wednesday May 27, David and Paul present a short but sweet review of fundraising rules for Founders and Investors. (recorded 5.24.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E239 Anthropic says wait just a minute, you don't really own the shares you thought you did. David and Paul run down the details of the Anthropic Secondaries controversy, why it happened and what the likely outcome may be. (recorded 5.14.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E238 David brings you the weekly update in Venture, dominated by massive capital raises, both public and private. But early stage venture wasn't invited to the party. On Wednesday May 20th for E239 Paul and I will be reviewing the turmoil in the private secondaries market, precipitated by Anthropic’s crackdown on unauthorized secondary sales amid a market frenzy at it’s most recent $900B private valuation. (recorded 5.17.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E237 David interviews Frank Williamson, he's an investment banker based in Chattanooga who specializes in hard-to-serve clients including owner-operators, venture capital-backed companies and nonprofits. He walks listeners through the exit process, how Founders and Board Members can be prepared and how to set expectations. (recorded 5.11.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E236 David updates listeners on the past week in Venture, which was once again dominated by AI. He then tees up the Wednesday interview episode with Investment Banker Frank Williamson, who is focused principally on Southeast Ventures. We’ll be discussing the logistics of Exits and the role of the Investment Banker. (recorded 5.10.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E235 David welcomes back energy consultant and expert on renewable and smart power, Karl Rabago, to discuss how Battery Tech is changing the energy landscape and how investors can find opportunity there. (recorded 5.5.26)
CATL Battery offerings for 2027
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E235 David provides The Weekly Update in Venture in a week dominated by AI. Tune in on Wednesday for the regular interview show. (recorded 5.3.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E233 David interviews Cam Doody, Co-founder and a GP at The Brickyard, a unique ‘in-residence’ foundry for early stage startups focused primarily on the team with 20-25 startups in residence at any given time. BY has invested in 54 companies since 2021 with 4 exits to date and 4 shutdowns. Cam has been on the Pod before for E105 and E180 and offers a fresh updated perspective on the Startup ecosystem. (recorded 4.28.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E232 David covers The Week In Venture and previews the Wednesday April 29th show with Cam Doody, GP at the Brickyard in Chattanooga. It’s a unique ‘in-residence' foundry for early stage startups focused primarily on the team with 20-25 startups in residence at any given time. Brickyard has invested in 54 companies since 2021 with 4 exits to date and 4 shutdowns. Cam has been on the Pod before for E105 and E180 and offers a fresh perspective on the Startup ecosystem. (recorded 4.26.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E231 David and Paul review the high points of K-1 reporting and the tax implications of deal structures that Angel Investors can work to their benefit. (recorded 4.13.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E230 David covers the significant events in Venture over the past week. Then, for The Interview Show on Wednesday April 22nd, David and Paul will review the K-1 maze and how Angels can navigate through it. (recorded 4.19.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E229 David interviews Greg Brown, the administrator for The Charlotte Angel Fund. He explaines what CAF is all about, how it works, their investing thesis and their investment results. We also talk about his perspective on changing the Accredited Investor definition to serve more young investors, about the Evergreen Fund phenomenon and Tokenization of private investments. (recorded 4.13.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E228 David discusses the week in Venture, focusing primarily on Energy and Space tech as War in Iran dominates the news cycle. Tune in Wednesday April 15 for the regular interview show with Greg Brown, Fund Administrator for the Charlotte Angel Fund, when we’ll talk about Angel Fund dynamics in the SouthEast.
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E227 My regular interview fell through so I thought I would tell a personal story of Innovation and provide a few examples from my portfolio of good and bad Innovation. (recorded 4.7.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E226 David reviews The Week In Venture with a particular focus on The AI Bubble Watch and Space Tech. Tune in Wednesday for the regular interview show. (recorded 4.5.26)
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We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com.
S5:E225 In E224 I detailed the current state of Battery Tech and talked about 500Wh/kg as the inflection point for a new dynamic in electrical power. Today I’m talking about use cases and the potential for investment. The arrival of battery technology capable of sustaining a specific energy of 500 Wh/kg represents more than an incremental improvement; it is the widely recognized "holy grail" that redefines the boundaries of the energy industry and creates entirely new use cases and investment opportunities. (recorded 3.31.26)
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S5:E224 David takes a break from The Weekly Update to focus on Energy, a timely topic. It's all about innovation in battery storage as solid state batteries approach an inflection point, poised to disrupt the energy markets as they reach the critical 500Wh/kg threshold. This puts solid state batteries at a significant cost and performance advantage over fossil fuels that could take 2-3M barrels of daily oil demand off the international markets and mark the beginning of peak oil. (recorded 3.29.26)
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S5:E223 David interviews Scot Wingo, a GP at the Tweener Fund, a North Carolina Startup Fund. He explains how the Tweener Fund was started, how it has evolved and discusses their investment thesis. (recorded 3.18.26)
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S5:E222 David gives The Weekly Update on Venture and introduces the upcoming interview with Scot Wingo on Wednesday 3.25.26. He's a GP at The Tweener Fund and he explains its origins, the investment thesis of the Fund and why they expanded to cover startups across all of North Carolina.
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S5E221 David interviews 2 CEO's of some longstanding portfolio companies:
- Seal the Seasons Co-Founder & CEO Patrick Mateer
- Vbase Oil Founder & CEO Jeff Dimaio
The CEO's briefly update listeners on the problem they are solving, who their customers are and relevant growth metrics from the recent past and their forecasts for 2026. We also briefly discuss their exit dynamics. (recorded 2.18.26)
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S5:E220 David provides The Weekly Update on Venture and previews the portfolio updates for Wednesday 3.18.26. The Update Interviews on Wednesday will be with 2 portfolio companies:
- Seal the Seasons offers locally grown frozen fruits and vegetables and is introducing 2 new product lines of white labeled Smoothie Kits and Chocolate covered frozen fruit that could be their breakout products.
- Vbase Oil offers proprietary Secondary Polyol Ester® base oils engineered for High-Performance and Sustainable Base Oils that out perform currently available industrial lubricants.
(recorded 3.15.26)
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S5:E219 David interviews Scott Pancoast, the Executive Chairman at Atticus Pharma, a spinout from Zylo Pharma where Scott is CEO. Atticus has 2 drug candidates from their Immunodermatology Platform and Scott updates listeners on the most recent developments at Atticus as they approach a liquidity event in the next few years. (recorded 2.18.26)
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S5:E218 David delivers The Weekly Update in Venture and previews the upcoming interview with Scott Pancoast, Executive Chairman of Atticus Pharma. He outlines Atticus’s plan to disrupt Immunodermatology with 2 innovative drug formulations using a drug platform model to spin out IP protected drugs while continuing to grow the platform model. (recorded 3.8.26)
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S5;E217 David interviews the founders of 2 Life Science portfolio companies that have been around for a while and have made significant progress in their GTM strategies. Both have been previously profiled in detail, Redbud Labs for E138 in Sep24 and Adovate for E184 in Aug25. Thus today’s interviews are updates on the progress they’ve made against their GTM strategies. (recorded 2.18.26)
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S5:E216 David details The Weekly Update in Venture and previews Wednesday's E216 interviews with 2 portfolio companies executing on their GTM strategies. (recorded 3.1.26)
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S5:E215 David and Paul review the VentureSouth 10th annual Summit, summarizing the What, Who and Why for that event. Then David will preview an upcoming Webinar for GenZ and Millenial investors interested in venture but who do not qualify as accredited investors and finally Paul will review other upcoming events of interest. (recorded 2/20/26)
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S5:E214 David delivers The Weekly Update in Venture and introduces the upcoming summary of the VentureSouth 10th Annual Summit for E215. Paul will be summarizing the What, Who and Why for that event, while David will preview an upcoming Webinar for GenZ and Millenial investors interested in venture but who do not qualify as accredited investors and finally Paul will summarize other upcoming events of interest to Angels. (recorded 2.22.26)
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S5:E213 What exactly is Innovation? Well, David takes on the meaning using the story of evolution in the waste management business. It turns out that the standardized waste bin was the key innovation the enabled all the other innovations to get where we are today, semiautonomous garbage trucks. This is a common theme for all successful startups: surprising insights and unexpected benefits, sometimes by accident. (recorded 2.17.26)
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S5:E212 David summarizes The Week in Venture and introduces a special Innovation Episode for mid week He'll be talking about Innovation in terms of:
- What is it
- Where it happens
- When to look for it
- Why it’s important
- How does it come about?
(recorded 2.15.26)
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S5:E211 David interviews Hunter Young, the Head of Capital at The Center for Entrepreneurial Development based in the Research Triangle Park in NC. We’ll be talking about Venture Connect 2026, one of the leading startup conferences in the Southeast, and how Angels and Founders can benefit from Deal Flow from that event. (recorded 2.6.26)
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S5:E210 David summarizes The Week in Venture and then introduces the interview for mid week with Hunter Young, the Head of Capital at The Center for Entrepreneurial Development based in the Research Triangle Park in NC. We’ll be talking about Venture Connect 2026, one of the leading startup conferences in the Southeast and how Angels and Founders can benefit from that event. (recorded 2.8.26)
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S5:E209 GiveBacks (FKA MemberHub) is an inclusive giving ecosystem startup that helps people move more money to the causes they care about. They mainly serve School Districts, PTAs, Booster Clubs, Brands and Non-profits. I first invested in GiveBacks in 20219 and first interviewed the CEO Will Bowen about the company back in Jan 23 for E49. It's been over 3 years since that interview and a lot has happened, so todays interview will update listeners on GiveBacks progress. (interview from 2.3.26)
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S5:E208 David covers The Weekly Venture Updata and tee's up the interview segment for mid week. Tune in on Wednesday for an interview with GiveBacks CEO Will Bowen and an update on their growth over the last few years and his view of their exit trajectory. I first invested in GiveBacks in 2019 and last interviewed him for E49 of the Pod in January 2023, so there’s a lot to catch up on. (Update recorded 2/1/26)
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S5:E207 David provides The Weekly Update on Venture and then closes with a brief update on the problem no one seems able to solve, Healthcare Reform. (recorded 1.25.26)
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S5:E206 David provides The Weekly Update for Venture and then hosts a discussion with Karl R. Rábago, a power Utility expert, on the current facts about powering Data Centers and a discussion of the consumer backlash over rising electricity rates popularly attributed to the Data Center Boom. (recorded 1.17.26)
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S5:E205 David summarizes The Week in Venture and then Matt Dunbar of VentureSouth joins David to co-host a discussion of Exit Planning for Founders, Boards and Angel Investors. While we frequently talk about the need for early Exit Planning, we've not really offered any detail on what that exactly means. So, this review provides a step-by-step outline of a rational Exit Planning Strategy. (interview recorded 1.9.26)
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S5:E204 David summarizes the past week in Venture and then Paul and I present for discussion the VentureSouth and my own personal Startup Investment Results for 2025. (discussion recorded 12.30.25)
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S4:E203 David summarizes the past week in Venture and then looks back at the most significant events in Venture for 2025. He then follows with some strategic planning ideas for Angels and Founders in 2026.
(recorded 12.28.25)
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S4:E202 David gives a Holliday Venture Update, then I’m joined by Andrew Elliott and William Trible, formerly of Crypto startup RoundlyX. They both have substantial industry experience with Blockchain as a product tool and we’ll be discussing some of the practical and technical aspects of using Blockchain technology for Tokenizing Real World Assets. We’ll be focusing specifically on alternative investments like private equity and real estate that do not have liquid markets like public equities, bonds and commodities. (recorded 12.14.25)
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S4:E201 David gives an AI Bubble Update, then an encore presentation of The Southeastern US Investment Thesis from E123. That thesis is critical for Southern Investors to keep their eye on the investment ball and is worth repeating. What I mean by ‘keeping your eye on the investment ball’ is that IRR, rather than Multiple on Invested Capital or MOIC, is the most meaningful metric for startups. And because startup investments in the Southern US are different from the West Coast and the Northeast, it makes sense to approach them in a fundamentally different way. Those West Coast and Northeast markets focus on big bets with high failure rates to achieve a few very big wins on the long term. But in the Southern Startup market, smaller bets with low failure rates and early exits on the medium term work best to achieve > 20% IRR, comparable to the best West Coast Venture returns. (recorded 12.14.25)
If you are interested in an independent resource regarding southern startup economics, check out the BIP State of Startups Report.
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S4:E200 David gives The Venture Update, then Paul and David updates listeners on some of the Startups and topics reviewed in the last 100 shows. (recorded 11.25.25)
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S4:E199 David gives The Venture Update and then shares a 'What-If' story about how innovative healthcare could replace our broken and unsustainable Health Industrial Complex. (recorded 11.30.25)
Consumer Directed Healthcare, An Innovative Solution To Our Current Unsustainable Healthcare System
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S4:E198 David gives The Venture Update, then Paul joins with a special segment on Tokenization of Real World Assets. Paul and I thought we’d spice up your Thanksgiving with a technical challenge: Tokenization. This is a rapidly developing innovation in FinTech that is likely to touch all investors in the future, particularly younger investors. It offers investors the promise of maximum liquidity, ROI on tokens held and near instant transaction settlement, all recorded on the block chain. We warm up the topic to help you start a good argument over Turkey.
(discussion recorded 11.21.25)
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S4:E197 David gives The Venture Update and then introduces a special segment with Guest Co-Host Karl Rábago, a utility lawyer, who shares his perspective on the issues contributing to the Data Center Power Struggle and how winners and losers will emerge. (review recorded 10.29.25)
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S4:E196 David gives The Venture Update with a special segment on the potential impact of Quantum Tokens on the blockchain. Then Paul provides a brief update on the current status of Capital Gains Tax Exclusion for gains on Qualified Small Business Stock or QSBS with Ben Glenn, an accountant specializing in startups. The One Big Beautiful Bill substantially updated the QSBS rules, solidifying one of the key incentives for startup investing for stock issued on or after July 5, 2025. (review recorded 10.1.25)
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S4:E195 David gives The Venture Update and then Paul and David review BIP Venture’s 2025 report on the ‘State of startups in the Southeast’. We cover the strengths, weaknesses and what's not included. (review recorded 10.22.25)
Tim Higgins' WSJ article "Is OpenAI Becoming Too Big To Fail"
Chris Mims WSJ article on Small Model AI
State of Startups in the Southeast
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S4:E194 David covers The Venture Update for the week and then Paul interviews Mike Carnes of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center about recent challenges in dealing with the Foreign Risk constraints for US Biotech Startups that win SBIR Grants. (interview recorded 9.29.25)
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S4:E193 David covers The Venture Update and then Paul interviews Dan Haight, an experienced Investor who tells his personal story of Angel Investing, what works for him and what doesn’t. (interview recorded 9.23.25)
Mothering Across ContinentsSM (MAC) a 501c3 non-profit
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S4:E192 David covers The Venture Update and then interviews Runbin Dong, Founder of Scale Social, an innovative social marketing platform that harnesses short video format testimonials for multisite service businesses. Scale Social validates authentic customer reviews while avoiding fake reviews and doesn't require customers to provide personal information. It has gained significant market traction in the first year of operation and successfully closed a Seed Round of financing. (discussion recorded 9.30.25)
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S4:E191 David gives the Weekly Update on Venture and then guest co-host Josh Miller, CEO of Gradient Health which is a data provider for Medical AI Model developers, joins David in a wide ranging discussion of what is AI, where is it going, what works about it and what doesn't, and how will it make money. (discussion recorded 9.23.25)
David's Consumer Directed Healthcare (CDH) solution White Paper
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S4:E190 David summarizes The Weekly Insights in Venture and then gets an update on HealthyCell from CEO Doug Giampapa.
HealthyCell is a neutraceutical provider of a proprietary supplement gel that is easier to swallow than multiple pills and provides far better absorption. Doug updates listeners on their current primary channel, DTC with metrics. He also talks about aspirations to gradually develop a national retail presence. Then finally, Doug talks a bit about his own startup investing and how he does it. (interview recorded 9.18.25)
Rodney Brook's post on Humanoid Robots
David's comparison of StableCoins and Real World Asset (RWA) Tokens
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S4:E189 David covers The Weekly Insights into Venture and then David and Paul discuss the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the Startup exits we’ve had this year. It’s the goal of every startup investment to exit for a princely sum but the journey is frequently a winding path with many detours, hopefully leading to an attractive reward at the end of the journey. (interview recorded 9.12.25)
The Jeremy Blum article from Seeking Alpha on AI Valuations
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S4:E188 David covers The Weekly Insights into Venture and then Paul interviews Grady Johnson, Executive Director at The Harbor Entrepreneur Center in Charleston, SC. He talks about the dramatic growth of the startup ecosystem in Charleston, the kind of companies they attract, their Mentors and how Harbor supports them. (interview recorded 9.4.25)
Rebecca Szkutak's article on The Golden Age of Robotics at TechCrunch
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S4:E187 David covers The Weekly Insights into Venture and then interviews Tacilent.ai CEO Ron Johnson. Tacilent is an AI-native enterprise risk management platform that turns risk management into continuous resilience with predictive risk intelligence. They came out of Stealth in September of ‘24 and are on track to hit over $1M in ARR by Q1 of ‘26. They have bootstrapped this growth to date and were recognized this year as one Georgia’s top 40 most innovative companies. Ron explains the business, their market and what the future looks like for Tacilent. If you’re an accredited investor and would like a warm intro to Ron, just reach out to me. (interview recorded 8.26.25)
WSJ article “Data Centers That Don’t Exist Yet Are Already Haunting the Grid”
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S4:E186 David covers The Weekly Update in Venture followed by David and Paul's review the 2025 Angel Funders Report from an investor perspective. We talk about what the data in the report means, what is not there, what we would like to see in the future and how this data influences Seed Stage Startup Investing. (interview recorded 8.26.25)
The ACA's 2025 Angel Funder's Report
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S4:E185 David provides The Weekly Update in Venture and then Paul interviews John Harbison, a Board Member of the Angel Capital Association and early advocate for hard data for startup investing.
Paul and John discuss some of the highlights from the ACA's 2025 Angel Funders Report. Next week, Paul and I will share our own insights from the report in Part 2 on The Angel Funder's Report and discuss how the report helps Angels invest smarter. (interview recorded 8.11.25)
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S4:E184 David provides The Weekly Update in Venture and then Paul interviews Adovate CEO William Stilley about their innovative drug development platform to exploit adenosine receptors involved in multiple major diseases. He explains their strategy of focusing on a single drug candidate with favorable physiochemical characteristics and distribution kinetics that treats a common disease with few to no side effects. They will be initiating their phase II trial of their candidate drug this year and if successful, will plan to sell the drug to a major Pharma company. (interview recorded 8.6.25)
The Data Center Power post by Tyler Norris, a Power Systems expert, in his Power & Policy Newsletter
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S4:E183 David starts out with The Weekly Venture Update and Paul interviews 2 VentureSouth market leaders about their startup markets, Jay Shaffer in Chattanooga, TN and and Eric Thome in Charleston, SC. They talk about what brought them to those markets and the kind of startups and investors they see. (interviews recorded 4.26.25 & 6.17.25)
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S4:E182 David closes out the most economically eventful week of the Summer with Inflation down, GDP up and short-term interest rates headed lower in September. With each show, I’m hoping to give you an information edge on investing in general and Venture Investing in particular. After updating you on the notable happenings in venture for the past week, I then bring you Part 2 of my 2 Part Series on the broken US Healthcare system and a proposed pilot solution to fix it right now by making the Healthcare Consumer the Payor. (Part 2 recorded 8.2.25)
Get the written guide on Making the Healthcare Consumer the Payor on LinkedIn
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S4:E181 David brings the weekly update on venture and then Paul follows with an interview with Rob Rodrigues, CEO of MP Cloud, a software startup focused on Revenue Cycle Management for EMS providers. The EMS industry is being acutely compressed by the Medicaid Cuts but MP Cloud expects to gain market share by offering better tools to improve cash flow, streamline operations, and reduce errors in providers' everyday work. (interview recorded 6.13.25)
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S4:E180 David brings the latest insights into Venture and then has a follow up interview with Cam Doody of the Brickyard, a different kind of Seed Fund. I first interviewed Cam in Februrary 2024 for E105 and now I’m getting an update on the Brickyard. They have a truly unique approach to recruiting founders from across the US and across business verticals to their Fund Residency in Chattanooga, TN. (interview recorded 7.8.25)
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S4:E179 David offers the latest insights into venture and then Paul interviews Leigh Hsu, CEO of Atticus Pharma, a specialist BioTech Startup focused on Immunodermatology therapeutics. Atticus is utilizing a unique proprietary sustained-release skin delivery technology to address 2 specific skin conditions for which there is no good treatment. Atticus was spun out of Zylo Therapeutics who developed the skin drug delivery technology that Atticus is using for FDA regulated candidate drugs, one for cutaneous Lupus and the other for Alopecia (localized hair loss). (interview recorded 6.11.25)
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S4:E178 First the notable In Venture for the past week and then Part 2 of my series on Robotics and AI. I’ll be Talking With Stijn Van de Velde, Founder and CEO of Drobot, an innovative yet simple mobile Co-Bots-as-a-Service industrial solution to the Find & Fetch problem for tools, parts, inspection and more. They are leveraging existing Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) to on-board their Co-bots in as little as one day and using reinforcement learning to fine tune tasks and navigation. Think of them as a shop assistant that will do the walking, Finding and Fetching for a high value worker who can now spend that 25% of their time wasted on human Finding & Fetching to focus on their skilled tasks that require human effort. (recorded 6.26.25)
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S4:E177 First the notable in venture for the past week and then I’ll be talking with Matthew Chang, founder of Chang Robotics, in a blockbuster interview about how robotics is transforming industrial labor and how AI is shaping robotics. He offers several key insights to enlighten investors, especially why humanoids are not really a thing and Cobots are the future. Next week will be Part 2 of our series on Robotics and AI, when I’ll be talking with Stijn Van de Velde, founder of Drobot, a startup focused on task specific find and fetch Cobots-as-a-Service that supports 20-25% gains in industrial worker productivity. (interview recorded 6.19.25)
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S4:E176 First The Notable and Quotable This Week In Venture and then Paul interviews Robin Smith, CEO of Darby, a Durable Medical Equipment Marketplace platform trying to disrupt legacy outpatient medical supply logistics currently managed via Fax. I had planned for an episode on Robotics and AI this week but it proved to be too big a topic for one episode so next week I am excited to kick off a 2 part series on the AI revolution in Robotics. I’ll be talking with some of the brightest founders in the industry about how robotics can meet the growing demand for manual work in the setting of a declining supply of humans. They will highlight the near term strengths and opportunities for investors in the new Robotics world of intelligent machines. And we’ll speculate on the long term direction of the industry. (interview recorded 6/9/25)
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S4:E175 First, the Notable and Quotable this week in Venture and then an interview with Karl Rabago, an independent Electric Utility and Grid expert. We’ll be talking about energy demand vs supply for data centers and how it can affect the entrepreneurial success of data center developers. Both Hyperscalers and individual entrepreneurs are in a frenzy to develop data centers and both groups rely on developers to solve the problems and to take on the risks of development. It’s created a gold rush of sorts with all the market distortions one might expect in a race for riches. The reward for the Hyperscalers' contract developers is a big payout at completion or even better for owner developers, long term recurring revenue with very attractive margins. It’s become the Wild West of energy. Next week we will be talking about how AI is accelerating robotics into the venture economy to take on manual work. (interview recorded 6.10.25)
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S4:E174 David brings you the notable and quotable this week in Venture and then Paul interviews Zack Luttrell, President and COO of The Windjammer Way on their crowdfunding effort to revive the Windjammer Barefoot Cruise brand. They are trying to bring back the adventure and romance of an intimate sailing cruise while profitability supporting small, fragile island economies and preserving a treasured fleet of graceful, working schooners. Next week, I’ll be talking with Karl Rabago, principal at Rabago Energy, about future energy demand for Data Centers: how to predict it, how to support it and what could go wrong.
In case you're interested in the story on Multipliers in Delaware and Federal Attorney Fee Awards
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S4:E173 First, the weekly update in venture and then a special interview with Ammon Simon the Chief Counsel to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs chaired by Sen. Tim Scott of SC which has purview over the FTC and associated investing regulation. He’ll be talking about reforming the Accredited Investor definition and how that might affect GenZ and Millennial investors. I’ll then follow that with a brief explanation of a new type of fund structure gaining traction with Startup Investors, Evergreen Funds, also known as perpetual or open-ended funds. They offer an indefinite lifespan, unlike traditional closed-end funds which have a fixed termination date, allowing continuous investment and reinvestment of gains while allowing Periodic Redemptions. While private market investments are generally illiquid, Evergreen Funds offer investors scheduled redemption opportunities, usually on a quarterly or annual basis, providing a level of liquidity not typically seen in traditional private funds, though redemptions are usually capped to manage fund liquidity (e.g., 5% per quarter). They also allow lower Investment Minimums, enable Immediate investment Deployment and have no Capital Calls. (interview recorded 5.19.25)
Reach out to Chief Counsel Ammon Simon at ammon@banking.senate.gov to advocate for change in the Accredited Investor Definition.
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S4:E172 The Weekly Update and then Paul Interviews MPath Cofounder and CEO Dr. Dave Miller. MPath is an EMR enabled SaaS platform that identifies individuals who need a preventive care service, provides them personalized education and connects them to needed preventive care. Next week we have a special guest, Senate Banking Committee Chief Counsel Ammon Simon, who will answer questions about proposed legislation to reform the accredited investor definition. Paul and I will also be briefly discussing the regulation of Startup Funds and some of the specifics about the RollingSouth ATDC Fund as a tool for startup investing. (interview recorded 4.24.25)
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S4:E171 The Weekly Update and then a new segment with brief pitches from the 3 most interesting companies from the ATDC Spring Showcase that are candidates for our ATDC Fund. The idea is to give listeners exposure to the screening we do for the ATDC Fund. Next week we'll be talking with mPATH, an automated AI platform startup that identifies individuals who need a preventive care service, provides personalized education, and connects them to needed care. This helps healthcare systems improve their performance on preventive care quality metrics. (pitches recorded 5.5.25)
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S4:E170 The Weekly Update and a discussion with co-host Paul Clark and guest co-host Josh Miller about startup investing for GenZ and Millennials. We’re talking about small investments in Startup Funds that offer diligence, deal flow and diversification at a low cost provided that Congress successfully changes the definition of an Accredited Investor. We’ll be talking more about a rule change for Accredited investors over the next month with Chief Counsel of the Senate Banking Committee which has purview over such a rule change. Next week we will be getting pitches from 3 of my favorite startups from the Spring ATDC Showcase. These companies are candidates for our ATDC Fund and for VentureSouth. (interview recorded 4.24.25)
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S4:E169 The Weekly Update and an Interview with Tim Skapek, CTO of Protect3D, a provider of custom-fabricated orthopedic devices with 3D technology. They have grown over 100% YoY and count over 60 collegiate and professional sports teams as customers. Their next market move is expansion to serve the general population. Next week Paul and I will be talking about the Southern Startup Investment Thesis with guest co-host Josh Miller. Josh is CEO of Gradient Health, a Millennial and an Angel Investor. He’s going to provide his perspective on Angel investing in the South as a Millennial and how a change in the ‘Accredited Investor’ definition could impact GenZ and Millennials. Then in a followup episode, we’ll be profiling some of the most interesting companies from the ATDC Spring Showcase that are candidates for the RollingSouth ATDC Fund. (interview recorded 4.24.25)
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S4: E168 The Weekly Update and an interview with Kathy Meis, CEO of Bublish, an AI enabled publishing platform that is growing 3x traditional publishing. She tells the story of Bublish democratizing content publishing by giving creators control of planning, editing, formatting, design, marketing and distribution with support for language translation, release as an ebook and audio book as well as support for TV and Film IP rights. Next week we will be talking with Tim Skapek, Co-founder and CTO of Protect3D, MedTech company that produces personalized protective devices for athletes. (interview recorded 4.17.25)
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S4:E167 First is The Weekly Update followed by an interview with Saksham Narang, Co-Founder and Vice President of Yuva Biosciences, a longevity startup focused on mitochondrial science to address aging-related conditions. Yuva has developed topical solutions for hair loss, skin wrinkles, and other aging conditions linked to declining mitochondrial function. The company's approach involves identifying molecules that can restore mitochondrial function, as demonstrated by their ingredient Y100. They produce Y100 in-house and then encapsulate it into a silica particle (Zpods) for extended release in the skin. They’ve had strong market adoption of their first OTC product through multiple channel partners and are developing several new products to expand their market penetration to Nutraceuticals for more systemic benefits. Yuva follows a partner licensing model where Yuva provides the encapsulated Y100 in bulk and the partner integrates Y100 into their existing product(s). (interview recorded 4.9.25)
Listen to the All-In Pod Science Corner segment by David Friedberg on therapy for mitochondrial dysfunction at 1:26:44
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S4:E166 David opens with The Weekly Update and then Paul reviews the Federal SSBCI program, administered by the states, for capital investment in qualified startups. Paul then interviews Dan Roselli, Co-Founder of RevTech Labs, a Fintech & Insurtech Accelerator Program in Charlotte, NC. Dan explains how the RevTech Labs Accelerator works and their experience with the SSBCI program. (interview recorded 4.4.25)
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S4:E165 David opens withThe Weekly Update and then interviews Josh Miller, CEO of Gradient Health a data provider for medical AI. It’s timely because Gradient Health has been growing revenue and customers over 100% YoY for several years and will soon reach profitability (again) in an era when AI has become the capital incinerator extraordinaire. I talk a lot about the AI Bubble on this pod and how so many big AI startups are not sustainable, so I wanted to flip the conversation to a positive perspective and talk about a type of AI startup that is sustainable and has a clear path to profitability and thus to liquidity. After all, that’s what this show is about, informing founders, operators and investors about both the pitfalls and the opportunities of the innovation economy. (interview recorded 4.3.25)
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S4:E164 David opens with The Weekly Venture Update and then launches into David's Healthcare challenge for founders, investors and self insured employers to rethink our healthcare system in the US. We all know it's broken, unsustainable and outrageously expensive but what to do about it? In David's Challenge on What the Heck with Healthcare? Part 1: The Problem he outlines his perspective as a physician, investor and user on just what the main problems really are and then in a future Part 2: A Solution suggests what can be done to make it better. It calls for innovation and likely knew business models. Share your thoughts on X with @DGRollingSouth (recorded 3/30/25)
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S4:E162 David opens with the Weekly Venture Update and then Paul interviews Josh Rollins of Vicinity Capital, a CrowdFunding provider offering accessible, vetted investment opportunities that broaden your portfolio and benefit your community. They screen opportunities that are not only aimed at the success of its investors but also at the betterment of a community. (interview recorded 3/10/25)
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S4:E162 David opens with the Weekly Venture Update and then Paul interviews Cian Robinson, a Lone Wolf Angel focused on the HealthTech vertical. Cian is a former hospital system executive now focused on corporate venture who has gone independent, mixing consulting with Angel investing. He discusses his perspective on the startup ecosystem, his strategies for deal flow and diligence and the current deal environment. (interview recorded 2/13/25)
Learn about nuclear propulsion in space on E152 of This Week in Space podcast
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David opens with the weekly update in Southern Venture and then interviews Tom Eisenmann. He's a professor at Harvard Business School focused on entrepreneurship and authored the book Why Startups Fail.
David previously interviewed him for E60 and today is talking about what founders and investors can do to proactively reduce the risk of failure and discuss the opportunities for AI to help founders and investors. He outlines the HBS Foundry effort for AI education for founders as well as MIT's Orbit, another AI tool for founders. (interview recorded 1.21.25)
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S4:E160 David opens with the weekly update in Venture and then interviews Ron Lau, Vice President for Corporate Development and Capital Programs at SpaceFlorida, about the Florida Space Economy and Ecosystem. SpaceFlorida is an independent Special District in Florida with fairly broad authority such as Airport and Ports Authority across Florida with operations in Aerospace and Space Infrastructure as well as Procurement to execute on their projects. (interview recorded 1/22/25)
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S4:E159 David opens with the weekly update in Venture and then Paul interviews Jeff and Michelle DiMaio, cofounders of VBASE Oil, a B2B producer of New Tech proprietary synthetic ester base oils and lubricants that outperform traditional products but are bio based, biodegradable, non-toxic and non-bioaccumulating in support of sustainable and circular industrial practices. It’s not your traditional tech startup but it’s very innovative, solves a big problem in a very big global market, has a wide moat against competitors and is scalable. (interview recorded 2/17/25)
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S4:E158 David opens with the weekly update in Venture and then Paul interviews Curtis Lee, a Director at SC Quantum, about the evolution of Quantum Computing in the South. He covers the recent history of SCQuantum, the Quantum Projects Fund for financial and structural support for Quantum development and potential opportunities for Angel Investors. (interview recorded 2/6/25)
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S4:E157 David opens with the weekly update on Venture and then interviews Ben Patz, a Florida venture capitalist who is leading the 2025 Florida Venture Capital Conference, one of the largest Venture Events in the US with ~1,000 attendees including 250+ active venture investors from across the US.
In its 40th year, the Florida Venture Capital Conference companies have raised over $30B for participating companies. With over 40 companies from across the South pitching to raise capital, the conference offers opportunities for networking, learning, growing your business…and more networking.
Hear pitches from top startups selected by active investors…plus speakers, panels, and more. (recorded 2.4.25)
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S4:E156 David opens with the weekly update in Venture, and then Paul joins for a discussion of the differences between Angel Capital Investment and VC Investment.
The discussion arose from an article posted on LinkedIn proposing that founders who can't get VC funding shouldn't expect to be able to get Angel funding because they're basically the same. We disagree and present our argument for the difference.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dc-palter_why-angels-are-not-the-answer-for-startups-activity-7285007063242420224-qAk0/
https://www.venturesouth.vc/resources/angels-vs-venture-capitalists-substitutes-or-complements
(recorded 1.21.25)
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S4:E155 David opens with the weekly update in venture and then Paul joins for an interview with CadChat CEO Graham Bredemeyer. CadChat is a first to market meeting platform for 3D collaboration on product design incorporating all major CAD platforms. This platform solves a big problem in enterprise product design by bringing product design teams together in 3D space during meetings and supporting institutional memory of collaboration. (recorded 11/11/24)
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S4:E154 David opens with the weekly update in venture and then Paul joins for an interview with William Taylor in Part 2 of our series on Lone Wolf Angels.
A Lone Wolf is an angel that flies solo without a group, does their own diligence and solicits their own deal flow. If you fit the definition of a Lone Wolf, we’d be interested in talking with you to share your experience with our listeners.
Paul and William discuss Williams approach to deal flow, identifying investment opportunities, interviewing founders and getting help with diligence. (recorded 11/8/24)
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S4:E153 David opens with the weekly update in venture and then interviews Pat Gouhin, the CEO of the Angel Capital Association. We discuss:
- what the ACA is and what it does
- who are the investor and founder members
- what members get from the ACA
- startup investment analytics and reports produced by the ACA
- the Angel University sponsored by the ACA for introductory and advanced training on the Venture Ecosystem
- the major issues facing startup founders and investors
- policy efforts by the ACA to influence change in the regulatory definition of the Accredited Investor
(recorded 1.7.25)
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S4:E152 David opens with investment predictions for 2025 and then dishes out the weekly update in Venture. Paul then interviews Lone Wolf Angel Investor Daniel Pomp. We’ve characterized Daniel as a ‘Lone Wolf" because he flies solo in the startup ecosystem, doing his own diligence, soliciting his own deal flow and is frequently the first money into a new startup. He has over 80 companies in his portfolio with considerable success and we thought we might learn something from him. (recorded 12/4/24)
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E151: David opens with the weekly update in venture then kicks off an interview with Fashivly Founder and CEO, Ashlyn Greer. Fashivly is an innovative online fashion platform aiming to disrupt fashion shopping. It sounds like just another shopping site but Fashivly is truly unique in that they have no inventory, have multiple revenue streams, have been profitable from their bootstrapped beginning and are utilizing a scalable AI model trained on their own proprietary data. Their secret sauce is fully personalized and accessorized looks tailored to the shopper's budget, body type and lifestyle, delivered on-demand directly to their inbox to shop! And it's coming to men too. If you are an accredited investor and interested in Fashivly, reach out to david@ventureinthesouth.com for a warm intro to Ashlyn. (recorded 12/19/24)
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E150: David opens with the weekly venture update then joins Paul to discuss significant portfolio events in 2024 including:
- Zylo Therapeutics
- Aticus Pharma
- Yuva Bio
- Case Status
- RoundlyX
- luminelle
- Altis Bio
- Iconic
We then pose some questions for listeners about potential future show topics. (recorded 11.27.24)
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E149: David opens with the weekly venture update then joins Paul to discuss the portfolio we wish we could have. What do we wish we could invest in?
This includes opportunities that are out or reach or just a twinkle in a founder's eye such as:
- We cover what we don't invest in and why
- The characteristics of an ideal venture investment
- Manufacturing Tech
- Space Tech
- Longevity Tech
- Power Generation Tech
- Deep Tech
- Human Genetic Engineering
- Venture Philanthropy.
(recorded 12/3/24)
Learn about the IRS rules on Crypto transactions at Legible
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E148: David opens with the weekly venture update then interviews Min Alexander Co-founder and CEO of BOSSCAT, a PropTech startup. BC has been on the Pod twice before in E13 and E63, with phenomenal growth and then contraction with the rise of interest rates squelching the real estate market. Now with a reset to diversify revenue channels and a successful fund raise, BC is set to notch a new revenue record. Min reviews the BC story, their current status and the growth plan going forward. (recorded 12/3/24)
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E147: David opens with the weekly venture update then Paul interviews John Cambier, Fund Administrator for the RTP Angel Fund.
RTP AF is based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. It is a committed capital fund launched in the Summer 2023 with an aim to invest in and work with companies to help them grow and achieve scale.
It's a member-managed fund with a diverse investor base of over 50 North Carolinians who may also invest additional funds alongside the Fund on any given investment.
The fund is generally sector agnostic and typically invests at the early stages of funding for a company in an amount ranging from $50k to $250k, with an average investment amount of $150k. Focused on early-stage investment opportunities located in the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina, they also consider deals originating throughout North Carolina and the southeastern United States. (recorded 8/26/24)
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E146: David opens with the weekly venture update then interviews John D. Cooper who leads Catalyst by Wellstar, the corporate venture arm of Wellstar Health System.
Wellstar is an 11-hospital health system in Georgia with multiple ancillary facilities making them a leading healthcare provider in Georgia. Catalyst is an independent but wholly owned subsidiary of Wellstar, a first-of-its-kind global digital health and innovation center founded in 2021.
Through their strategic partnership with ATDC, the largest startup incubator in the South, Catalyst's mission is to pilot new therapies, develop less-invasive procedures and advance technologies to transform healthcare and improve people’s lives by harnessing the innovation of startup founders.
John explains why Wellstar sponsors ATDC, about their portfolio, what Wellstar offer founders, what Wellstar gets from their sponsorship at ATDC and what he views as some of the greatest problems in Healthcare that need to be solved. (recorded 11/20/24)
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E145: David opens with the weekly venture update then interviews Ryan Heafy, COO of 6AMCity on their growth, challenges and expectations.
David originally interviewed 6AMCity in May 2022 for E16 and for an update in July 2023 for E77.
As 6AM approaches profitability, David re-interviewed Ryan to understand what has and hasn't worked for 6AM, how they are growing now and what they see ahead over the next few years. (recorded 11.7.24)
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E144: David updates on Venture for the week, then Paul interviews Thomas Spencer, Co-founder and Chief R&D Office at Scalable Systems Group, formerly known as WasteWizer.
Scalable saw an opportunity to solve a weighty problem in the industrial waste and recycling industry: When is the bin full and ready to empty?
Think about 10,000 bins distributed across 500 to 1,000 sites. Scalable has developed a proprietary technology for capturing the weight of bins up to 20 tons, without moving parts and that can tolerate the stress of the industrial environment all while sharing live data over their IoT network. They have accumulated a large data set to train their AI and have deployed their latest customer dashboard into the metal recycling industry to broad acceptance. Now they are preparing to scale and penetrate other industries that use weight. (recorded 11/8/24)
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E143: David updates listeners on Venture for the week, then interviews Josh Miller of Gradient Health about his take on AI from the perspective of data.
We discuss his data experience in the context of AI model training and validation, and address some timely questions relevant to the current Era of AI:
1) Is Data where the money is (in addition to GPUs) and is there really future profit in AI models?
2) Data quality, structure and annotations for metadata,
3) Are LLMs being commoditized and what is the future of SLMs?
4) What is the future of AI Assistants and Agents?
5) What is the future of Synthetic Data?
6) How will AI affect the Arts?
7) What is the future for AI investment? (recorded 11/1/24)
BIP 2024 State of Startups in the Southeast report
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E142: In this three-part episode:
-
David updates listeners on venture for the week. (Angel investing is not what it used to be!)
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David & Paul have a detailed review about Convertible Notes: what they are, why they are used, the benefits and risks for founders and investors, and when they work the best.
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then to wrap up Paul outlines and rebuts some recent complaints about early stage investors in the southeast, revealing his addiction to LinkedIn complaining (recorded 10/24/24)
For anyone interested in the data underlying some of the more controverial discussion, source material is here:
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ACA's 2023 Angel Funders Report - https://publuu.com/flip-book/37288/751879/
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ARI's 2022 Halo report - https://angelresourceinstitute.org/research/report.php?report=121&name=2022%20ARI%20HALO%20Report.php
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The Center for Venture Research - including the 2023 report - https://paulcollege.unh.edu/sites/default/files/media/2024-07/2023-full-year-analysis-report-final.pdf
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The VentureSouth blog, especially the series examining SSRN papers - https://www.venturesouth.vc/resources?type=all&term=ssrn
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E141: David updates listeners on the Southern Ecosystem and follows with an interview with Gina Sloan, Founder and CEO of AGRITX. ConvergeSouth attendees voted AGRITX the top startup at the event. AGRITX is all about the Chicken and Egg problem in terms of industrial hatcheries. Newly laid eggs are typically contaminated with microbial pathogens such as Salmonella and E. Coli that are transmitted to the chick, resulting in a cycle of pathogenesis in the production cycle from birth. The current standard to limit transmission is probiotic feed additives for laying hens but is only modestly effective. AGRITX has developed a proprietary patented egg coating that targets the 18 day embryonic development period to introduce probiotics through the egg shell during gestation and prior to hatch to yield a healthier chick. After multiple successful customer trials they are going to market in 2025, their first revenue year. (recorded 10/18/24)
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E140: David provides the Southern Venture Update and Paul follows with an interview with Alexander Olesen, Co-founder of Babylon Micro-Farms.
Babylon® began with the idea of growing food where it was never thought possible. Founders Alexander Olesen and Graham Smith met at the University of Virginia where they first designed a low-cost Micro-Farm™ to provide nutritious produce for food-insecure refugees in the Middle East. Their goal was to bring the benefits of sustainable hydroponic farming to anyone who needed it.
As a result, they developed technology that would automate the complex aspects of indoor farming by simplifying crop production and making it accessible to anyone. The perfect blend of simplicity, beauty, and sustainability, Babylon makes indoor farming easy and accessible for everyone. Serving the corporate dining, education, hospitality, healthcare and senior living markets, the Galleri model is the easiest-to-use commercial indoor farm in the world. For the K-12 education market, Stem Garden is a hands-on learning model that helps students grow by discovering the exciting world of hydroponics.
Babylon’s trusted partners in select cities offer enhanced services to help install and maintain your Babylon Micro-Farm and their trusted educational partners offer customized curriculum services to help you inspire and empower students with your Babylon Micro-Farm. (recorded 10/8/24)
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E139: David leads with an update on the Southern Venture Ecosystem and introduces co-host Paul who briefly profiles three companies on The Upstate Upstarts List. Paul explains what the Upstate Upstarts are and why we're interested in these very early stage companies.
First is Boyd Cycling with Nicole and Boyd Johnson, a Craft Wheel manufacturing business who have recently pivoted to manufacturing tech they acquired from Germany and are now seeking growth from vertical integration.
Next is DuckLinks with Allison (Humen) Rogers, who has developed a unique app for parents of young children to find, save, and share activities that match your family's needs & interests.
Third is FearlessGrad with Dr. Natalie Morse Ph.D., who has developed a platform to help students get into top fully funded PhD programs.
All have customers and revenue, and give a flavor of the early-stage company entrepreneurialism of the Upstate. (recorded 9/25/24)
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E138: David leads with an update on the Southern Venture Ecosystem and introduces Matt Dunbar to interview Richard Spero, co-founder and CEO of Redbud Labs (RBL). RBL is using breakthrough microfluidics technology to power the next generation of sample preparation products. Founded by experienced scientists and inventors, they are solving and bringing to market, solutions for complex microfluidic problems. With a deep stack of IP and an deep tech team, they are automating microfluidic sample preparations for a full range of both commercial and research testing with umatched reliability. RBL brings consistency, simplicity, proven chemistry and flexibililty to fully automated sample preparation. (recorded 8/2724 and 9/29/24)
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E137: David starts off with notable weekly trends in the Southern Startup Ecosystem and then Paul interviews Peter Marsh, Founding partner at Flywheel Coworking and and Lead Orgainzer of ConvergeSouth, an event focused on Startup Education, Networking and Fundraising on October 3-4, 2024.
Peter previews the offering of two full days of entrepreneurial programming, expert-led breakout sessions, a startup expo with 75 exhibiting companies and investment firms from across the Southeast. Listen up for a promo code that will allow you to register and attend for free. (recorded 9/20 and 9/22/24)
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E136: David kicks off with a few updates trending in the Southern Venture Ecosystem and Paul interviews Daniel Summers, Co-founder and CEO of Electronic Lab Logs. The Electronic Lab Logs solution was birthed out of the need to replace the Paper Logs and Binders used to track Maintenance and QC across the lab and even in Point of Care settings. Co-founders Jeremy Sikorski and Daniel Summers teamed up to build a company around one simple idea: ditch the paper logs and track everything electronically. Too often, even the best lab technicians were getting deficiencies due to simple mistakes or sloppy documentation on paper logs. The standardization was LONG overdue. After running and refining the software in Jeremy’s own labs, Electronic Lab Logs went to market and has been solving the same simple problem for customers across the country. (interview recorded 8/13/24 and update on 9/15/24)
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E135: To start the show, David reviews new legislation before the US Senate that would expand the capital market for startups, HB 2799, The Expanding Access to Capital Act. Then he launches into Revenue Operations (RevOps), the core business function of any successful business and critically important for startups. As a new startup transitions from the CEO salesman/marketing lead to a growing team, a successful RevOps team becomes the key ingredient for growth. By combining Sales Operations and Marketing into a single team for RevOps, management can gain new insights into operations that are traditionally independent and siloed. This can be the lynchpin for successful growth. David interviews Amy Cook, Co-Founder and CMO of FullCast, who is an expert on RevOps. She has 3 successful exits under her belt and just completed a $32M Seed Round for her new startup, FullCast. Text Amy at 949.813.0182 or email at amy@fullcast.com. (recorded 8/30/24)
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E134: Record vacancies in commercial real estate has become an opportunity for flexible space but managing a flexible space is a challenge. DeShawn Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of COWORKS, explains how COWORKS software is designed to make life easier for the day-to-day management of flexible space. From traditional hot desk spaces to university entrepreneur programs, from makerspaces to hybrid offices, from childcare and coworking to women-only coworking spaces, COWORKS enables a flexible space to run smoothly, connect members, and help real estate businesses grow. Questions about COWORKS? Contact DeShawn at deshawn@coworks.com. (recorded 8/26/24)
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E133: Lonestar Data Holdings (LDH) is DropBox on the Moon, for the ultimate in extraterrestrial data security. By initially placing data storage on Cis Lunar satellites LDH has achieved the ultimate in data security, backup and sovereignty in a way not previously possible. The follow-on is lunar based data storage physically on the Moon's surface in 2026. Founder and CEO Chris Stott explains LDH's data solution to the data security problem, discusses their business model and how LDH competes with hyperscalers to create a high margin business. (recorded 8/22/24)
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E132: Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) are not new, but using them for Venture Philanthropy is an innovative way to pursue impact investing. Abundance Capital extends the ability of new and seasoned philanthropists to unlock community potential, generate inclusive prosperity, and create sustainable local economies across the South. Recommending investments from specialized donor-advised funds, fundholders provide much-needed, risk-tolerant, flexible financing in the form of loans, equity, and grants to people and projects that solve problems and create opportunities. Paul interviews Margaret Gifford, Co-Founder of Abundance Capital about their approach to Venture Philanthropy and how it works for investors. (recorded 8/14/24)
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E131: Space may be the final frontier but we'll never move at the speed of light unless we first communicate at the speed of light. That's what x-lumin does, accelerate the technological capabilities of every industry through optical wireless communications (LASER) from ground to air & space and terrestrial point to point. x-lumin's innovation is a proprietary software platform that mitigates laser turbulence through free space, utilizes AI driven beam correction, provides industry leading cyber security, offers the fastest and highest capacity data transmission and applies sophisticated device management all while maintaining eye-safe laser characteristics. The end result is a 100 Gbps data transmission from space and 200 Gbps fully duplexed point to point terrestrial transmission that is field upgradeable to 4 Terabytes per second or more. Zev Suissa, CGO of x-lumin, explains their business model, some of their revenue metrics, their fundraising history and potential for exit. (recorded 8/9/24)
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E130: Startup Incubators are everywhere but none quite like the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech. E85 reviewed ATDC in detail and today ATDC director John Avery updates listeners on what's happening now at ATDC. They offer three active tracts: 1) ATDC Educate, a foundational curriculum and mentorship for early entrepreneurs. 2) ATDC Accelerate, for early-stage companies that have at least one full-time and one part-time employee, have developed a minimal viable product (MVP), and have begun refining product-market fit. 3) ATDC Signature, offers a targeted, growth-centric program for scaling tech and life sciences startups, bridging them with essential coaching, capital, and exclusive access to Georgia Tech vast resources. Currently sporting ~115 startups enrolled in the Accelerate Program and ~40 in the Signature program, ATDC is at the top of the incubator leader board in the South by scale and breadth, comparable to Y Combinator and TechStars. Their funding record to date in 2024 includes 52 enrolled companies that have raised $150M with a median raise of ~$2M and a median post-money valuation of ~$16M. Over their 40+ year history, 48% of the ATDC portfolio have had a successful exit. (recorded 8/2/24)
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E129: Urban SDK is solving the Traffic and Safety Problems of Cities of all sizes using big data. Their Smart City SaaS solution provides traffic engineers with vehicle data from multiple sources to monitor local roads and analyze traffic patterns related to speeding, safety, and congestion at a very low cost. They provide a system of record for all traffic data, as well as an end-to-end platform to run traffic ops and planning. Their traffic analytics platform gives cities the ability to: identify the most significant issues to get the most out of their budgets, supplement data collection with connected vehicles and satellite imagery, quickly create roadway analysis and share insights while integrating systems, files, and teams in the cloud. Paul interviews Justin Dennis, Co-founder and COO of Urban SDK about their story and their innovative solution to municipal traffic. (recorded 7/25/24)
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E128: The story of Ozy Media is one of greed, betrayal, grift and astonishing hubris. But not the first nor the last such occurrence.
While not on the scale of Theranos or FTX, it was not for lack of trying. David details the 10 year saga of Ozy Media's rise and spectacular fall, culminating with criminal convictions on federal charges of fraud, conspiracy and identity theft. Ozy raised a total of $83M over 5 investment rounds and 2 venture debt rounds. At it valuation peak, Ozy was valued at about $160M.
David provides 4 takeaways that summarize the issues and how they might have been avoided or confronted at a much earlier point in the timeline.
Listeners may take solace in a Wall Street Journal article published on July 19, 2024 (The Man in Silicon Valley Who’s Completely Obsessed With Failure) about startup failures memorialized. It’s a disturbingly long list yet quite informative. It reminds us that individual investors and big VCs alike are all vulnerable to the ‘Fake It ‘Till You Make It’ ethos and as the stewards of capital, we must do better. (recorded 7.19.24)
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E127: South Carolina is surging with Founders and Startups seeking capital investment. In todays episode Paul Clark and Dawson Racek of Venture South and Venture Carolina introduce the Upstate Upstarts List of South Carolina and how they plan to use that list to select the 15-20 most promising Startups for their Upstate Upstarts Fund. They review the rationale for the UU List, the investment thesis for the UU Fund and how it will work. Paul then interviews Alan Blakeborough, Founder of Tax Titans, about his tax services Market Place that connects taxpayers, gig workers, and small business owners directly to the tax professionals and tax services they need. (recorded 6/20/24 & 7/10/24)
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E126: HealthyCell is a DTC supplements business with the competitive advantage of a proprietary oral gel delivery system that makes their suppliments better absorbed, easier to swallow and taste great. HC was first interviewed for E93 when they were launching their growth plan and reaching for profitability. Today David interviews Doug Giampappa, Founder and CEO of HealthyCell to update listeners on their growth progress, profitability and funding plans. He reviews their results through May 2024, their plan to move into retail and his funding expectations. (recorded 7/3/24)
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E125: Kiyatec is a Cancer Diagnostics Startup focused on solving the problem of selecting the best chemotherapy for each individual cancer patient's specific cancer. The standard of care today is essentially trial and error following a menu of consensus empiric chemotherapy choices, then trying the most likely effective drug first and measuring response. Kiyatec's solution, 3-D Predict, uses a proprietary 3-D cell culture technique that grows cancer cells in the lab, directly from a tumor biopsy and tests those cells against all the consensus empiric chemotherapy choices. This test identifies the drug that is most effective at killing that specific tumor with a 98% positive predictive value within 7 days. Compared to cancer cell genomics, which identifies genetic markers associated with response to treatment, 3-D Predict actually measures the response. This is a game changer in Oncology because it eliminates educated guessing, avoiding the common scenario of taking a drug that doesn't work and experiencing side effects for no benefit. Kiyatec has published multiple peer reviewed studies proving the accuracy of 3-D Predict in Glioblastoma and Ovarian cancer while preparing documentation to support accuracy for the really big cancers like Lung, Breast and Prostate. David interviews CEO Eric Perreault for the Kiyatec story and the 4 key milestones he aims to achieve in 2024 to support a $15-20M growth equity raise in 2025. (recorded 6/28/24)
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E124: 757 Angels are based in Hampton Rhodes, VA and host a truely robust startup ecosystem. They offer a progressive support program for founders with a Startup Studio supporting pre-seed startups, progressing to the 757 Accelerate Program supporting growing startups and the 757 Angels who have raised over $100M of Angel Investment over the last 10 years. Paul interviews the leadership team of Paul Nolde and Charles Corprew of 757 Angels to explore their ecosystem and it's intersection with Founders and Startup Investors across the southern US. (recorded 5/6/24)
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E123: The Southern US is a distinct geographic market for Startups and Startup Investors with specific strengths and weaknesses. David and Paul discuss the general thesis of startup investing and then dig into the specific thesis for investing in Southern Startups. We address the southern startup ecosystem, capital formation, valuations, and exit potentials. We also address some fundamental differences between the southern ecosystem and the US west coast and how the strategies fundamentally differ while the results are similar. If you are interested in an independent resource regarding southern startup economics, check out the BIP State of Startups Report. (recorded 5/28/24)
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E122: Economic Development is at full throttle with the Florida Opportunity Fund (FOF). They are focused on Seed and Series A tech startups with ~$130M deployed to date. FOF is currently pursueing three specific efforts: 1) The FLORIDA VENTURE CAPITAL PROGRAM (FLVCP), which provides direct investments to increase capital available to small businesses with an emphasis placed on investment opportunities within the State of Florida’s targeted industries. The FLVCP was funded with approximately $42 million and has completed over twenty-one investment commitments. 2) The FUND OF FUNDS PROGRAM (FOFP) was created to realize significant long-term capital appreciation by identifying and investing in a diversified, high-quality portfolio of venture capital funds that target (in whole or in part) investment opportunities within Florida. Over $31 million has been committed to investments in nine venture capital funds. 3) The CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT PROGRAM (CEIP) was created to promote energy efficient or renewable energy products and technologies in Florida by providing funding to businesses to increase the use of these technologies, equipment, and materials in the State. Since inception, there have been over nine investment commitments made totaling over $32.5 million. David interviews Robert Harvey, the President and Executive Director of the FOF, about the FOF's investing strategy and future plans. (recorded 5/31/24)
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E121: Fundraising terms are critical to not only successful startup growth but also to a successful exit for Founders and Investors. Arguably, the most important term for Founders may be the Vesting terms that determine their take at exit. For Investors it's the Liquidation Preference that determines not only their position in the line to get money after a liquidity event but also which line(s) they are are in. These terms also have a downstream effect on both parties and warrant awareness and careful scrutiny. David and Paul discuss the principles and precedence that guide these terms and explain how they can work for or against Founders and Investors. We review some of the pitfalls are illustrated in The FanDuel Exit Fiasco as explained in detail by Chris Harvey, Emerging Fund Lawyer. Have a question or comment? Send us a confidential text message using the Link above. (recorded 5/28/24)
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E120: VentureAtlanta is one of the largest and most reputable venture conferences in the US. With over 1,500 annual attendees, 450 funds, and $17B in successful exits. It is a starting point for deal flow for Startup Investors of all stripes: Angels, VCs, private equity and large cap acquirers. David interviews Allyson Eman, the CEO of Venture Atlanta, about this year's event on October 8 & 9 and how founders and investors can participate. David also interviews Paul Lopez, Board Chair at TiE Atlanta, about their innovative VentureAtlanta minifund that leverages Angel Investments into a larger fund of 3-5 of the top participating companies at VentureAtlanta each year. The minifund allows Angels to meaningfully participate in what can be an overwhelming event showcasing 80 or more Startups. (recorded 5/14/24 and 5/23/24)
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E119: Startups at various stages struggle with HR until they engage with a professional such as a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), an Administrative Services Organization (ASO) or a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company. To start the outsourcing process or just assess your own efforts, leaders want to know the facts as they are now. An HR audit is a detailed and objective review of your human resources practices, policies and procedures to establish the facts. A successful audit can help you identify areas of risk and ineffective processes, so you can resolve issues before they become larger issues. Audits can save your organizations thousands in fines and fees for ineffective practices. Paul interviews Gia Wiggins, a seasoned HR professional who is Founder and CEO of Auditocity, the only platform that can give you clear insights for HR compliance and best practices, no matter the size of the business. They discuss the process of setting up HR, managing HR and engaging professional advisors as well as some of the common and precarious pitfalls for all stages of Startups. (recorded 4.30.24)
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E118: The Central Texas Angel Network is centered in Austin and has been a focus for Angels there since 2006. Gary Forni is the new Chair of CTAN and brings his own perspective and some innovation to the group. We discuss CTAN's deal flow, their approach to diligence, their industry agnostic approach and their impressive investment results. Both Angels and Entrepreneurs will be interested in CTAN's unique approach to incentivizing deal flow by offering a 'Founders Package' of benefits just for making it through screening regardless of whether they receive funding. They have an influential and experienced membership that brings real startup investing talent to the table for the benefit of both Founders and Angels. (recorded 5/2/24)
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E117: David interviews Shannon Denton, Co-founder and CEO of Wripple, who has developed a two sided marketplace that supports two ways to build a modern marketing team, hiring by role or hiring by project. A proven talent supply is screened and curated as individuals and as teams while agencies and enterprise brands can shop the marketplace with cost transparency and confidence in the talent skill sets. This solves a big problem for talent: how to get the best gigs while staying independent with less hustling and more doing. This also solves a big problem for enterprise CMOs: how to control costs and fit talent to jobs without expanding FTEs. CMOs can extend their team with individual experts across more than 45 marketing roles to curate a team that meets their exact needs. Or, they can select from over 35 digital projects with configurable ready-made teams and deliverables, for a fixed price. With 150+ enterprise clients under contract, Wripple has been growing Quarterly Net Revenue at ~18% QoQ for the last 5 quarters. Currently on track to be EBITDA positive in Q4 of 2024 with projected net revenue for 2024 >200% of 2023, Wripple will add two new products with independent revenue streams in 2024. And, independent market research forcasts 92% of marketing leaders plan to INCREASE freelancer engagements in 2024. (recorded 4/30/24)
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E116: Non-competes and TikTok are banned, maybe capital gains too. The FTC flexed it's muscle this week by imposing a federal ban on employee non-compete agreements, with some exceptions. Congress flexed it's muscle too, with somewhat hasty legislation banning TikTok. We discuss those events and how they could affect the Startup Ecosystem. We also talk about potential legislation ratcheting up the capital gains tax to the regular income rate and even more significant, changing the capital gains definition to include unrealized capital gains as income, threatening all startup investing. (recorded 4/26/24)
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E115: uMed was a marketplace platform for self-insured employers to shop for healthcare services that David started with his son Dan in late 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought business to a halt, they pivoted to a COVID-19 testing business to solve the overwhelming demand problem for timely and convenient testing. Competing in a market dominated by large hospital systems and state health departments, they discuss how uMed beat these incumbents at their own game by providing better, cheaper and faster testing at scale. (recorded 4/19/24)
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E114: ICONIC is a digital platform that exists at the intersection of Art and the Digital Economy. Founded eight years ago, ICONIC is a global pioneer in expanding the reach of cultural institutions and the arts. Iconic partners with museums, digital artists, and brands to produce incredible digital and physical art for cultural collectors around the world. With two product lines, they offer a marketplace for digital art integrated with physical art and a SaaS product for cultural institutions and brands that allow them to display their entire collections in a virtual curation. David previously interviewed Founder and CEO Chris Cummings in E2 in 2021 so there is a lot of catching up to do. ICONIC grew their YoY revenue in 2023 by 2.7X and are on track for even greater growth in 2024. With customers like the Norman Rockwell family agency, the Jackson Pollock Studio, the Universal HipHop Museum, and the White House Historical Association, their pipeline is full with internationally recognized institutions, artists and brands. (recorded 4/11/24)
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E113: Maybe you had a Startup Investment Exit, or know someone who did, that wasn't so great. The target return may have been 10X or greater but after the dust settled your proceeds were more like 1.2X. You generally can attribute that outcome to the known risks of Early Stage Startup Investing, but sometimes it's the deal terms that bite. David and Paul discuss their experience with some deal terms that bite, bad behavior that exploits some deal terms and what an investor might or might not do to mitigate those deal term risks. (recorded 4/4/24)
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E112: luminelle is another surging FemTech startup that was recognized by VentureSouth for >100% YoY revenue growth, be it from a modest base. 2023 was a breakout year for luminelle because they completed all FDA medical device regulatory requirements, achieved 3rd party payor acceptance and gained provider acceptance as the new standard of care for office based uterine diagnostics without anesthesia using their patented micro hysteroscopy system. They are now focused on sales and developing a national partnership with an established industry incumbent. David interviews CEO Allison London Brown for an update on luminelle. She previously was on E56 in March of 2023 when she layed out the luminelle story. Today she's talking about the key events that enabled doubling revenue in 2023, why she expects to more than double revenue in 2024 and key sales developments that will propel luminelle to an exit. Watch the office procedure performed without anesthesia with the luminelle system. (recorded 3/27/24)
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E111: The Expanding Access to Capital Act of 2023 (HB2799) is recently passed US House of Representative legislation that would substantially change how startup investing works in the US. It would change the basic definition of an accredited investor, change how both small and large startup funds operate and lower regulatory burdens. The stated goal is to increase available capital for startups while lowering the barriers to entry for small investors so as to democratize startup investing. Startup investing is mostly the domain of wealthy accredited investors while non-accredited investors can only participate via crowdfunding at much higher investor cost. Co-hosts David & Paul discuss this legislation, the many effects that might be expected and the potential for passage into law. We think it will be modified in the Senate to address some peripheral Democratic political concerns around gig labor and investor risk but don't see these a deal breakers. However, the upcoming 2024 election cycle is likely to delay a deal until after the election. For some context, on December 21, 2011, the SEC adopted amendments to the definition of accredited investors, requiring that the value of a person’s primary residence be excluded when determining whether the person qualifies as an “accredited investor” based on having a net worth in excess of $1 million. According to a report by the Angel Capital Association, the regulation change is estimated to have eliminated more than 20% of previously eligible households in the United States. Check out this study of the impact of investor protection regulation changes from 2011. (recorded 3/12/24)
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E110: Gradient Health has had a blow out year consistent with the AI economy at large. As a data provider for AI training and validation for foundational models in medical imaging, they have enjoyed explosive growth with >100% YoY revenue growth for 2023 and forecasting even greater revenue growth for 2024. David previously interviewed CEO and co-founder Josh Miller about his company in E55 in February 27, 2023 and today he gives us an update on GH and the details around their growth in 2023. Josh discusses the GH business model, the growth in the AI data market, their value proposition and their competive advantage. We close with a discussion of his GH revenue projections for 2024 and potential exit milestones for acquisition. (recorded 3/12/24)
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E109: Sharpen is a digital therapeutic and training tool for the best ideas in mental health. Its a social-ecological model approach to mental health literacy where all tiers of individuals are trained with age-appropriate, de-stigmatized content. They use peer-focused documentary film-based trainings created in collaboration with community members and researchers for: Screening & Monitoring, Content & Training, Crisis Response & Treatment using peer-focused documentary film-based trainings created in collaboration with community members and researchers. Sharpen has created a platform for individualized engagement and supervised training with a library containing over 600 modules on over 200 mental health topics including over 4,000 peer-based videos. CEO and cofounder Robyn Hussa Farrell updates our initial show on Sharpen (E86 in October 2023) and explains how they achieved >100% YoY revenue growth in 2023, their fundraising plans and an exit trajectory. (recorded 3/8/24)
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E108: Angel Investors are everywhere but only represent about 7.5% of all accredited investors. Given that diversified early stage startup fund results equal or exceed all other capital investment straties (Public Equities, Bonds, Private Equity, & Real Estate) with a >20% 10 year average IRR, why aren't more accredited investors including early stage startups in a diversified portfolio? The available data is not clear and a 10 year investment cycle doesn't fit all investors, but at RollingSouth, we think the principle barrier to entry for early stage Angel Investors is knowledge. Most accredited investors just don't know how to learn about startup investing, how to do diligence, how to develop deal flow and how to execute a long term strategy. In today's show I interview Marcia Dawood, an experienced Angel Investor who has her own podcast about Angel Investing, The Angel Next Door. She tells her story and how others can do the same. (recorded 2/1/24)
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E107: Hey parents, it turns out you're apparently never too young to innovate. Mother and daughter team Rozalynn and Gabby Goodwin set a new standard for innovation when Gabby pushed her mom to help her solve a common hair care problem with GaBBY Bows when she was just 7 years old. Over the last 10 years, the team has developed multiple patented haircare products that solved an unmet need and grown that business into the brand Confidence. Gabby is now 17 and graduates High School next year. She's using the Confidence brand to finance her college education and as a career springboard for her future. Gabby has appeared in multiple media profiles and has been recognized with multiple entrepreneurship awards. Having raised funding from VentureSouth and other Angels, the Confidence brand has expanded into new products and services, and partnered with celebrity influencers to grow the brand. (recorded 2/14/24)
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E106: The Angel Investor Ecosystem has grown from modest beginnings to a robust national ecosystem thanks to Angel Groups such as Queen City Angels in Cincinnati and the Angel Capital Association. David and Matt interview Tony Shipley, the Chairman and Co-founder of Queen City Angels (QCA) in Cincinnati and the Chair Emeritus of the Angel Capital Association (ACA), about QCA and the ACA's role in the Angel Ecosystem. Tony walks us through the beginning of QCA and the ACA, how they have evolved over time. He also talks about the 6 Angel Funds managed by QCA and how they have responded to their Angel Investor members interests in structuring, funding and executing deals. (recorded 2/12/24)
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Startups and Venture investing seems to have come to a crossroads in 2024, with many venture funds and founders that have much in common but maybe not so much when it comes to innovation. The Brick Yard is innovating Southern Venture with an In-Residence Seed Stage Fund focused on a select group of founders, supporting them to a Series A. David interviews General Partner Cam Doody about the Brick Yard strategy, what distinguishes it from other incubators and VCs, and how they make it work. They are planning on around 40 In-Residence startups over about 4 years working heads down on product market fit on their way to a Series A raise. Brick Yard is selective but takes a hands off attitude toward founders who they feel perform the best in their unique environment. They are currently deploying an ~ $20M fund raised in 2022 and expect to raise a 2nd fund in 2026.
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The RollingSouth Syndicate is all about Special Opportunities. In this bonus segment we discuss a particularly attractive opportunity in a company into which we have previously invested in their Seed round. Now we are investing in their just announced Series A. We can't name the company on the pod due to SEC 506c rules which limit public promotion to Accredited Investors, but we do discuss the impressive metrics and reasons why we're investing again. You can get all the specifics by joining the RollingSouth Syndicate on AngelList or by contacting David or Paul directly.
*Paul misspoke in this episode. He meant SPV means "Special Purpose Vehicle" (not Single Purpose Vehicle). Slips like this are one reason why he isn't running for President.
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Entrepreneurship Ecosystems are critical to the success of startups. As the startup ethos has spread beyond Silicon Valley, more communities are seeing the economic and social value of supporting and promoting local entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Paul interviews Eric Weissmann, director of NEXT, and Bryan Davis, director of The Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Furman University, about the ecosystem in Upstate South Carolina and how they see their role in supporting startups and promoting exits now and into the future.
For more on building startup communities, check out Startup Communities by by Brad Feld and Build the Fort by Chris Heivly.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
In 2023, Early Stage Venture Portfolios experienced a downturn following the robust years of '21 and '22. Media outlets suggest an average decline of around 15% for startup funds in 2023, although the methodology behind this calculation remains unclear. David and Paul delve into the nuances of reporting results, focusing on Exit Portfolio outcomes measured through the Distribution of Paid In capital (DPI), synonymous with Return On Investments (ROI). Additionally, they explore reporting methods for Active Portfolios, emphasizing the valuation of ongoing investments and reporting the current Multiple On Invested Capital (MOIC) or ROI. The conversation digs into the complexities of using Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for Active Portfolios, acknowledging its limited significance due to the subjective nature of valuing an active portfolio. The discussion concludes with the presentation of the updated 2023 performance figures for both the entire VentureSouth portfolio and David's individual portfolio.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E102b Bonus: The Upstate Upstarts List is a new effort by VentureCarolina, a non-profit focused on Entrepreneur & Investor Education and the Appalachia Regional Commission to promote innovation and business creation in the 7 county upstate region of South Carolina. Paul discusses the effort with Charlie Banks, a principal at VentureSouth and leader at VentureCarolina, and Dawson Racek, a Venture Analyst at VentureSouth. (recorded 1/16/24)
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Carta faced a challenging week as it grappled with customer backlash over utilizing private customer data for a secondary market in private company equity. David interviews Paul Clark, a principal at VentureSouth, to discuss Carta's impact, while our Cap Tables expert, Matt Dunbar, shares insights on how the recent controversy could influence founders, investors, and Carta's service market. If you are interested in further reading, try The Pocket Guide to Cap Tables.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
In this episode, David and Paul explore some highlights of the first 100 podcasts, covering various topics:
- VitS podcast statistics
- Key listener locations
- Standout shows
- Insights gained from 100 podcasts
- Reflections on podcasting
- Understanding our audience
- Guest experiences
- Anticipated developments in 2024
- Enhancing the investor dashboard
- Exciting topics for the upcoming year
- Notable guests on the horizon
- Geographic expansion to Florida, Virginia, and Texas
- Consideration of a potential newsletter.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Venture Events unite founders, operators, and investors, fostering networking opportunities, service connections, and facilitating fundraising efforts. The 40th annual Florida Venture Capital Conference (FVCC) is scheduled to take place from January 31 to February 1, 2024, in Miami. The event will showcase 60 growth-phase companies, drawing an estimated 1,000+ attendees. With over 100 funds and 250 investors in attendance, the conference will bring together more than 500 venture-related firms.
In an exclusive interview, David engages with Kevin Burgoyne, CEO of the Florida Venture Forum, exploring the FVCC narrative and delving into event specifics. Notably, FVCC alumni have successfully secured over $16 billion in funding, representing startups and investors not only in Florida but also across the South and the broader United States. Stay informed by subscribing to the Florida Venture Forum Newsletter. (recorded 1/4/24)
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
David presents upcoming pods, followed by a discussion with Paul on Startup Boards of Directors. The conversation delves into recent Board of Directors drama at OpenAI, exploring the OAI structure and potential improvements. They separately cover:
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What is a startup board?
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Why do startups have boards?
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Typical board structure and roles.
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Board chairs.
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Independent directors.
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Board Observers.
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Advisory boards.
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What goes wrong with boards?
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Legal challenges boards face?
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Should you serve on a BoD?
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What are good resources for Startup Boards?
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
2023 has proven to be more challenging than rewarding for Venture, marked by a series of disappointments amidst its noteworthy events. This show critically examines and discusses the implications of key occurrences in 2023 that will shape Venture's trajectory into 2024. I am joined by three distinguished experts in the field:
- Paul Clark, my co-host and Principal at VentureSouth.
- John Avey, the Director of ATDC, the South's largest and most successful incubator/accelerator.
- Todd Kirschner, a former West Coast VC turned solo professional Angel Investor now based in Charlotte, NC.
Together, we delve into their perspectives on the following topics:
- The major Venture stories of 2023: A decline in funding, a decrease in deal numbers, a rise in shutdowns, and the dominance of AI in headlines.
- The impact of 'Higher for Longer' interest rates on venture capital.
- The 'State of Capital' in the South, covering valuations, early-stage capital availability, and the prevailing Exit drought.
- The existing risks and opportunities for founders and investors as they navigate 2024.
Through this comprehensive discussion, we aim to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for Venture in 2024.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Host David Grisell conducted his initial interview with Robert Preville, CEO of APPROVE, in August 2022 (E28), during which Preville introduced his groundbreaking equipment financing marketplace, then known as Kwipped. In the past year, the company underwent a rebranding, adopting the name APPROVE, reflective of their leading revenue-generating offering. APPROVE operates as a finance marketplace for equipment leases and purchases, achieving an impressive revenue growth of approximately 100% year over year.
While still actively managing the equipment leasing marketplace, the APPROVE platform has evolved into their primary product. They now market it to vendors for integration into their own ecommerce sites as a virtual captive finance solution. Compensation is derived through a fixed take rate on each financing, establishing a stable and predictable income stream. Robert's strategic focus involves achieving an annual revenue milestone surpassing $20 million and positioning the company for potential acquisition. Furthermore, they remain open to additional fundraising and further growth as viable avenues for expansion.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Anti-aging cosmeceuticals represent a competitive yet expansive market. When a new product emerges backed by compelling scientific evidence, it captures attention. Greg Schmergel, CEO of Yuva Bio, shares the narrative of entering the longevity market with a natural product demonstrating efficacy in enhancing cellular mitochondrial function in the skin and scalp, addressing hair loss in both men and women, and reducing skin wrinkling.
The active ingredient, Y100, was discovered through the screening of thousands of biologics using Yuva Bio's proprietary AI screening platform. Rigorous trials conducted by Contract Research Organizations affirmed the safety and effectiveness of the product. Yuva Bio has successfully launched its first product using a licensing model, following an oversubscribed seed equity round. The company has also secured contracts with three well-known brands for the introduction of new hair loss products in early 2024.
In our conversation, we explore Yuva's plans for launching additional products in the future, focusing on delivering extended longevity benefits.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Innovation is a challenging endeavor, and this challenge is amplified within the corporate setting. Recognizing this, many corporations have established dedicated venture arms to infuse innovation into their organizations. Another approach involves creating specialized innovation entities within corporations, providing a space for cultivating ideas and innovation that operates outside the conventional corporate management framework. Michelin, a global tire company, has adopted both strategies to drive innovation within their organization, aiming to develop new products and services not only in the tire domain but also extending "around tires" and "beyond tires."
In this episode, David engages in a conversation with Brett Owen, the Incubation Partner at Michelin North America and Chief of Staff at the Customer Innovation Lab. We delve into Michelin's distinctive approach to "Intrapreneurship," a strategy aimed at tapping into the innovative potential of their employees. This initiative aligns with Michelin's broader objectives of diversification, extending their focus both "around" and "beyond" tires.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Fraud may not be a prevalent occurrence in the venture landscape, but when it does happen, it stands out for its audacity, impact, and, at times, surprisingly evident warning signs. In this episode, David and Paul guide listeners through recent instances of fraud in the venture sector and offer insights on how to identify potential schemes before becoming entangled. The discussion includes a review of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) record of enforcement actions and delves into specific cases, such as the alleged fraud involving Charlie Javice in the acquisition of Frank by JP Morgan, the conviction of Michael Rothenburg, often dubbed the 'Party Animal of Silicon Valley,' and other notable examples.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
HealthyCell originated from a strategic pivot following the unsuccessful pursuit of stem cell therapy funding in its earlier incarnation. When faced with the company's downturn, Doug successfully advocated for assuming the role of CEO and redirected the company's focus toward its emerging nutritional supplements business. HealthyCell (HC) has distinguished itself by developing a proprietary oral gel formulation validated in a clinical study to significantly enhance the bioavailability of active ingredients in nutritional supplements.
Doug's innovative approach has resulted in gel products that consolidate multiple pills into a single convenient gel pack, preferred by consumers over traditional pills or liquids. HC strategically markets directly to consumers online through monthly subscriptions and is swiftly expanding into brick-and-mortar retail spaces.
Having made a notable appearance on the podcast in Episode 31 on 9/12/22 after a successful fundraising round, Doug returns to provide a comprehensive update on HC's remarkable growth over the past year. The discussion covers key business metrics, sales channels, ongoing product development initiatives, the anticipation of a Series A funding round in Q1 of 2024, and outlines the company's exit planning strategy.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Today's episode marks the third and final installment of interviews with the triumphant winners at VentureAtlanta 2023. Rainforest emerged victorious in the Early Stage pitch competition by addressing a significant gap in the Embedded Payments space. Founder and CEO Joshua Silver sheds light on the practical challenges faced by vendors and retailers in the realm of embedded payments and elaborates on how Rainforest is pioneering solutions through their white-labeled embedded payments platform. Joshua, a seasoned entrepreneur with a successful exit in the payments sector and extensive experience in embedded payments, recently shared the motivation behind starting Rainforest in a compelling blog post.
Despite being a relatively young company at just two years old, Rainforest has built an impressive customer base in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) sector. Their straightforward business model revolves around delivering excellent service with fixed transaction-based fees, devoid of subscription requirements or long-term contracts. The company's momentum is evident, having successfully concluded an oversubscribed $8.5 million Seed round and secured $3.25 million in Venture Debt in Q3 of 2023, positioning them squarely on the path to sustained growth.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Startup investing is a potentially rewarding venture, but, as with all things in life, it requires a combination of time, money, and sound judgment. In today's episode, the focus is on the crucial element of judgment. David takes a deep dive into his 'Cheat Sheet' for startup investing, shedding light on nuanced issues and offering guidance on how to strategically plan startup investment portfolios.
The episode covers a spectrum of essential aspects, including Strategy, Deal Flow, Core Diligence, Deal Size, Investment Instruments, Investment Terms, Tax Benefits, and Diversification. For those seeking more in-depth resources, listeners can access David's Cheat Sheet, an Investment Tracking Spreadsheet Template, and a Guide to Tax-Free Startup Investing by following the provided links.
Tune in to gain valuable insights into navigating the complexities of startup investing and enhancing your decision-making process.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Enrichly emerged victorious in the Seed Stage pitch competition at VentureAtlanta 2023, securing a substantial $500k investment award. The company is dedicated to addressing the pervasive issue of low self-esteem among youth, a challenge linked to poor educational outcomes, social conflicts, and crime. In an engaging interview, David sits down with Margo Jordan, the CEO and Founder of Enrichly, to delve into the complexities of the youth self-esteem problem and how Enrichly has made meaningful strides by collaborating with school districts, law enforcement, and mental health providers.
Margo provides insights into Enrichly's product, detailing their innovative SaaS & Services business model, distribution strategies, and key metrics. Notably, the conversation highlights Enrichly's unique position, with a negative Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) due to viral customers paying to advocate for the solution. With an impressive 11x growth projected for 2023 and a trajectory expected to continue, Margo outlines the company's ambitious plans for rapid scaling to reach new customers in both the US and the Middle East.
The discussion concludes with a review of Enrichly's future fundraising strategies and the potential for a strategic exit.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Cloud Range tackles the prevalent issue of limited real-world exposure to cyber attacks for cybersecurity teams. In a recent interview, Debbie Gordon, the CEO and founder of Cloud Range, introduces their state-of-the-art cybersecurity attack training platform, establishing itself as a global leader in cyber range training. Debbie's success in the growth category at the VentureAtlanta 2023 pitch competition underscores the platform's significance.
The Cloud Range platform empowers cyber defenders to simulate live cyber attacks within a controlled environment, refining their capabilities in detection, investigation, and response. Operating on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, Cloud Range has achieved remarkable success, boasting a substantial 300% year-over-year revenue growth for both 2022 and 2023. Projections suggest an even more impressive 400% surge in revenue for 2024. Our conversation with Debbie explores key aspects of their business, including the business model, competitive edge, sales strategies, exit potential, and more.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
SAFE, an acronym for Simple Agreement for Future Equity, represents a widely adopted investment instrument, with the current industry-standard forms available on the YCombinator website. In this insightful interview, David engages in a discussion with Matt Dunbar, a Managing Director at VentureSouth and a seasoned expert on SAFEs. The conversation delves into the origins of the SAFE, unraveling its intended purpose, and providing a comprehensive examination of its advantages, disadvantages, and the evolution introduced through the post-money SAFE in 2018. The discussion further explores the factors contributing to some Angel Investors' reservations about SAFEs, while acknowledging their enduring popularity as a preferred choice in investment agreements.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Additive manufacturing is not a novel concept, but Trio Lab's groundbreaking micro-scale metal additive manufacturing technology has established a new benchmark for precision, speed, cost-effectiveness, and quality, specifically catering to parts less than 1/14th the diameter of a penny. The Resin Infused Powder Lithography (RIPL) process, exclusive to Trio Labs, utilizes standard metal injection molding powders to produce high precision, 99% dense metal parts in substantial volumes. These parts exhibit a Ra32 native surface finish, with tolerances as precise as 0.0005" and a remarkable 5-micron resolution (0.0002”). Following seven years of development, backed by 10 granted patents, 50 pending patents, and over 200 anticipated patents, Trio is poised to enter the market. The company's design flexibility empowers product design to transcend traditional machining and molds, enabling rapid problem-centric design rather than process-centric design. CEO Adam Steege elaborates on the challenges associated with designing and manufacturing highly precise, extremely small metal parts for MedTech, presenting Trio's innovative solution. He provides insights into their scaling strategy, competitive advantages, and a durable value proposition.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Digital Therapeutics are software-based medical solutions engineered to prevent, manage, or treat various medical disorders or diseases. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning, these platforms provide personalized treatment and support to patients. CEO Robyn Hussa Farrel co-founded Sharpen with her husband, propelling it to a growth stage by implementing a revolutionary research approach focused on addressing mental health disparities.
Sharpen's online platform has demonstrated significant impact, showcasing the ability to (i) mitigate risk and enhance resilience, (ii) improve shared protective factors for suicide, mental disorders, and trauma, (iii) enhance access to and utilization of high-quality mental health care, and (iv) elevate treatment outcomes across diverse populations. The platform boasts a comprehensive library featuring over 600 modules covering more than 200 mental health topics and includes over 4,000 peer-based videos. Explore more about Sharpen's innovative approach HERE.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
ATDC is one of the original startup incubators and accelerators in the US. Founded in Atlanta, GA 40 years ago it is supported by the State of Georgia and hosted by Georgia Tech. ATDC Director John Avery walks us through the history and strategic vision of ATDC as Georgia’s technology business incubator, assisting entrepreneurs throughout the state. Using a unique blend of coaching, curriculum, community, and connections, and not just to Georgia Tech and its resources, but also to capital and customers. ATDC helps Georgia startups at various stages navigate the choppy waters of taking an idea from concept to product prototype to launch and ultimately to scale. ATDC annually graduates successful portfolio companies with 48% of ATDC companies having a successful exit. ATDC guides entrepreneurs through 3 stages of development: Educate, Accelerate, and Signature. Educate embraces entrepreneurs at the very beginning of their startup journey with a targeted three step educational curriculum with ATDC Educate Entrepreneurship 101, ATDC Educate Financial Literacy 102, and ATDC Customer Discovery. This curricula prepares founders for advanced classes on functional areas such as sales, digital marketing, product development, etc., as well as market-specific classes throughout the year in Industry Program verticals: FinTech, Advanced Manufacturing, HealthTech, 5G, Supply Chain/Logistics, Sustainability, and Robotics & Automation. Accelerate is the Launch stage for entrepreneurs who usually have at least a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) or are beta testing their product, are adding initial customers, and refining their business model. Signature is the growth stage for Accelerate graduates who are usually adding customers, hiring more employees, raising venture funding, and learning to scale their business. In this stage, ATDC is providing connections to industry, customers and capital. For 2017, 2018, and 2019, ATDC’s portfolio Accelerate and Signature companies collectively raised over $100M each year from investors and cumulatively have raised over $2.9B in capital since 1980. The ATDC Investor Connect Program connects ATDC portfolio companies to Investors with a dedicated program manager who tracks, monitors, and reports on regional and national investment trends and is available for consultations. In addition, ATDC’s coaching staff works with each presenting company to hone and polish their pitch until your pitch and placement materials are perfect. An Angel in Residence is also on-hand to provide experienced guidance. Founders can become members of ATDC for a modest fee and do not give up equity to join the ATDC program. (recorded 9/7/23)
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
When TendoNova inventors and co-founders at Georgia Tech and Emory solved a big tendon problem in sports medicine, the NFL Players Association decided to invest. That was the starting point for launching the Ocelot Nano, an innovative medical device for treating tendenopathy, a chronic non-healing tendon injury. A minimally invasive device for outpatient treatment for chronic tendon injuries that is better, cheaper and faster than existing solutions. CEO Mark Samuels tells the development and launch story as Tendonova prepares to scale for an exit.
Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Follow Paul on LinkedIn. Download our White Papers and Cheat Sheets HERE. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E83: Existing predictive models for drug behavior in the human intestine have been hit or miss, leading to unpredicted failure of drug development at the cost of billions. Altis Biosystems has developed a proprietary intestinal model with human stem cells that dramatically improves the predictive capability of drug effects and toxicity in the intestine and thus can substantially reduce the cost of drug development failure. CEO Ben Scruggs has the majority of Big Pharma as customers and the Altis human intestinal model is dominating pre-clinical drug testing for intestinal effects and toxicity. (recorded 9/9/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the podcast, leave us a review and share with your friends! Follow David and Paul on LinkedIn to stay updated on the newest episodes. To learn more about the RollingSouth Funds, visit rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD
E82: Nirvana Sciences has innovated traditional flow cytometry, a longstanding cellular diagnostic tool, in a unique and powerful way to dramatically increase the efficiency and utility of this tool for a wide range of diagnostic problems. Through development of proprietary bright narrowband fluorescent markers (or dyes) NS has enabled a magnitude increase in the number, fidelity and efficiency of cell markers that can be measured from a single sample. This has positioned NS with strong IP for an acquisition by a major diagnostics company.
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E81: Central Texas Angel Network is the largest Angel Network that includes Austin, an epicenter for innovative startups. CTAN Chairwoman Laurie Cercone gives us a tour of CTAN detailing their modus operandi, their geographic reach, their deal flow and their typical investmernt terms. They are expanding beyond Texas and offer virtual memberships to capitalize their deal flow. With a track record of success, CTAN has a bright future. (recorded 8/17/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E80: Modern Ritual is developing an innovative approach to teledermatology, connecting primary care providers to dermatologists to review high quality images of suspicious skin lesions. CEO and Co-founder Elianna Goldstein explains that MR is focused on 2 innovations in providing a simple and easy process for expert dermatology opinons on skin lesions seen by your primary care provider. The first innovation is obtaining a high quality image of a suspect skin lesion using a dermoscope in the primary care provider's office. Dermoscopy, also known as dermatoscopy or epiluminescence microscopy, is the examination of skin lesions with a dermatoscope. It is a tool similar to a camera to allow for inspection of skin lesions unobstructed by skin surface reflections under magnification. The second innovation is rapid remote review of the high quality image by a dermatologist to determine next steps, if any. All with a single visit to you primary care provider. (recorded 7/24/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E79: Tech Coast Angels has been a major catalyst in helping build the startup ecosystem in Southern California. With more than 425 members and three angel funds, TCA has the wherewithal and financial ability to fund and help start-ups at the seed, bridge and early A-round. They seek great startups and entrepreneurs in the US and Canada with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurs located in California. TCA is affiliated with more than 50 other angel groups throughout the country and can syndicate deals with them. Providing more than just money, TCA brings connections, knowledge, mentoring and operational assistance to bold early-stage entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas. David Friedman is the current Chairperson at TCA and explains the TCA process and approach to working with founders as well as the ins and outs for TCA investors. He invites direct contact at dfriedman@prodigy.net.
(recorded 7/24/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E78: Proaxion is transforming the industrial workplace at the Intersection of technology and teamwork with IOT sensing solutions for rotating manufacturing equipment to maximize industrial uptime. CEO Eric Murray explains Proaxion's innovative predictive maintenance strategy and its not complicated. It just works. ProAxion is transitioning to a 'Hardware as a Service' subscription model from their existing SaaS model, which features state of the art networked digital sensors, simplified software adoption and sophisticated cloud analytics to drive exceptional machine health to avoid unplanned downtime.While facing multiple challenges during the pandemic and the ensuing supply chain contraction, Proaxion has set the stage for growth with 29% YoY growth in subscription revenue for 1H 2023 and a successful funding round as they roll out their state of the art Gen5 sensor and invest in further software development.
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E77: 6AM City has pioneered the hyperlocal media market growing from 1 to 26 markets since 2017 with 60-80% YoY revenue growth. COO and co-founder Ryan Heafy explains their focus on hyperlocal news ex-politics, crime and punishment that has notched them ~1.8MM subscribers with an open rate of >40% in 2023. They target ~85% local and ~15% national advertisers with a highly engaged and educated audience with disposable income. With a forecast of ~$28MM top line for 2025, they are targeting $50MM in revenue as their next major milestone with an exit target of $100MM as they reach toward 150 target markets. (recorded 7/28/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E76: GoPivot has found it's sweet spot, creating a new stadard in the Corporate Wellness and Safety industry by leveraging the latest advances in data analytics and behavioral science. CEO Don Doster describes the GoPivot cutting-edge platform, mobile-first approach, and modern incentives to motivate employees to reduce OSHA incidents, improve health and wellness and achieve other significant milestones. The GoPivot approach eliminates pointless rewards, misfit solutions, and wasted dollars. It’s how their FitWarrior participants lose an average of 25 pounds, and how safety clients reduce OSHA incidents by 60%. GoPivot's approach is so effective that they make a commitment to every client: If your people don’t change, you don’t get charged.
(recorded 7/21/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E75: David reviews 5 headline new items in Venture:
1) The Startup Bear Market,
2) The Exit Drought,
3) The US Federal Reserve actions
4) AI, is it a bubble?
5) Earthquakes in the Crypto markets
(recorded 7/16/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E74: Zylo Therapeutics has experienced steady progress in product and partner develoment over the last 6 years as they approach their first year of revenue. CEO Scott Pancoast updates us on a very exciting partnershipp opportunity in the anti-aging space that will come to market in Jan24. He review all the other progress, the various other products in development and the future revenue stream. He also talks about potentially spinning out the Pharma part of the business to a larger partner and focusing on the non-Pharma products and partners that have seen success. (recorded 7/7/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E73: The Atlanta Tech Angels has been one of the most successful seed stage angel groups in the Southern US. They are focused on tech startups and typically lead rounds of $300k – $750k, generally a convertible note with 6% interest, 20% discount, and a valuation cap between $2M – $6M while also participating in a variety of syndicated angel deals. ATA's minimum expectation for investment is a complete or near-complete prototype product but they prefer a product in Beta stage with pilots or better still, a fully-developed product with initial revenue and demonstrated customer interest. ATA Members may invest selectively in deals that interest them and via the ATA Serles LLC, their sidecar co-investment vehicle. Jay and Matthew are 2 of the volunteer leaders of ATA and walk us through the ATA experience. (recorded 5/18/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E72: Julie Hussey described herself as an average american until she came into generational wealth on the passing of her father. She talks about how she came to terms with her new reality and went about formulating and executing an investment plan that included venture. She walks us through each step of her experience, how she educated herself and how she developed her own strategy for impact investing. (recorded 5/15/23)
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E71: Pretty much everyone is familiar with 3D printing, using a liquid or fine particle material to 'print' a solid structure like an inkjet printer prints a page. The difference is that it prints many layers, thus the 3 Dimensional character. But what it you started with a solid block and subtracted material to create a solid structure, like a mill or lathe mechanically removes material to create a shape? And, what if you could so this without touching the original block, without friction or abrasion and do a run of 10,000 blocks at a time all with a perfectly smooth finish? It's called Pulsed Electrochemical Machining. It's technically difficult and requires highly specialized knowledge and equipment, but can create small (millimeter) to medium sized parts (up to about a meter) parts with micrometer level precision, exquisite finishes and can be used for complimentary machining for a component manufactured by traditional means. It's Better, Faster and sometimes may be Cheaper than traditional manufacturing. This is Manufacturing Tech at its best, sort of like Tesla or Intuitive Surgical, using proprietary tech to disrupt manufacturing. Daniel Herrington is the founder and CEO who has led Voxel Innovations for 7 years and is now managing dramatic growth, doubling revenue YoY for the last several years. He explains his business, why it is so disruptive and where it's headed in the future.
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you leave a 2 sentence review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
E70: David interviews Allyson Eman, the CEO of VentureAtlanta which began 17 years ago with one mission: to connect companies to capital. Launched in 2007 with a couple hundred attendees and 20 investment funds, Venture Atlanta now welcomes more than 1,300 annual attendees and over 350 investment funds. The conference’s networking and events have led to $7.5 billion in fundings raised and over $17 billon in successful exits including Kabbage, Cloud Sherpas, Roadie, ParkMobile, SalesLoft, and many more. Today, VentureAtlanta has evolved to encompass the connections, resources, partnerships, and community forged beyond the annual conference in support of the Southeast’s most promising tech companies. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like the Pod, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn and it really helps us if you rate and review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
Reach David at David@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn about our funds at The RollingSouth Fund and learn about our educational efforts for Founders and Investors at VentureCarolina.
E69: Corporate Venture has become an increasingly common path for large organizations to gain access to innovation that cannot be achieved internally. Cutler Knapp heads the venture arm for The Haskell Company which is tasked to identify innovative companies in the architecture, engineering and construction industries that can lead to collaboration or outright acquisition. Cutler explains how this corporate VC model works and addresses the 'Innovator's Dilemma' for Haskell. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, follow us on LinkedIn and it reallly helps us if you rate and review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
Mac Lackey has been an entrepreneur for over twenty five years and has started, scaled and sold six companies in that time. He has been featured on CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, USA Today and The New York Times. He spent six years on the board of a multi-billion dollar public company and has written a free ebook about exits, Creating The Exit Opportunity, to help founders find the best buyers and command a premium for their business. Now he's focused on mentoring others through the exit process and leads a program called ExitDNA to help entrepreneurs optimize their exit. We talk about his experience, some general guidance he offers on exit planning and some specific exit scenarios that are commonly encountered by founders. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, follow us on LinkedIn and it reallly helps us if you rate and review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
Crypto has been in the news for regulatory issues, volatiblity and it's very future in the US. I bring together our Crypto panel of investors, enthusiasta and operators to get their perspectives on the top 5 issues for Crypto in May23: 1) SEC efforts to regulate crypto by enforcement, 2) Is Choke Point II real?, 3) Coinbase sues the SEC to create regulation, 4) CFTC vs SEC as a regulatory authority for crypto and 5) Crypto price movements. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, follow us on facebook and it reallly helps us if you rate and review. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
Dan Ciprari is a serial entrepreneur who met his cofounder, Habib Fathi, while working as an entrepreneur-in-residence at ATDC, the nation’s oldest technology incubator. The Pointivo opportunity met his criteria for jumping into a new startup: being truly innovative and differentiating with really strong IP potential, and the perfect cofounder. Pointivo is an industry leader in structural image analysis for Telecom (cell towers), Facility and Property Management (roofing & construction) and the Energy Industry (utilities, oil & gas, renewables). Their drone based AI powered imaging analytics allow them to automatically identify and extract location, measurement and detailed understanding about physical assets and structures, with the highest-level of accuracy. This has brought new industry insights that simplify processes and decisions related to physical assets in unique and powerful ways. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, follow David and Paul on LinkedIn. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
In this show David and Paul review the recent $1.3B Volkswagen incentive package offered by South Carolina to build the new Scout EV production facility in the midlands of South Carolina. We review the details of the deal, why it was done and how it might have been better. Our guest John Warner offers some key insights into the structure and motivations for this deal while David and Paul opine on their own assessment of the deal. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
In today's show I interview Patrick Mateer, CEO and co-founder of Seal The Seasons, a locally grown frozen produce supplier. We talk about why it's hard to find locally grown frozen fruits and vegetables and how Seal The Seasons is solving that problem at scale, working with local farms and local grocers. He shares the strategy and success he's had in the marketplace and a new smoothie kit product they have sucessfully roled out. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
In this interview David talks with Min Alexander, the CEO of PunchList, who updates us on the rapid growth of Punchlist. She walks us through how PunchList started, their pivot to additional lines of business and their continued 3-5x year over year growth in revenue. She talks also about their fund raising and valuation history and what the future holds for PunchList. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN, AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
In this interview, Paul reviews the Exit experience for ThreatSwitch, a SaaS platform for Security Credential Tracking and Training. ThreatSwitch exited in July 2022 at 1.9x to 2.5x multiple of invested capital, depending on when the investment was made. They were an IRS sec 1202 elidgible investment and since they exited in ~ 4 years, investors are able to roll that return over into a new startup investment using IRS sec 1045 rules to exempt gains from federal capital gains tax. John talks about his preparation for exit, how he executed and what his thoughts are now, 8 months later. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN, AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
VentureCarolina
Did you know that startup investments are securities regulated by the SEC? David & Paul use this show to outline the Reg D sec 506b & 506c as they apply to founders seeking investment and investors seeking deals. We talk about some basic awareness, some pitfalls and some no-no's. We keep it as light as possible and focus on useful information. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN, AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this interview, author Tom Eisenmann explains the six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. He details the data that demonstrates these patterns and provides examples from his case studies at HBS. His book is the result of a multiyear research project on this topic and takes an analytic approach to the data he collected. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN, AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
Angela Lee is an accomplished Angel Investor who has founded and led 37 Angels for over 10 years, an Angel Group in New York City. She is also a professor at Columbia Business School where she teaches venture capital, leadership, and strategy. She is an outstanding communicator and has been recognized in that role with numerous awards. In this interview, Angela talks about the many issues founders encounter related to funding their startup. She has included OpenVC as a starting point for founders seeking funding. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN, AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
This episode reviews the various metrics that are most helpful to follow in your startup portfoio and how to do efficiently. We talk about strategy in following initial investments, follow on investments and tracking the various tax issues to help in tax planning. David provides The RollingSouth Tracking Template with embedded instructions to help you get started. Finally, we dicsuss some subsciption platforms that will do the job as well. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this Bonus episode, Paul follows up on the E:57 SVB Failure pod, specifically addressing the effects that he has seen on some VentureSouth portfolio companies. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to MAKE MONEY, HAVE FUN, AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this episode, David takes you on a guided tour of the Silicon Valley Bank failure, the 2nd largest bank failure in the US. SVB is intimately associated with Venture and this story reviews the lead up to failure, the contributing factors, why it happened, what we can learn from it and how we might prevent this from happening again. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
This is the story of luminell, a FemTech company focused on disrupting gynecologic care. Today most uterine and bladder endoscopies and biopsies are in the surgery center and require anesthesia. The luminelle system is miniaturized and so endoscopy and biopsy can be done in the office without anesthesia, in both the uterus and bladder. AND it costs less. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this interview Paul talks with Josh Miller, the CEO of Gradient Health about how they are solving the problem of clean data for training and validating AI algorithms. Gradient aggregates medical imaging data from around the world with assoicated variable amounts of metadata that increases the value of the data to the algorithm builders. Josh is a 3rd time founder and previous has a solid exit with Farm Shots and shares some of his experience with buiding startups. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
Listen to David on SC Public Radio on 8/19/22 talk about how to get into Angel Investing without losing your shirt. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this interview I talk with Thomas Spencer, the CEO of WasteWizer about the problem they are solving and their unique solution, The Bin Bar. This is a solid state scale that fits under one end of a waste bin or container and provides an IoT data feed on weight. Thomas reviews how it works, how they make money, their customer pipeline and the IP that proctects their innovation. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
This interview with Josh Rollins explores the Crowd Investing platform offered by Vicinity. We talk about how Crowd Investing works under Regulation CF on the Vicinity platform, both for investors and Issuerers or Owners. This investing option is relevant for both non-accredited and accredited investors and focuses primarily on local/regional real estate investments and secondarily on established revenue generating businesses seeking growth capital. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this show, David and Paul take a deep dive into all aspects of Angel Investing for investors with experience. We talk about the ins and outs of serious startup investing, some tricks of the trade and some suggestions on how investors can improve their chances for successful exits. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
David@ventureinthesouth.com
The RollingSouth Fund
In this show, David and Paul review the basics of Angel Investing for investors new to Startup Investing. We keep it pretty short and sweet while hitting the main issues and pitfalls. We also offer some solutions to get started without excess risk. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Bublish;
David@ventureinthesouth.com;
The RollingSouth Fund
This interviw with the CEO of Bublish reviews the strategy of applying AI to mostly automate publishing in the fastest growing segment of Publishing, Author Self-publishing. Bublish is an established publisher with positive cash flow, now planning a transition to SaaS model leveraging AI to mostly automate the publishing experience. Kathy explains how this new model brings greater control and revenue to authors. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Bublish;
David@ventureinthesouth.com;
The RollingSouth Fund
This interview with the CEO of MemberHub highlights innovation for school organizations. MemberHub solves school-level problems through state PTAs with cloud-based membership technology, shared CRM interfaced to district student information system (SIS), GoFundMe like donations, school E-Stores that can bring in national suppliers, sponsorships in newsletters & school E-Stores and Shopping Marketplace for school-related products that helps schools raise money. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
If your angel investing portfolio doesn't always generate QSBS returns that are free from capital gains, what approaches are available for reducing your tax burden on gains? Wealth advisors Doug English and Wes Johnson teach us about "direct indexing" - how you can tweak your approach to investing in public equities to generate tax losses that you can use to offset angel investing gains. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Investor Tax Credits and Tax Exclusions are important incentives to startup investors which help mitigate some of the risk with these investments. David and Paul review the use of state tax credits in those Southern states that offer them and how out-of-state investors monetize these credits. The South Carolina Angel Investor Tax Credit is reviewed in detail as an example of how these credits work and how they discount startup investments up to 35%. We touch on the Federal Sec. 1202 Capital Gains tax exclusion but deal with that more extensively in E12 on the Tax Benefits of Startup Investing. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
This Show with David and Paul is Part 2 of our End of Year Updates, updating some of the portfolio investments that we covered this year. In this show, we update 3 more portfolio companies: PuchList, CaseStatus, and HeatlthyCell. We discuss some of the issues that affect their revenue growth and progress to profitability. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate, go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
This Show with David and Paul is Part 1 of 2 shows on End of Year Updates, updating some of the portfolio investments that we covered this year. In this show, we update 3 portfolio investments: Iconic Moments, Zylo Therapeutics & 6amCity. We discuss some of the issues that affect their revenue growth and progress to profitability. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc
Prashant Prabhu retired from Michelin after a 35-year corporate career that covered R&D, a corporate incubator, and international business in Europe, India, and Singapore. Prashant articulates his investing as "21st-century philanthropy" - putting the societal and technological benefits of early-stage investing first, and seeing the closely-related financial benefits following. We explore how this approach influences his investing activity and what angel investing activities it helps him enjoy most. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
For this show I interview Nick Mottas, Co-founder and CEO of HopDrive, a Gig-Economy Vehicle Delivery and Acquisition Platform. HopDrive matches vehicle move requests to their network of gig-economy drivers on-demand, solving a big problem for auto dealers and fleet operators. With over 10x YoY growth in MRR HopDrive is positioning for dramatic growth and just completed a Series A Raise of $7MM. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD. To learn more about The RollingSouth Funds that we operate go to rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc
This show is about the effect that Crypto Exchange Failures may or may not have on Crypto infrastructure startups. We not talking about Crypto prices but about the businesses that support Crypto. I have long favored investing in the Crypto Infrastructure rather than Crypto Currency, so listen to these founders at the leading edge of Crypto. Hear their thoughts on the Exchange Failures, how these failures impact Crypto Infrastructure, and how Investors and Founders might contextualize these failures within the greater Crypto ecosystem.
In this show, the hosts discuss startup fund investment result metrics and help listeners understand how to compare results from one fund to another. Then we present our own 8-year results from 2014 to 2022, including the Gross DPI (Distributed Paid In equity), Net DPI, RVPI (Residual Value of Paid In equity), and the TVPI (Total Value of Paid In equity). We discuss the role of IRR (Internal Rate of Return) in evaluating investment results and some of the factors that affect these numbers. Finally, we review comparing funds and that it's wise to ask GPs for the exact formula by which results are calculated. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate and leave a short review. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Should angel investors "follow-on" by investing a second time in an existing investment? Should VCs "double down" on their winners? There are no clear answers, but in this episode we think about how to answer these questions
In this interview, I talk with Rich West, CEO of Baebies, a medical diagnostics company harnessing a proprietary technological evolution of microfluidics to make point-of-care diagnostic testing better, cheaper, and faster than the competition. I invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Gary Shiffman is a company founder, economics PhD, academic, writer, and angel investor. He shares with Paul some of how his professional and research experiences helped his angel investing activities - and what lessons he has learned from angel investing that he would have used in his prior capital-raising efforts. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
This Part 2 show presents the remaining companies from the 10 finalists from The Next Venture Pitch Summit. I'm doing quick interviews with each CEO using a '6 Questions in 6 Minutes' format to understand the problem, solution, market, traction, timing, and funding dynamics of each. These companies will give listeners a taste of the robust startup deal flow we see here in the South. At the end of the show, I pose some questions to listeners about what they want to hear from us. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
This Part 1 show presents 5 of the top 10 finalists from 90 startup companies competing to present at the NEXT Venture Summit held here in Greenville, SC. I'm doing quick interviews with each CEO using a '6 Questions in 6 Minutes' format to understand the problem, solution, market, traction, timing, and funding dynamics of each. A Part 2 show will follow later to include the remaining top 5 startups. These companies will give listeners a taste of the robust startup deal flow we see here in the South.
Malay Shah has been angel investing in early-stage companies in the southeast for nearly 25 years. In this episode, we explore how the "capital markets" have changed - and how angel investing has not changed - over those years. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review, and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
In this interview we talk with Co-founder and CEO Andrew Elliott about how RoundlyX enables users to purchase digital assets with spare change roundups to create a dollar cost averaging approach to acquiring digital assets. He reviews their relationship with crypto platforms, consumers and the impact of the current crypto winter on their business. RoundlyX on track for >1.5x YoY revenue growth in 2022 and just completed a multimillion dollar raise in the Summer of 2022 to fund their growth. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subcribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
In this Episode, Paul and David review some of their experiences with bullying, opportunistic actions, duplicity and rarely outright fraud. While these things are no common in our experience, they do happen and we relate our owns experience. We try to provide useful guidance for both Angels and Founders on how to avoid and minimize these risks. This underscores our general emphasis on good diligence in investing since it's much easier to make money if you don't loose it.
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe.
Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Matt Bailey, VentureSouth's market leader in Greensboro NC, provides some of his greatest contributions to angel investing from serving on the boards of early-stage companies. In today's episode, he shares some of his experiences mentoring CEOs, serving as a sounding board, providing ideas and connections, and keeping a board operating cohesively even during challenging times.
HealthyCell launched with a stem cell product that failed to gain traction but led CEO Doug Giampapa to a dietary supplement innovation that solved three big problems with supplements: Pill swallowing concerns, absorption, and taste. The HealthyCell's Gel supplement formulation has found impressive consumer acceptance in the Direct to Consumer channel as well as in a subscription model. Doug is now breaking into retail on the back of dramatic sales growth coming out of the pandemic and looks to 2 or 3 x sales again this year.
Startup Investors try to focus on great business ideas with market traction, great teams and a scalable business model. But the ultimate goal of an investor is an EXIT! This is when the investor gets their investment back with a profit (hopefully). This might be an acquisition, an outright sale or rarely an IPO. This show is all about the Exit waterfall, that is how Exit proceeds are distributed among investors. We'll cover some of the tricky aspects of calculating individual investor's share of exit proceeds and problems to avoid. If you have questions or comments, please reach out at ventureinthesouth.com or contact me at david@ventureinthesouth.com.
Kwipped started in 2014 as a B2B ecommerce marketplace for equipment renting/leasing/buying with great success. They then discovered 2 major friction points in the sales process, matching financing to the customer risk profile and seeking financing approval at the end of the purchasing journey frequently made the journy pointless if financing was not approved. Kwipped solved these problems by creating a new platform for Point of Sale (PoS) rapid online financing approval (Approve) from multiple providers and moved it to the beginning of the purchasing journey. Now the Approve platform is growing ~200% YoY with hundreds of vendor customers and near zero churn. As Approve has become 50% of revenue and the lion's share of revenue growth, Kwipped has changed their name to Approve and is looking to continue their rapid growth.
In this interview I talk with John Sterling, a cofounder of Datasteam. Founded in 1986, Datastream provides asset management software, integrated procurement, and supporting services to organizations and facilities worldwide. John was VP of sales there for 20 years until Data Stream ultimately exited at a valuation of about $230MM. He has now written a book about getting started in sales, titled Sales for Noobs and hosts a non-profit online resource for those new to sales, Noob School. He offers insights for founders getting started in sales, what to look for in sales talent and when and how to start a sales team when one is no longer enough.
We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe.
Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
It's the ultimate goal of both founders and investors to EXIT and early stage investment at some point. Bit this requires planning and preparation to create an optimal exit. In this show we talk about strategies for founders and investors to prepare for and optimize EXIT planning. If you have questions or comments, please reach out to ventureinthesouth.com or contact me at david@ventureinthesouth.com.
If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
In this interview I talk with Michael Stevens, CEO of Joi, an ecommerce platform that enables easy live purchasing via Video Chat platforms. Michael started his journey in politics with modest pre-revenue funding for an idea (Crowdr), a video fund raising platform for political candidates. Learning from that experience he pivoted Crowdr to Booster to focus more on ecommerce and spent 12 months in Salt Lake studying multiple ecommerce platforms (which interestingly seem to concentrate in Salt Lake). Learning from that, he pivoted again to Joi which empowers real-time ecommerce on live video chat platforms, sort of like QVC or the Home Shopping Network but live streaming. He raised his initial funding pre-revenue with just an idea and we talk about that as well as his perseverance/resilience on that journey to get to Product Market Fit with Joi. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
In today's show I interview Preet Singh about LifeFurnish and their journey into 3D prototyping that is disrupting the design industry. Starting with synthetic image generation of home furnishings and eliminating the need for photo shoots, LiveFurnish has progressed to digital prototyping. They enable non-professional designers to create exquisite high resolution photo renderings that allows vendors to evaluate potential products before even a physical prototype is produced. The home furnishings industry has embraced the technology to reduce cost and increase sales and LiveFurnish is now experiencing exponential growth. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
This show is all about how startup valuations are determined, what the critical metrics are to consider and the 'Art of Valuation'. Paul talks about his experience negotiating valuations and the strategies he has employed to reach an equitable deal that balances founder and investors interests while maximizing the opportunity for success. We discuss both the math and the art. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
Legal Tech is a new frontier with entrench legacy systems handicapping lawyer efficiency. Client communication is the top complaint among legal clients and one of the highest demand solutions by lawyers. In today's show CaseStatus CEO Andy Seavers explains how he identified the communication problem and solved it with the CaseStatus platform for legal case management/communication. Primarily directed at legal providers that are contingency or flat fee based, CaseStatus has successfully completed a $1.7MM Series A raise at a pre-money valuation of $8MM and is seeing dramatic growth. This interview with the CEO tells the whole story and what is coming next for CaseStatus. If you have questions or comments, please reach out at ventureinthesouth.com or contact me at david@ventureinthesouth.com.
NFTs are popular investments but are they opportunites for infrastructure investment to play the 'Picks & Shovels' strategy? Part 1 of 3 of our Crypto/NFT/WEB3.0 series with Chris Cummings, CEO of PassItDown/IconicMoments. If you have questions or comments, please reach out at ventureinthesouth.com or contact me at david@ventureinthesouth.com.
In this interveiw, we talk with Matt Dunbar, Founding Director of VentureSouth. He was intimately involved with the initial funding for Proterra, an early commercial EV company. Matt reviews the early back story of Proterra's founding. early growth and success in the market. Proterra was the first Unicorn for VentureSouth and one of the few EV companies with significant revenue. Early investors were encouraged by the growth of the company and their eventual exit via a SPAC in the Summer of 2021. However the initial enthusiasm quickly faded and the share price of Proterra has steadily fallen to a fraction of the IPO price while the early investors were 'locked up' by the SPAC conditions. The end result was a poor result for early investors while the SPAC investors did well. Matt reviews the lead-up to the SPAC in Part 1 and will discuss the dynamics of the poor outcome in Part 2. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it really helps us if you rate, review and please subscribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
In this interveiw, we talk with Matt Dunbar, Founding Director of VentureSouth. He was intimately involved with the initial funding for Proterra, an early commercial EV company. Matt reviews the early back story of Proterra's founding. early growth and success in the market. Proterra was the first Unicorn for VentureSouth and one of the few EV companies with significant revenue. Early investors were encouraged by the growth of the company and their eventual exit via a SPAC in the Summer of 2021. However the intial enthusiasm quickly faded and the share price of Proterra has steadily fallen to a fraction of the IPO price while the early investors were 'locked up' by the SPAC conditions. The end result was a poor result for early investors while the SPAC investors did well. Matt reviews the lead-up to the SPAC in Part 1 and will discuss the dynamics of the poor outcome in Part 2. We invite your feedback and suggestions at ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show, it reallly helps us if you rate, review and please subcribe. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
The Power Law of asymetric distribution of envents is the foundation of Early Stage Investing success. In this show we review the early history of Venture that has defined the framework for Angel Investing today and discuss how Angel Investors can harness the Power Law to increase the probability of success.
This show is about all the Ins and Outs of Angel Funds and why you might want to consider a Fund. An Angel Fund has several advantages for Angel Investors such as effective diversification of startup investments, disciplined diliengence, low hassle factor and deal flow that can be hard to achieve on one's own. Some Angel funds offer the advantage of QSBS tax benefits which can be a substantial tax savings for high income earners. We invite your feedback and suggestions via our website or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our show please subcribe. It reallly helps our pod listing if you rate and review. On Apple Podcasts scroll all the way down to “Ratings and Reviews”, then click on “Write a Review. On Spotify simply tap to rate a show one-to-five stars, but there is currently no option to type a written review on Spotify. Thanks for listening and remember: Our mission is to HAVE FUN, MAKE MONEY AND DO GOOD.
In this interview, we talk with Min Alexander the CEO of PunchList about taking over the CEO role from the original founder, creating a growth plan and executing. She explains what makes Punchlist succesfull and what comes next.
In this educational episode, we review the surprisingly robust tax benefits of Angle Investing and how you can harness these benefits.
In this interview, Joseph McMillin tells the Story of founding, growing and selling AltalOrganics.
In this interview, Scott Pancoast tells his story of founding Zylo Therapeutics, how he raised money, how he built Zylo and how he made it a success.
Paul and David discuss the most popular financing vehicles for startup companies, the pros and cons of each and some of the reasons to consider one or the other as an Angel and as a Founder.
An experienced entrepreneur tells his story of getting started in Angel Investing and why he loves it.
An interview with an active Angle Investor about how he got started in Angel Investing. Steve describes what works and what doesn't work for him and how he makes money, has fun and does good.
Paul and David discuss Product Market fit, what it is and what it isn't, how to find it and how to prove it.
An interview with a board member on managing a CEO change in a rapidly growing startup. Charlie discusses the heavy lifting, how they made it a win-win and successfully transitioned from a speed boat to a rocket.
A long time Angel Investor tells her story on getting into Angel Investing and why she loves it.
A review of the nuts and bolts of Term Sheets, from SAFEs to Convertible Notes to Preferred Equity.
How a founder's passion developed into an idea, then a startup and pivoted to success in three lines of business.
How Angels use the Diligence process to understand and validate the key fundamentals of any startup.